| Words and
photographs by Roger Elsom |
| Article by kind
permission of Hampshire
Life Magazine |
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| The Woodgreen
artists- Robert Baker and Edward Payne (right) |
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Cider
pressing |
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| Village team
in Country Competition |
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The Flower
Show |
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| Detail
showing the Goat Lady |
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Poachers on
Castle Hill |
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| Salisbury
Infirmary |
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The Methodist
Sunday School |
The Hall was built in 1930-31 from funds
that were raised by the local people and Vaughan Nash who had been the
private secretary to Lord Asquith who was the Liberal Prime Minster at
the time. He saw that there was just cause for th experiment and was
aware that his friend Sir William Rotherham who was principle of the
Royal College of Art and was interested in reviving the technique of
painted directly on the walls of buildings and Woodgreen seemed a good
opportunity and so a Carnegie Trust grant of £100 was secured in 1931
for two graduate students Robert Baker and Edward Payne to stay here and
do the mural.
The theme was to be the village itself
with scenes of village life and the models were to be the villagers and
over 50 portraits were painted and only one appears twice, a poacher,
and everyone appearing in the paintings has their name plates below.
The 'Flower Show
This includes two sisters, who studied at horticultural college before
the First World War, and advised on the gardens of Breamore House.
Cider Pressing
Here the press we see still exists, albeit somewhere in Oxfordshire. and
there is a Christmas scene in the children's ward at
Salisbury Infirmary
A Christmas scene in the children's ward that shows a Woodgreen resident
dressed as Father Christmas.
Poachers on Castle Hill
Two local poachers sit on Castle Hill surveying the view across the Avon
valley.
Village Team in Country Competition
Shows Morris dancers frolicking in a field. The dancers arc remembered for
their success in a National Competition, which brought them the chance
of performing in the final stages at the Albert Hall.
The goat Lady
apple and raspberry pickers arc busy harvesting the fruit, and the goat
lady leads two animals up a hill.
The landlord of the village pub stands in
the doorway; the hall caretaker tends a gigantic stove that once
provided heating there; a lady pours tea from a large teapot, and a
farmer milks his cow.Also represented are the Scout Troop and Cricket
Club;
The Methodist Sunday School
This is probably the most
evocative mural in the hall and depicts the children, four of whom still
live in Woodgreen. It also shows the young people in their Sunday best.Second from the left in the painting, is Hilda
Harrington (now Biddlecombe) who was 7 at the time. Born in the cottage
she lives in today, Hilda remembers being painted very clearly. Her
mother was the Sunday school teacher at the time, which may be why she
remembers it so well. Her face does not show in the painting because the
artist wanted to show the back of "her very pretty bonnet
Facing the viewer on the right of the
left hand group, is Irene Crook (now Anton), aged 7. Irene could not
actually remember being painted, but she too was born in Woodgreen and
has lived there all her life. Irene's sister, Kathleen Crook is also one
of the four; she too was born in Woodgreen and has lived nowhere else.
Kathleen was 8 when painted, which she remembers well, and can be seen
on the extreme right in the blue beret.
The fourth boy from the left in the mural is Jim
Hooper, aged 12, and another permanent fixture in Woodgreen, apart from
8 years in the navy. He served all through the war including Scapa Flow,
Dunkirk and D-Day, mostly in minesweepers.
The Woodgreen Artists
Over the stage in the village hall is a mural
showing the two artists themselves. Robert Baker faces the viewer with
the girl he married to his right/ whilst Edward Payne, on the right,
courts a local girl. Both artists became eminent in their profession.
Edward Payne was a consultant on the restoration of Wells Cathedral and
Robert Baker, who became a Professor at Oxford, returned to the village
with his wife on retirement, and bought a cottage there.
PLEASE NOTE VIEWING OF THE MURALS MUST
BE BY APPOINTMENT
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