R MALTBY  "I rather imagine that although your old house is called the Manor House, it in fact is not. Can you tell me anything about it, and anything interesting about old times?"

PAT HITCH  "The house itself belonged at one time to the Greenway, but is not of any great age - it seems that the back, which faces on to Farm Lane, was added to the building at some later date. The front of the house faces the Greenway, and from the position of some yew trees, it would seem that the house was probably some sort of summer-house at the end of a walk. I believe that in days gone by, the Greenway was planned with both formal and informal gardens, and there were many more trees. Now although the house is not a Manor House, we believe that there was a probable Manor House nearer the Greenway - we found foundations near the nut tree when we were trying to put up a chicken-run. It is said that the place was destroyed by fire and the stones from the building used in the building of the Greenway. It is also said that Henry VIII and Ann Boleyn visited this old Manor House when they were at Prinknash .

RM  "I have noticed an old water-pump at the back of the house, was it in regular use?"

PH  "Oh yes, until quite recently, the water was very good too, and was still running when other wells had dried up. Other people used to come to us for water, even though there was a public water-pump further round the lane."

RM  "I have been told about the Cherry orchard by Miss. Bevan".

PH  "That was just across the way of course. You beard about the Cherry Fair - people would come out from Cheltenham to buy the cherries and drink at the New Inn, I remember an old man that used to come and stay in the orchard, to shoot the birds when cherry-time was near. He made obnoxious stews, which everyone believed to be made from the birds he shot. "

RM  "You have had quite an influence on the social and cultural life of the village, and much of this has been connected with the Village Hall!"

PH  "The Village Hall was to have been built elsewhere, but owing to the rather precipitate action of a Miss B. Morris who bought an old ruined barn with a donated £25 - the Village Hall was built bit by bit in Church Lane. Because of the manner of the buying of the old barn, it was difficult to establish ownership, and Miss. B. Morris used to claim the rent. Eventually, a satisfactory arrangement was made. The Hall was the centre of social activity before the present Social Centre (Ed. which has now been demolished and replaced by the Century & Millennium Halls) was acquired, and we had a Dramatic Society - all ladies of the Women's Institute at first and then a mixed society. The coming of the war in 1939 put an end to this activity.

My mother, earlier than this, ran a Concert Party called the 'Irresistibles'. This began as a means of raising money to buy book prizes for the children of the Sunday School, and the first concerts were performed in the Drawing Room at Shurdington House.

Some social events, such as the celebration of the Silver Jubilee of King George V, a Fancy Dress affair - were held on the Yarnolds Field.

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