Is Tetbury in its death throes?

[Chris Mayo in Australia]

I have just returned to Australia after visiting the UK for the first time in 40 years. Not much changes in Tetters apart from a few extra houses and a Tesco. I did notice that a few of the pubs are gone, the Plough at the bottom of long street, the Eight Bells in Church street. I really would like to know who the neanderthal was that destroyed the choir stalls in St Mary's and moved the organ to the rear of the church?, One older lady in the church advised that it was done some time ago " so we could let some more light in as it was quite dark" If you pulled the same stunt of wanton destruction in Westminster abbey you would all be hung !.
Another thing noticed, was that there was a lack of young and middle aged, 20's,30's & 40's, people around the centre of the town. I enquired locally to be told that there was nothing for young people so they all move away. There was a lack of people generally in the main street on weekdays that I was there.
I needed a dongle for an internet connection, having searched high and low, I made enquiries at Tesco only to be told "This is Tetbury, we are pretty basic here.." What is this appathy that grips the town? In my youth, I was a Scout. We met at the Malthouse with Brian Smith and Pete Clarke being our leaders. As I am still in the movement some 40 years later in Australia, I made contact and arranged to visit my old troop... Guess what, to my utter amazement the leaders travel to Tetbury from Nailsworth and Stroud to run Scout meetings for YOUR children.. Surely there are at least TWO adults in the whole of Tetbury who can step forward and run Scouts for Tetbury kids.?
Fortunately, there seems to be a minor decrease in the number of Antique shops, only to replaced with an increasing number of what is generally referred to as "arty farty" shops, businesses of little consequence to normal people.
Come on Tetbury, wake up to yourselves, show that you are good for something other than d'offing your caps to the horsey set, otherwise you may as well all check into your antique shops and give life a miss !.

[merlin]

As much as I agree with you that towns, like Tetbury need an anti apathy pill and need to do something to regenerate or die, in their defence I would like to say 40 years is a long time and much has changed.

Not just here in Tetbury but the whole country, and it also has to be said not all of it has been for the best, but that's in hindsight.

From a historical point of view what you're seeing is the tale end of something that started way back in the Industrial Revolution.

Before then towns like Tetbury were the central Hub of their local area, or if you like as far as you could drive cattle or sheep or to bring your goods to market.

With the demand for mass produced cloth Tetbury lost out to Stroud because they had water power we did not. With steam came the railways and so the need for places like Tetbury as a staging post for the Royal Mail and Stagecoaches vanished.

After the end of World War I the large surplus of motor transport and improving roads meant that logistical distances from source to customer increased and away went privately owned breweries and many other businesses.

Regular train and bus services led to the invention of commuters who could live in Tetbury but work anywhere along the route.

In the 60's again with improving road structures mass transit by car became possible and affordable and commuting distances increased even further by removing dependence on public transport.

Improvements in farm equipment led to many small farms disappearing in favour of bigger ones, more land, more efficiently run with far less people.

The countryside was no longer a way of life but a business, ans so places like Tetbury became mere dormitory towns.

Massive supermarkets and out of town retail markets became the norm and the small high street retailer gave up the one sided struggle and the street trade died.

As all this was going on villages and small towns ceased to be family orientated and the social communities they once were.

Now they are fragmented, if you're a Church goer you have the church, if you are a parent your life probably circulates around the school.

I was brought up in a small Cotswold village in the 50's so I think I know what it is you think is missing here and you're right.

However what we miss many of those who live here now, especially incomers and the younger generation don't, neither do they have any idea of what we are talking about.

Hence the saying, "What you never had....Etc"

for what it's worth there are quite a few people in Tetbury who would like to see a regeneration of the town.

As it is we are more or less dependent upon tourism now however many of the talking heads around here haven't woken up to that fact yet. Or if they have are a loss as to know what to do about it, so like all committees before them ... they do nothing.

If I had my way I would remove the dolphins from around the town and replace them with the Three Brass Monkeys...

We could recreate many of the things lost but it would be as a means of attracting tourists and yes to a degree hopefully recreate more than a few jobs.

What is needed is an entrepreneurial spirit in some shopkeepers, stop fighting the Supermarkets and give us what the supermarkets cannot.

A first class Bakery would do for starters, we used to have one that was the pride of the area or a decent local home grown fruit and veg shop....

Of course, where do the skills required to set up such places come from ? Like hedging and ditching, dry stone walling and the like dying arts along with the apprenticeships that taught them.

So don't be too hard on poor old Tetbury, it's a victim of progress, if that's the right word, not sure that it is mind you, several generations have sold their souls to the world of IT and the only community spirit they recognise is within the Internet.

I have thought long and hard as to how Tetbury could regenerate and take its place in the County once more and the only way I can see it happening is if it were taken over and run as a business.

Become a theme park of its historic past, like Beamish, recreate a functioning Victorian High Street, lots of historical events and bring back the skills,crafts and foods once lost.

Now whether anyone would ever want that sort of future for the town is a matter for future debate.

What is clear is that if this web site is a measure of Tetbury's community spirit then Tetbury will continue to decline and become a town of care homes and antique dealers....!

Finally on the other point you make about Scouts and the youth of today, again much has changed in 40 years.

With the likes of Political Correctness, the madness of a Health and Safety Executive out of control, and the joke of so called Human Rights, I'm not overly surprised that few want the job.

Personally I have no children of my own and don't relate to well with the youth of today, However I would say any position involving them, such as teaching Etc. Is not something I would tackle without the use of a Whip and a Chair....!

[mymatedave]

Hi, People seems to waste a lot on energy knocking a place without wanting to get involved and recreate that community spirit of old. As a soon to be Tetbury resident I can't wait to discover what is behind the real skin of the town. Not the tourist town but the community that is waiting to be revived. We live in an era of apathy, a facebook generation where community is deemed by faceless friends. My experience of Tetbury in my visit over the years which have become more regular recently is of a small town with many friendly people at its heart. I cant wait to join and hopefully add to that community spirit.

[merlin]

I'm sure many of us look forward to your arrival and will welcome you into the community.

Of course you are right about the apathy culture that has been created over the years. Like you I know that it's a national thing and not just localised here in Tetbury.

Will live in an era of "Somebody Should do Something ! " Shouted from the sidelines by the faceless majority.

What Tetbury lacks is true leadership, we have lots of committees and sub committees and little groups all chatting away and feeling good about it while not actually achieving a great deal.

I can't do it, I dislike committees with a passion, where every thing has to be a compromise which only ever leads to a poor substitute of what is actually required.

The Romans may not have been very nice people but at least they got things done around here !

[Monica Mary]

Hello Merlin,
Interested to read all the letters about Tetbury,it is shame that most of the locals have left or at least their children have ,I know most of my family gradually went and I belonged to a big family,I only have one cousin I keep in contact with and she tells me she very rarely meets anyone she knows anymore.I have been back eight times over the last 48yrs mostly for family reasons and each time I see less and less old friends and the last time no-one,so I dont think I will be coming again getting too old for that long plane trip.
Surely some one can organise things for some of the old folk who could tell them about the old Tetbury,and the fun we had going out for bike rides etc.could go on for ever.
Interested in reading Chris Mayo,s letter I see there is a scout
leader?or something to do with scouts in Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula probably not,I live not far from there.
Monica Mary.

[merlin]

Hi Monica Mary,

Thank you for your suggestion about chatting to the old folks.

Have a read of this link I think it may amuse you .

hubpages.com/hub/Unaccustomed-As-I-Am-To-Public-Speaking


Merlin

[Monica Mary]

Hello Merlin, how I enjoyed your Hub last night,had a good laugh.called my husband in to read and took him away from watching his precious night football game and he also enjoyed it
It was 10.30 at night when I got it.
Now I have a query that has been gnawing at me for a long time,and I dont know who to ask for an answer perhaps you can help.
I have a book here called Towns and Villages of England by John Hudson.Its the Tetbury edition and on page twenty a
picture of Tailors and Dressmakers.
The man in the picture is so like a photo of my grandfather who was a Tailor and moved to Tetbury in the early 1900,s when my dad was two years old is there anyway I can find out,I know there is a picture of him on page fourty-five many years later after the war he was the man fourth from the left in the centre row with a scarf round his neck.
I know its a lot to ask but can only try, Monica mary

[merlin]

Hi Monica Mary,

Please let me have as much information on your grandfather as possible, his full name, date of birth Etc.

You say he was a tailor, do you know did he have his own shop or did he work for someone else ? There are a few business directories for the 1900's that lists the shops and traders back then see what I can find out .

[monica mary]

Hello Merlin,Thankyou for your quick reply,I cant help very much with information about my grand-dad,his name was John Groves may have been called Jack dont know his birthday and I think he worked for a man called Turner or perhaps Warner at sometime but I can only remember things that I heard years ago from the family.My memories of him is when he was an elderley man with a peg-leg having had his leg removed when he was in his seventies and riding around in his wheelchair.Not much help I,m afraid.Monica mary.

[merlin]

Hi Monica Mary,

In response to your message I have posted a list of all the Groves, Turners and Warners from the 1911 Census in the Geneaology section of the noticeboard for you and anyone else who may be interested.

I looked in the trade directory for the same period but no tailors in the name of Turner or Warner that I could see.

Merlin

[Monica Mary]

Hi Merlin,
Thankyou for trying to find out about my Grandfather,you were right,it was all one family my Grandmother was Mathilda and all my Aunties and Uncles,my Dad was Victor and there were a couple born after 1911.Monica mary.