Claire Waddy – Cyril Warbin – Marion Jutsum Wightman – Hazel Maud Wyatt

Claire Waddy (1934-2014)

In 1982 Claire Waddy felt the need for some local fun. Her Eastbourne schooldays had encouraged stage productions. In the year above her was Prunella Scales, who perhaps took theatre a little more seriously! Strolling along the main thoroughfare in Piddletrenthide, Claire (not Prunella) called across to Liz Larpent “fancy being in a local panto ?” Liz replied that she would be happy to appear in the chorus – and ended up as Prince Charming! Muriel Pike wrote the script and Cinderella duly appeared in 1983, the first of many productions. Claire’s contacts led to actor Peter Gilmour, famous for his role in the TV series Onedin Line, appearing as part of Piddletrenthide Festival in 1983. The following year she produced a summer show in their garden at West Cottage titled “If The Cap Fits”, which rather made fun of the local WI, of which she was part. She played two characters in the huge Dorchester Community Play in 1985 and brought one of the “Thomas Hardy 150 Events” to All Saints church in 1990. Somerset residents Peter Waddy and Claire Newton actually met in Taunton, she with an Australian suntan, he in the process of building/repairing a boat. Peter was an army officer, Claire a teacher of English and a good horsewoman, very adventurous and loved sailing. They married within the year, in 1961.

They bought West Cottage in 1963 with the aim of living there for a while, doing it up and selling it on. Son Richard was born at Tidworth, Crispin and Tim in different parts of Germany and Justin later in Abingdon. On returning to West Cottage in 1968 they quickly came to love Piddle Valley life, Claire becoming churchwarden and part of the flower-lady team. She also sang with the Briantspuddle Singers right up to the end and fittingly, they sang at her funeral service, their director Richard Hale playing the organ.

Claire always said that the most important aspect of her life was husband Peter and their sons. Typically, Peter gently tended her through her last illness, at home, as she wished.

Claire Waddy and the Piddle Valley Players

By Liz Larpent: It all began in the summer of 1982. Claire said that she was going to write a pantomime and asked me if I would like to be in it. I replied rather hesitantly, as I had never been on the stage before and asked if I could sing in the chorus, and so the Piddle Valley Players was formed. Claire sat down to write Cinderella. She loved writing and this for her was part of the fun. No ready-made script from Dorchester library would have been good enough for her. Then there was the music. In her old friend Gill Howell she had the perfect partner. Gill loved composing and so while Claire wrote the lyrics, Gill composed the music, and thereafter the shows were always known as the Waddy-Howell Productions. When Claire wrote, she always had in her mind whom she would like to play the parts. When she had finished she got on her bicycle (usually one belonging to the boys) and set off around the village. She would arrive unannounced at the door, have a cup of coffee and then drop the bombshell. She would like you to either be the prompt, help with the costumes, or take the leading role. She was a past master in the art of persuasion and never took no for an answer. Nobody escaped the net, not even the vicars of this parish. Cinderella was the least professional of all the pantomimes, as no one had ever done it before – but how we laughed, we laughed till the tears ran down our cheeks – and she used to say if it’s not fun, there is no point in doing it. Then came Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, followed by Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. She wrote these because there were a lot of young men in the village at the time. During this period she was working full time in Bournemouth, commuting there and back every day, and in the summer of 1983 she organized a flower festival in this church. She had a boundless amount of energy and enthusiasm.

In 1988, she wrote what some of thought was the best of them all, Alice in Piddleland. By abandoning the traditional pantomime and taking instead Lewis Caroll’s classic tale, it enabled her to write about each of Alice’s adventures and set them in separate scenes. This was a very ambitious production with umpteen scene changes, many props, two pantomime horses on the stage at the same time, and a large cast. There were always lots of children as she used to say “if you have the children on the stage, you will have the grannies in the seats”. We used to do five productions in the days before the rules, regulations and red tape with which we are beset today. It was nothing to have a hundred people in the audience and over thirty in the cast and this in one of the smallest village halls in Dorset.

After Alice there was a gap of about 10 years because Claire and Peter bought a flat in Paris, and Claire went there to work teaching English to French bankers. It wasn’t until 1998, at the request of Colin Davis and David Webb who wanted to play the ugly sisters, that Claire was approached to do Cinderella again. She responded with alacrity and Cinderella No.1 was brought out of mothballs, dusted down and put on the stage. Same pantomime – different cast.

It wouldn’t be right, whilst I’m talking about Claire, not to mention that she loved acting and was a very good actress. Her opportunity came when Jan Garner, who was living in the village, asked her to direct a play. The play was called The Farndale Avenue Murder Mystery. It was an incredibly funny farce, with no less than 18 characters played by five people. Claire was the principal part, Mrs Reece. She also played six other parts as well. How she ever remembered her lines I never knew, and in retrospect neither did she! It was while we were rehearsing for Farndale that she had to go into hospital to have a small operation. We, the remaining four held our breath, because without her we could not have continued. However as soon as it was over she left her hospital bed and was back the next day rehearsing. This was so typical of Claire. She was 100% reliable and would never have let anyone down. In theatrical terms she was a real trouper!

With the millennium came Sleeping Beauty, followed by two revues – Cabaret 1 and Cabaret 2 – which was fun for the cast because we played different characters and fun for the audience because they sat at small tables sipping wine. By now she was beginning to worry about who would take over the Piddle Valley Players when she retired. She used to say “I don’t want it to die a quiet death”. We always hoped that someone would come to live here who liked amateur dramatics and would take it over. However, living in Alton Pancras was someone called Rachel Olley. What we didn’t know was that Rachel came from an amateur dramatic family and had a wealth of theatrical experience. She first appeared in the cast of what was to be Claire’s last pantomime, Aladdin. Claire stood on the stage after the final Saturday night performance and announced her retirement. Rachel took over the reins and Claire was so happy, pleased and relieved that something she had started so long ago was in safe hands.

Rachel dedicated each performance of the latest production ‘Allo ‘Allo to the memory of Claire. The play was incredibly funny and incredibly naughty. How she would have loved it, how much she would have laughed and how very much we shall all miss her.

By Rachel Olley: I was first introduced to Claire in her Piddle Valley Players ‘role’ at her home and a few of us she had encouraged to be in Aladdin gathered around the piano and Gill Howell gave us all a gentle audition. As the weeks passed and rehearsals got into full swing I became more involved in the show and then it all unfurled to me the amount of work Claire put in to the shows. I also understood some of the hurdles she had to leap over to get to opening night. After a successful run Claire had decided to not be so involved and my role grew and hers softened and then she took a final bow. Claire reminded me constantly that “it should always be fun!” Well , there is absolutely no business like show business and I still believe even now we are just looking after the Piddle Valley Players for her. So from the Upper Circle I hope Claire can look down and say we are doing ok. Thanks Claire you were a STAR!

Cyril Warbin (1926-2016)

Cyril’s life gives one a good picture of farming in the late 30s when mechanisation was still in its infancy and working on the land was very hard. Much was expected of the workers – particularly in winter. Cyril and his twin brother Maurice, were born on 2nd October 1926 at Bellamys (known as Littlebrook Cottage today) in Piddletrenthide. He gradually became one of nine children! He attended the Village School and also attended Sunday School at the Wesleyan Chapel. On leaving school at 14, he went to work for General Sir Henry Jackson to look after his horses and milk the cow. He was able to ride out with the second horse and go hunting in the winter.

Cyril next worked for Percy Abbot to help out on the farm. National Service intervened, and on returning to Piddletrenthide, he went to work for Harry Smart and later for Harry Alner at Alton Mill, where he hand-milked the cows.

During the snow-bound winter of 1963, Cyril, now married and living in Piddlehinton, would leave home at 5.00 am and walk to work at Alton Mill, and return home at about 7.00 pm. When the Alners finally gave up Alton Mill, Cyril went to work at Handford Farms. There he looked after the pigs and drove the slurry cart. He worked for Handford Farms until his retirement in 1991. Eventually the smell of pigs left their bungalow!

Cyril married Linda in 1948. Gerald was born in 1950, and with Gran, they moved into a bungalow in Paynes Close, Piddlehinton in 1974. Gran suffered a stroke and was nursed at home by Linda and Cyril. During his retirement Cyril enjoyed gardening. He also enjoyed beating at the Wrackleford shoot and continued doing this well into his 80s. He played darts and whist, and liked to follow the South Dorset Hunt on his bicycle in his younger years. He was a keen supporter of the Labour Party and a staunch member of the Agriculteral Workers Union, but after the ban on fox hunting, he never voted Labour again! He also enjoyed a pint or two at the Thimble with friends or family.

It was a great rarity for Cyril to leave his beloved Dorset. In 1996 he was invited to join the celebration of Mr Christopher Pope’s 60th birthday, which took place at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. Cyril and Gerald took a train from Dorchester to Waterloo – Cyril declared he had not travelled on a train since his National Service.

Cyril loved his family above all and it was a sad day when Linda died in 2006. He coped very well, washing, cleaning and cooking until his fall in 2016. He spent 10 weeks in hospitals – Sherborne, Dorchester and Yeovil. After coming home, he had a dedicated team of Carers. His knees became very painful and he could no longer walk, but he bore his pain and disabilities bravely. He died peacefully on Sunday 23rd October 2016. Gerald lost his best friend and his Dad.

Bridget Rennison

Marion Jutsum Wightman (1920 – 2013)

Marion was the third daughter of Tom and Norah Wightman, whose family farmed Bellamy’s and ran the butchers’ business in Piddletrenthide. There was quite an age-gap between her and the other two, Nancy and Doris, so she would have more in common with brother David, born two years later. After attending the village school, Marion boarded at Lord Digby’s School in Sherborne – her particular interests becoming art and tennis – after which she trained as a children’s nurse at Southampton, enduring the frequent enemy bombing of that key port, moving to Bristol’s Royal Infirmary (BRI) just in time for the blitz of that city too! She became responsible for transferring newborn babies from the hospital to the relative safety of North Cadbury Court, qualified as an SRN and later took charge of the BRI’s convalescent home at Branksome, Poole.

The ill-health of her parents brought Marion back to the family home, Brick House, where she would nurse them. In effect she became the family housekeeper, her cooking skills attracting a wide-range of ‘visitors’; family of course, preachers at the village Methodist Chapel, where Marion played the organ, and children whom she would amuse with games and rhymes. She also shared the love of the countryside of her uncle Ralph Wightman, sometimes accompanying him on his broadcasts for his BBC radio programmes.

The sudden death of her brother David in 1986 aged 64 meant leaving Brick House, and she became one of the first occupants of the newly-built Holcombe Mead, Alton Pancras. She already had a connection to the village, for her aunt, Marion Emmie Jutsum, aged 18 in 1911, had lived-in at Barcombe Farm as governess to the Waterman’s children. Despite no longer having the time-pressures of the farm, Marion always had her alarm set for 5.30am, kept a disciplined daily routine, enjoyed socialising and seeing more of her sister Nan and made time for a country walk every day right up to the end.

Hazel Maud Wyatt nee Rowlands

(1922 – 2011)

A family tribute from her niece, Sally Allen.

Aunt Hazel was born at Hazelbury Bryan, the second of four children, went to the local school and when she progressed to Blandford Grammar School she would stay with her grandmother at Sturminster Newton and catch the train to and from school, going home at week-ends. Her first job was as secretary/book-keeper at Pond’s agricultural merchants. She met her husband, my uncle Herbert, at a Saturday night dance at Hazelbury village hall, the internet-dating site of the day! They married in 1944 and moved to Cannings Court at Pulham where he was farming. She was very supportive on the farm, doing the record-keeping of course, looking after hens, pigs and lambs and walking out to the men in the fields with sandwiches and homemade lemonade at harvest time.

They were very proud of their daughters Rachel and Jacqueline and my brother and I spent most of our holidays with them at Cannings Court, being treated as part of the family.

Following her husband’s death on 31st December 1968, the family moved to Rockpitts at Plush, and lived in one of the cottages until the farmhouse was built. Jacqui and Rachel were married from there and my aunt adjusted to life by joining the WI and other local clubs. She had failed her driving test when young but always seemed to be offered lifts by friends, or by taxi. As was her way, her twice-weekly trips to Dorchester on the bus led to even more friendships and she went on holidays with some of her ‘bus friends’. Her family extended with two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren and she was proud of all her family’s achievements.

Family and friends were very important to her. She was a very special lady, sadly missed.