The Sodburys : Images of England

This book is a splendid pictorial record of Chipping Sodbury, Little Sodbury and Old Sodbury containing over 240 old photographs. It provides a valuable record of the local landscape, people and events from late Victorian times until the middle years of this century. Drawn mainly from photographs and postcards in private collections and using personal memories and anecdotes, the compilation depicts much from a way of life that is no more. Yet, just occasionally, certain pleasing aspects appear to have changed little over the years. It is incumbent upon us to strive to retain these for future generations. Carnival parades, village fetes, charabanc outings and transport are all recorded, long lost shopkeepers stand in their doorways and, in one photograph, a lonely lady plods up the street with her horse and coal cart. Troops parade in the streets at the start of the First World War while women are seen carrying on with the tasks at home. Men work at the quarry face, children pose with their peers in the village school, navvies toil at the construction of the Badminton railway tunnel, and we are shown the glorious cricketing summers of the 1890s.