Books
Maps & Leaflets
CDs
Books
Have you discovered these fascinating books about Widcombe and Lyncombe yet?
“Discovering Widcombe and Lyncombe, Bath”
The Association published in 1993 a revised 2nd edition of 'Discovering Widcombe and Lyncombe' by Maurice Stott. This is a short history in 124 pages, with 5 maps and 38 illustrations. It is an interesting and invaluable background to our parishes, price £6.50.
More than 3,000 copies have been sold and there are now only a few hundred copies left.
“Exploring Widcombe & Lyncombe”
This is one of a series of books by Keith Dallimore, published by Millstream Books. The sketches and illustrations help you to see much more of the fascinating detail that exists around us in Widcombe and Lyncombe, often overlooked.
This booklet (price £3.50), was published as a companion to the Millennium Map.
“In the Footsteps of Jane Austen - through Bath to Lyncombe and Widcombe”, by Janet Aylmer
Jane Austen lived in Bath from 1801 to 1806. She liked the countryside and walked with a friend across the city to Lyncombe and Widcombe. This book contains more than 80 illustrations of buildings and places she would have seen on that walk, with details of their history. Price £6.99.
Author's note: A biography of Mrs W. Desmond Humphreys, 1850-1938; known to her public as "Rita". She was a prolific author; writing over one hundred novels; all of which are beautifully written. This book covers Rita's life story in detail; from her birth in Scotland, to the last twenty years of her life spent in Bath. Included are full listings of her prose, plays, and music.
I conducted a lengthy search for Rita's final resting place at Bath Abbey Cemetery but sadly my search was in vain until I purchased the Bath Abbey Cemetery Memorial Inscriptions CD from the Widcombe Association, with which I soon located her memorial and was then able to take photographs of it for my book.
Rita's final resting place can be found near to the top of the hill in Bath Abbey Cemetery. Wildlife is abundant in the cemetery grounds, which also boasts magnificent views of the city of Bath.
172 pages; including many illustrations.
Purchase from:
www.blurb.com
Maps and Leaflets
The Beating the Bounds Map
The map, providing a fascinating and beautiful walk around Widcombe's boundaries, is available from Prior Park Garden Centre and the Prior Park Landscape Garden Bookshop, priced £1.00.
The Abbey Cemetery Tombstone Trail Leaflet
Priced at £1.00, the leaflet is available from Prior Park Garden Centre, the Prior Park Landscape Garden Bookshop and the Abbey Bookshop.
Walk to Prior Park from City via Abbey Cemetery
Download here.
CDs
Data from the Abbey cemetery memorial inscriptions have been collated in limited-edition bound volumes. The information, complete with index, is also available on an attractive CD-ROM which can be obtained by Emailing the WA secretary. The pages from the volumes can be viewed as PDF files in Adobe Acrobat. The cost of the CD-ROM is £10 (plus £1.50 P & P).
Linda C. from Canada says: ' I recently purchased a CD of Bath Abbey Memorial Inscriptions from the Widcombe Association. This is an excellent resource which I highly recommend. It has comprehensive maps of the cemetery with grave locations, transcripts of the memorials & burial registers, all fully indexed & small photos of each of the memorials. Also a history of the cemetery & background on the efforts of volunteers to clean it up. Bath Central Library has a beautiful hard-bound book of the Abbey Cemetery containing the same information, but as I live in Canada with limited time on visits to the UK, the CD was an invaluable purchase.'
Another correspondent writes: 'I recently used a copy of the CD in the Bath Record Office and found it a most excellent work of the highest quality. I believe it sets a new standard for this type of research and would like to congratulate both your Association and the author for what must have been many years of hard toil.'
Paul Jones describes himself as ' a pleased recipient of your excellent CD'. He was particularly interested in Mrs Desmond Humphreys, also known as the novelist 'Rita' whose final resting place he was able to trace from the CD. You can find some fascinating details of her life here.
Janet Rathbone emails: 'Thank you Rosemary for such a prompt service, what a wonderful disc - such a lot of hard work! I found several of my family and will visit when I'm next in Bath. I used to walk down through Perrymead as a child to school and never knew the cemetery was there. Thanks again.'
Songs for Widcombe
The Songs for Widcombe CD is attractively packaged with views of Widcombe and the Widcombe Rising festival and has 12 terrific tracks, all written and recorded by local (or near- local) musicians. They have given their time and talent to produce a superb tribute to Widcombe, to be sold in aid of Widcombe Rising. Price is £5 (plus £1.50 P&P).
It's got wit and humour too, and a few digs at the traffic problems we in Widcombe face. Eleven of the tracks are by the top 11 finalists (call it a Widcombe Top 10, if you like) and the 12th, the Widcombe Suite, is an exciting collection of folk tunes written and performed by the Beechen Cliff School Folk Band under the direction of their inspiring director and teacher, Alison Nourse.
For details of the other tracks and the song competition itself, see below.
The winning song:'Widcombe, You're a Jewel' can be heard here, with wonderful Widcombe slideshow by Joe Bennett. The Widcombe Suite can also be heard here, with accompanying views of Widcombe.
Full Track list :
1.Widcombe Rising Joe Bennett
2. Widcombe - Always in my Heart Laura James & John Diver
3. Widcombe Song Sophie Bevan 4.Widcombe Beholders
Peter Barrett & Ian Gilchrist
5. Widcombe Mummers' Song
Dennis Silverwood
6. Widcombe, You're a Jewel
Paddy Doyle
7. The Natural Place to Be
Paul Feldwick
8. In Widcombe by Deborah Sarjant
9. Widcombe Awake! byYvonne Whiteman & Philip Evry
10. We've Widcombe in our Bones by Sally Harris
11. The Widcombe Song
(W-I-D-C-O-M-B-E) by Paul Goddard
12. Widcombe Suite - Beechen Cliff School Folk Band
Words to all the songs are available here (B&W version of the programme for the Grand Final of the 'Song for Widcombe' competition.)
Purchasing Details
Except where otherwise indicated, orders should be sent to:
Liz Littlewood
Secretary, Widcombe Association
The Garden Apartment,
34 Green Park,
Bath BA1 1HZ
(01225) 333044
Email: Secretary@widcombeassociation.org.uk
Cheques made payable to The Widcombe Association. For the leaflets, add 50p postage and packing; please ring for details of postage and packaging for the books. BACS payments (bank transfers) can be accepted.