Jane Sealy was born in Middlesex, went to school in Bracknell, Berkshire, and Chandler’s Ford in Hampshire. She trained as a legal secretary but has subsequently worked as a school secretary. She does all the farm book keeping and helps out with milking in the school holidays. Andrew Sealy was born in Wells, Somerset, and lived in Westbury-sub-Mendip, Somerset. He went to school in Westbury and Wells, attended college in Strode and studied general farming at Cannington Farm Institute, near Bridgwater. He is a tenant farmer for the Church Commissioners in Westbury, with a 300-acre dairy farm, milking 140 cows together with approximately fifty followers or beef cattle. Andrew and Jane discuss the milk quota system during the 1990s and describe the wildlife in the area.
Somerset Voices: Andrew & Jane Sealey
July 2, 2009 at 6:23 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Andrew Sealy, Jane Sealy, Somerset, Wells, Westbury-sub-Mendip
Somerset Voices: Jack, George and Madeleine Paul
May 28, 2009 at 5:54 am (Genealogy)
Tags: George Paul, Jack Paul, Madeleine Paul, Somerset, Wells
Jack, George and Madeleine Paul worked all their lives in the well-known firm of builders and painters and decorators, founded by their grandfather in 1893. They undertook various kinds of work in the business – George specialised in sign-writing and Madeleine ran the office. The firm painted schools, offices, pubs, and churches and was contracted to build some of the military camps that sprung up in Somerset during the Second World War.
listen to Jack, George and Madeleine and read the transcript.
Bishop’s Palace, Wells
March 2, 2009 at 4:00 am (Genealogy)
Tags: Ivy Agnes Edwards, Somerset, Wells
The Bishop’s Palace, Wells, Somerset, England, is adjacent to Wells Cathedral and has been the home of the Bishops of the Diocese of Bath and Wells for 800 years. It is also the place where my maternal grandmother, Ivy Agnes Edwards, was employed as a domestic servant.
Somerset Voices: Fred Dodkin
February 17, 2009 at 4:00 am (Biography, History, Podcast)
Tags: Dodkin, Somerset, Wells
Born in Millwall, a twin, and the youngest of eleven children, Fred went to the Isle of Dogs School in London. In September 1939 Fred was evacuated to Wells with his twin sister and younger nephew. The forty children from the Isle of Dogs School shared Wells Blue School premises, so Fred was billeted in Wells. He and his sister returned to London in November 1939, but were bombed during the Blitz and so returned to Wells with their parents in 1940. Fred left school at fourteen and worked in W H Smith. After finishing his National Service Fred worked for Pauls the decorators for forty years.
