Page 7 - Leighton News May 2017
P. 7
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there’s a name to put the fear of God into you, it sounds Leighton Bank in the snow and ice was a little less
like something out of the Wild West. dignified but the steadfast determination shown in those
days by the congregation and the vicar alike was
When my father was in Leighton School in the late humbling.
1930’s he remembered the elderly Miss Naylor (who
still lived in the hall for a few years after the sale of her In the 1960’s I used to walk to Leighton School – usually
father’s estate in the financial slump in 1931), visiting late and dawdling along with Dee Thomas picking
Leighton school with a baby kangaroo in her basket that celandines and nattering – and one day we were offered
was bred on the estate. How many of those does Mr a lift by Mrs Senator Davies of Leighton Hall in her
Harte our present Headteacher see brought in for ‘Show huge left hand drive Cadillac convertible car. We
and Tell’ today I wonder? Of course we now have in thought we were the bees’ knees but Mr Knight the
the village llamas, Highland cattle and the odd Shetland Headmaster was not impressed, we were still late. Mrs
pony but at the height of the Naylor’s reign the exotic Senator Davies was the wife of Senator Rupert Davies
pets must have been quite something with a herd of the wealthy newspaper magnate who was born in
bison – can you imagine huge bison – roaming the front Welshpool and made his fortune in Canada with
fields and the holes in the roadside stone wall by the Leighton Hall being their frequently visited holiday
Home Farm were made for the herdsmen to be able to home.
safely feed them. The kangaroo keepers house was
apparently Rufus. The village was stuffed with children then with many
dens made in the Home Farm buildings and all the
Looking at the photo of Rev Salter 60 years ago there Youth Club/Scout/Guide groups held in the old
were 12 dairy farms in the village then with the herds corrugated iron Guildroom with even a little shop in the
walking the roads for milking twice each day – no Pentre later used as the Scout Hut. Lifelong friendships
manicured mown verges then or walking pet pooches made and great memories shared – we were so blessed
along through the Home Farm as the mud was to have grown up with so much freedom and in a special
splattered everywhere and working farm dogs roamed village surrounded by such neighbours.
their territories. Now there are just 2 dairy farms left
and the cows on both are housed indoors so sadly the When Rev Salter’s wife Maude sadly died in the 1990’s
sight of a cow in a field is now a rare occurrence. 60 her funeral was in Hereford and our valiant vicar at the
years ago the Cilcewydd Creamery was one of the time, Rev Philip Harratt drove a car load of ladies who
largest employers in the area and this was sited in the were all friends of her daughter Anne to pay their
huge brick Naylor built Corn Mill at the Cilcewydd respects, all organised by Marjorie. No sat-navs then but
Junction by the side of the railway and river. All around thankfully for Rev Philip all of his passengers excelled at
the village shining milk churns were clustered on geography so he no doubt had no need of one.
roadside milk stands and collected daily by the
numerous Creamery lorries with their rattling chains Today our vicar Rev Robert and his
and clanking churns swinging around the lanes and
roads, all heading down towards The Mill. Today much wife Janet live in the vicarage in
of it is Johnny Roberts’ vehicle repair yard.
Chirbury and thankfully he does
60 years ago Leighton parish consisted of about 85
properties and now with all the new estates and building have a car as his parish covers not
conversions it is over 150 so this parish alone has nearly
doubled in numbers with Rev Robert now having his only Leighton and Trelystan but also
work cut out. When Rev Salter was vicar here he lived
at Leighton Vicarage and as the walk to the church was Marton, The Marsh (on Stapley Hill
100 yards he did not own a car and his daughter Anne
used to walk into Welshpool to attend Mrs Woolley’s by Corndon), Middleton and
fee paying school. He was also vicar of Trelystan and
however treacherous the ice or deep the snow (and there Chirbury. The number of churches
were some severe snow storms then) Rev Salter would
walk up there in his regalia battling through to take the Rev Robert has now and the vast
service in the little unheated half timbered church on the
mountain in the sure knowledge that all the farming Rev Robert with his pink size of his parish would be
families would do likewise. Often the walk down shirt & microphone – both inconceivable 60 years ago. To get
vital to a modern Vicar around his 6 churches he travels
many miles, over two mountains and
even crosses a border as some of his churches are here in
Wales and some over Offa’s Dyke in England.
Special thanks to Marjorie Cadwallader for sharing the
photo with us all — 60 years and so many changes for
the clergy and parishioners alike — Jane Walton
there’s a name to put the fear of God into you, it sounds Leighton Bank in the snow and ice was a little less
like something out of the Wild West. dignified but the steadfast determination shown in those
days by the congregation and the vicar alike was
When my father was in Leighton School in the late humbling.
1930’s he remembered the elderly Miss Naylor (who
still lived in the hall for a few years after the sale of her In the 1960’s I used to walk to Leighton School – usually
father’s estate in the financial slump in 1931), visiting late and dawdling along with Dee Thomas picking
Leighton school with a baby kangaroo in her basket that celandines and nattering – and one day we were offered
was bred on the estate. How many of those does Mr a lift by Mrs Senator Davies of Leighton Hall in her
Harte our present Headteacher see brought in for ‘Show huge left hand drive Cadillac convertible car. We
and Tell’ today I wonder? Of course we now have in thought we were the bees’ knees but Mr Knight the
the village llamas, Highland cattle and the odd Shetland Headmaster was not impressed, we were still late. Mrs
pony but at the height of the Naylor’s reign the exotic Senator Davies was the wife of Senator Rupert Davies
pets must have been quite something with a herd of the wealthy newspaper magnate who was born in
bison – can you imagine huge bison – roaming the front Welshpool and made his fortune in Canada with
fields and the holes in the roadside stone wall by the Leighton Hall being their frequently visited holiday
Home Farm were made for the herdsmen to be able to home.
safely feed them. The kangaroo keepers house was
apparently Rufus. The village was stuffed with children then with many
dens made in the Home Farm buildings and all the
Looking at the photo of Rev Salter 60 years ago there Youth Club/Scout/Guide groups held in the old
were 12 dairy farms in the village then with the herds corrugated iron Guildroom with even a little shop in the
walking the roads for milking twice each day – no Pentre later used as the Scout Hut. Lifelong friendships
manicured mown verges then or walking pet pooches made and great memories shared – we were so blessed
along through the Home Farm as the mud was to have grown up with so much freedom and in a special
splattered everywhere and working farm dogs roamed village surrounded by such neighbours.
their territories. Now there are just 2 dairy farms left
and the cows on both are housed indoors so sadly the When Rev Salter’s wife Maude sadly died in the 1990’s
sight of a cow in a field is now a rare occurrence. 60 her funeral was in Hereford and our valiant vicar at the
years ago the Cilcewydd Creamery was one of the time, Rev Philip Harratt drove a car load of ladies who
largest employers in the area and this was sited in the were all friends of her daughter Anne to pay their
huge brick Naylor built Corn Mill at the Cilcewydd respects, all organised by Marjorie. No sat-navs then but
Junction by the side of the railway and river. All around thankfully for Rev Philip all of his passengers excelled at
the village shining milk churns were clustered on geography so he no doubt had no need of one.
roadside milk stands and collected daily by the
numerous Creamery lorries with their rattling chains Today our vicar Rev Robert and his
and clanking churns swinging around the lanes and
roads, all heading down towards The Mill. Today much wife Janet live in the vicarage in
of it is Johnny Roberts’ vehicle repair yard.
Chirbury and thankfully he does
60 years ago Leighton parish consisted of about 85
properties and now with all the new estates and building have a car as his parish covers not
conversions it is over 150 so this parish alone has nearly
doubled in numbers with Rev Robert now having his only Leighton and Trelystan but also
work cut out. When Rev Salter was vicar here he lived
at Leighton Vicarage and as the walk to the church was Marton, The Marsh (on Stapley Hill
100 yards he did not own a car and his daughter Anne
used to walk into Welshpool to attend Mrs Woolley’s by Corndon), Middleton and
fee paying school. He was also vicar of Trelystan and
however treacherous the ice or deep the snow (and there Chirbury. The number of churches
were some severe snow storms then) Rev Salter would
walk up there in his regalia battling through to take the Rev Robert has now and the vast
service in the little unheated half timbered church on the
mountain in the sure knowledge that all the farming Rev Robert with his pink size of his parish would be
families would do likewise. Often the walk down shirt & microphone – both inconceivable 60 years ago. To get
vital to a modern Vicar around his 6 churches he travels
many miles, over two mountains and
even crosses a border as some of his churches are here in
Wales and some over Offa’s Dyke in England.
Special thanks to Marjorie Cadwallader for sharing the
photo with us all — 60 years and so many changes for
the clergy and parishioners alike — Jane Walton
