A month of Peasantry

Thank you to everyone who got involved in the Haslemere Arts and Crafts month events.  It was quite time consuming, but it was very rewarding to publicise the important history of Haslemere, meet other interested people and to pick up some useful information.

Peasant Arts article
The Haslemere Herald, 5th September 2014

Some information that came to light included:

• Joseph King owned the land on Bell Road down from Hill Farm, Camelsdale where he lived c.1920s.  Various houses were built there including Flora Synge's bungalow.  (Flora is the lady photographed spinning wool outside in Kings Road c.1910)
• Flora Synge's god daughter lives in Haslemere 
• she has very kindly given me a table runner made by Flora
• another Haslemere resident has Haslemere weaving work in her airing cupboard, left to her from her mother
• the residents of the house called 'Blounts' now know why it was called that
• it is very probable that Gandhi visited Haslemere before he wrote the Hind Swaraj in 1909, as I posted on here because Gandhi visited Midhurst(? I think that is what was said) around that time
• the Peasant Arts shop interior photographed by the museum could be inside a building in Weydown Road
• Barclay Day who built Haslemere Hall in 1913, was the brother of Lewis F. Day who was one of the Fifteen that began the Arts and Crafts movement that I wrote about here
• various ideas about where the silk for the Haslemere Silk Weaving industry could have come from

Peasant Arts talk at Haslemere Education Museum,
September 2014

The Peasant Arts talk at Haslemere Educational Museum had a record attendance for any lecture apparently, I think it was 47 people, so more chairs had to be put out.  There were about 20 people on the Peasant Arts walk the following weekend.  As well as having a spread in The Haslemere Herald, I had a one minute slot on BBC Radio Surrey to publicise Arts and Crafts Month!  A busy month.