Page 10 - link magazine

10 The Link Magazine • November 2003
Keeping history alive in Priory Vale

As construction moves on apace in Meads. Looking a bit further back As sales and marketing manager The family was not above its
North Swindon, it's easy to forget most of Haydon Wick, Green- for Swindon based developers Bloor disputes and feuds and Tom could
that it is less than ten years since meadow and Woodhall Park have Homes, who are building a major be a pig headed individual accord-
the first people moved into Abbey been built within the last thirty part of Priory Vale, she is also the ing to Lorraine. Ill health forced
years. Before then grand-daughter of Tom Saunders, a him to retire in the late 1960s and
Haydon Wick was a giant of a man who farmed Brook because Frank could not raise the
village surrounded by Farm in the 1930s to the late 1960s. last £100 to buy the farm from his
fields and a trip into Man y people will remember the pink father, it was sold off to somebody
Swindon was a major painted farm house off Lady Lane else. By then, probably due to the
undertaking. which was turned into a riding demands put on him as a child to
Lorraine Palmer re- school and saddlery, before being stand on his own two feet, Frank
tains an unusual and knocked down to make way for the had become a self-made man and
poignant link with the North Swindon District Centre. owned County Road Garages.
past and holds some
responsibility for the
changing face of the
Tom, delivering in Victoria Road in the 1950s town into the future.

Celebrate with Cre'8
Thames Avenue, Greenmeadow

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(^ 6KClew Kew xaKave r ; ^^-e^
^ l .rP t Q ^lairandu.
New owners Bill and Heather
Morse invite you to meet their
new team of hair professionals.
Salon Manager Theresa has a
r
Lorraine in front oilier grandfather 'e pictu e in the Bloor shorn centre at Priory Vale
number of special offers and
looks forward to hearing from A year ago Lorraine moved to a Lorraine moved to a Bloor built
past and present clients. new house built by Bloor Homes house on St Andrew's Ridge in
The Cre'8 team, from left, Hanna, For the Cre'8ive look, on their Saunders' Brook site in early 1998 and could see the pink
proprietor Bill Morse. salon manager Priory Vale, named in honour of painted farmhouse in the distance
Theresa, Nicky, Emma, Hailey call 01793 520813 her grandfather. "My memories of from her bedroom window. "Hav-
Tom are a mix of awe and admira- ing lost my grandparents and my
tion," said Lorraine. "As a child in parents when I was quite young, I
the 1960s I was very frightened of felt very connected to the area see-
him; he was a huge man and very ing the house which held so many
well known as a proud, hard work- memories for me. It was a heart
ing person who would take no non- breaking time to see it knocked
sense from anybody. Tom had this down when the shopping centre
albino Alsatian dog who followed development started; it really felt
him everywhere on the farm which my link with a community of the
he kept to perfection. He was past had been severed."
known to be out after dark trim- However the memories live on
ming his hedges by the light of an and Lorraine was delighted when
oil lamp. Bloor Homes agreed to name their
"My father Frank was expected Priory Vale development site after
to be up early to help with milking, Tom Saunders and feature him in
feeding the pigs and doing general their marketing material. Lor-
chores before walking to school, raine's daughter Kelly moved into
across the fields at Pinehurst. He Saunders' Brook whilst pregnant
started his own pig breeding en- at the beginning of April this year
terprise whilst at school to earn his and Tom's great, great grand-daugh-
keep and occasionally the truancy ter Harley-Jay was born there.
officer would call round to find "When I walk the dog in the
him because he was working on evening, I sometimes imagine I will
the farm. bump into Tom walking his land,
"I was brought up in Gorse Hill inspecting the hedges. As a private
and a trip to Brook Farm was an individual who spent much of his
expedition. Tom and his wife Wyn, life working in the fields by himself,
were totally self-sufficient on the he would be horrified by the number
farm and one visit always stayed of people now living in the area.
in my mother's mind when Wyn "I expect he's spinning in his
asked her on arrival whether she grave to know that his grand-
wanted chicken or pork for Sun- daughter, a woman, is involved
day lunch. Being a townie she did with the spread of the town over
not know what pork tasted like so his beloved farm. "
she asked for chicken. To her hor- • Doug and Caryl Clifford at Haydon
ror Wyn crossed the farmyard, se- End Farm are the last remaining farm-
lected a plump chicken and wrung ers in North Swindon.
its neck. She became a vegetarian Their story from the March 2002 Link
from that day on." can be seen at www.swindontink.com