Memories of Norton St Philip, 1901 - 1930

In this short book, Gwen Harries gives, in her own words, some memories of her life in the Somerset village of Norton St Philip between her birth in 1901 and her marriage in the 1930s. Born into a farming family, the youngest of 8 children, she writes about a lost world – before there was tarmac on the roads, when all cooking and heating was done with wood and coal, when one doctor served five villages. She writes about her home, the village school, childhood parties and games, and, later, her life as a young woman in the 1920s. Despite some dreadful memories of World War I in which two of her brothers were killed and two were wounded, this is, at bottom, a happy book, reflecting the author's positive disposition. Today, she lives in a residential care home, and she is amused and delighted by the fact that, at the age of 105, she has become a published author. Her book contains 15 black and white illustrations, mainly photographs of people and places in Norton St Philip taken at the time.