Mr Williams.

[leefer]

http://www.swindonlink.com/whats_on/celebrating-the-life-of-swindons-blacksmith-poet-

If anyone has an hour to kill before Saturdays match maybe a visit to Steam and the exhibition of The Hammerman.
Now if your not a Swindon history buff accept my apologies but this man is a man of Swindon to be admired...its free to get in so if you get a chance maybe pop in.

For you Ale buffs the micro brewery at the Radnor Arms Coleshill have brewed 500 bottles of limited edition HAMMERMAN ale..on sale at Steam Saturday.
If you have never read the book...Life In A Railway Factory by Alfred Williams i urge you to give it a go...brilliant insight into the life of Swindons railworkers at the time.........most good libraries stock it..and Amazon have it on sale.

[Reg Smeeton]

 Leefer, you ever read any Richard Jefferies.....I've tried, but always found it tough going.

 However, I've a mate whose opinion I respect, tells me I should make the effort as Jefferies is brilliant.

[leefer]

Hi Reg...read a couple of his books....Toilers of the field was good and the Southern County? was ok.
Brilliant at wildlife and country life but his books were more of a hobby....i like the fact that Williams LIVED his books and poems...worked in the hardship of the railworks.....thats not to say that Richard Jefferies was a great writer of Coate and the area around Swindon....he lived a rather lavish life style compared to Williams and so could get more books published but there is no doubt Swindon should be proud of him.
In fact Richard Jefferies sells many books in the USA these days....colleges and such love his work.

[Reg Smeeton]

Hi Reg...read a couple of his books....Toilers of the field was good and the Southern County? was ok.
Brilliant at wildlife and country life but his books were more of a hobby....i like the fact that Williams LIVED his books and poems...worked in the hardship of the railworks.....thats not to say that Richard Jefferies was a great writer of Coate and the area around Swindon....he lived a rather lavish life style compared to Williams and so could get more books published but there is no doubt Swindon should be proud of him.
In fact Richard Jefferies sells many books in the USA these days....colleges and such love his work.

For the South Country, you might be thinking of Edward Thomas, a noted poet and writer, who perished young in the Great War....although not a Swindonian, his 1913 book The Icknield Way has a bit about Swindon in it.

William Morris is also worth a read for 19th Century Swindon history....quarterstaffs opposite The Bell, that sort of thing

[leefer]

For the South Country, you might be thinking of Edward Thomas, a noted poet and writer, who perished young in the Great War....although not a Swindonian, his 1913 book The Icknield Way has a bit about Swindon in it.

William Morris is also worth a read for 19th Century Swindon history....quarterstaffs opposite The Bell, that sort of thing

Fuk me Reg that is spooky........i was delivering on the Icknield Way today in Tring!!...actually on the Icknield Way...an ancient road and bleeding long.
Not read a lot of Morris...dont know why really.

[Reg Smeeton]

Fuk me Reg that is spooky........i was delivering on the Icknield Way today in Tring!!...actually on the Icknield Way...an ancient road and bleeding long.
Not read a lot of Morris...dont know why really.

Big fan of the Icknield Way....the Ridgeway that time forgot....William Morris was the founder of teh Adver....not the Kelmscott fella.  His geology collection is still in Bath Road museum. His book is entitled something like Swindon 50 years ago....well worth trying to get hold of a copy.

[leefer]

Yep...seen his collection.
Also in the museum is a letter addressed to a doctor in Swindon reading............Swindon nr Highworth!
Just a dot on the hill then.