A portrait of days gone by in Newbold on Avon; CHILDHOOD MEMORIES INSPIRED SHEILA FERWIN TO GARNER INFORMATION AND PICTURES FOR A LOOK AT VILLAGE LIFE IN THE PAST.

Byline: JUDITH COURT

THE Rugby village of Newbold on Avon is best known for its love of rugby football, the historic St Botolph's Church, popular pubs and country park.

But local author Sheila Frewin, 53, has chosen another aspect of Newbold life to write about in her first book.

She looks at the village in which she spent much of her childhood as it was in past times.

And in Bygone Days of Newbold on Avon she has come up with a colourful and intimate portrait of a little village centred on its church, its school, its pubs and its parish council and paints a fascinating picture of its local characters.

Sheila Frewin says in her forward that "this book is not intended to be a written historical account of Newbold on Avon but a pictorial glimpse on Bygone Days in the life of a village I have always considered my second home."

The snippets we are treated to are gems, but they represent just the tip of the pile of books, papers and records Sheila must have waded through to find them. The volume of work involved is obvious.

The icing on the cake is the photographs, dating between 1880 to 1935. Pictures from the author's personal collection and pictures loaned from family albums in the village are a delight.

There are school photos and family snapshots as well as street scenes and pictures of buildings - some that once stood and others still remaining.

The 1891 census for the village is the cherry on the top.

The book is a very manageable and never-dull collection that indeed paints a picture of bygone days.

Halcyon days of running wild in the hills around Newbold and exploring the old fort are memories that inspired Sheila Frewin to write her first book.

She remembers happy school holidays spent with her Auntie Iris in the village when the world was a safer place and nobody thought twice when she and her cousins disappeared for whole days.

"We used to take a bottle of water and some jam sandwiches and not be back until night time," Sheila recalls. "You could never let a child do that today"

The Newbold of her childhood is hard to picture now without the help of wonderful old photographs such as those featured in the book.

There is a 1929 photograph of cottages in Main Street which were condemned in 1949, a 1900s picture of the old village school with the headmaster in the doorway, a 1920 street scene showing the village pump and a view of the lane between Newbold and Bilton, now Parkfield Road. And there are many more village scenes besides.

"The village is not what it was," says Sheila.

"It doesn't look the same. There are not many of the old properties left and it has changed almost beyond recognition. It was a more a close- knit community in the old days when everybody looked out for each other."

Sheila has lived in Coventry since but she used to spend every school holiday with her cousins and has a deep attachment to the village where her mother and grandfather were born.

She was researching her family tree and found that so much of her past was linked with the Newbold her idea for writing the book developed.

The book was published under the author's own imprint and Sheila was warned by various printers that it could take years for her to get her money back on it. In fact it took four weeks.

"I have been very surprised. It is going superbly well. It has already sold about 400 copies."

It is available at Sercombe's, the butcher's shop in Newbold, Hunts Bookshop in Rugby and at Rugby Library.

EXCERPTS FROM BYGONE DAYS IN NEWBOLD ON AVON

... In October 1861 Mr Joseph Cox, a farmer and butcher, whose parents were among the first Wesleyans at Bilton and in whose house prayer meetings were held when he was a boy, came to live in a house situated on Main Street, Newbold and attended the Weslyan Chapel at Rugby.

In the Summer of 1876 Newbold on Avon was placed on the Rugby Circuit Plan and open air services were held on Sunday afternoons and evenings.

This was obviously perfect in the good weather, but towards the winter months it became increasingly more difficult.

After much thought and prayer Mr and Mrs Cox opened their house to religious services, the first being held in their kitchen on Sunday 1st October 1876 ...

... Newbold Parish Council Saturday 9th January 1897

Mr Holt brought the case of an old woman in the parish - Mrs Downing - who had been denied out-relief, and said she would rather die than enter the workhouse.

He thought going to the workhouse was as bad as going to prison. Mr Leeson thought it would be a great scandal for this poor woman to die of want. Mr Green considered they were doing no good in bringing such a case before that Council, and he did not believe in it.

Mr Holt proposed that the matter be laid before the Board Of Guardians. The Chairman seconded. Mrs Lowe wished that every village could look after its own poor. The resolution was carried.

... Saturday 10th April 1897

Accident - As Frederick Cotton, a boy, was playing in the village on Thursday last week, he was knocked down and run over by a cyclist.

Although cut about, the lad's injuries are not serious, but according to the statement of an eye witness, the fellow on the bicycle gave no warning of his approach, and did not even pull up to see what mischief he had done, choosing rather, as he sped towards Rugby, to abuse the boy for not taking better care of himself.

Children not infrequently behave stupidly when a cyclist comes along but if the version of the affair reported in the village is correct, the rider was, in this case, the offender.

CAPTION(S):

AUTHOR: Sheila Ferwin with her aunt, Iris Prestidge, and the book, Bygone Days in Newbold on Avon and (left) a scene of village life at the turn of the last century