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Rev. W. Awdry's vicarage up for sale


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1 minute ago, russ p said:

That is a lot of house for the money  irrespective of who lived there, if that was thirty miles to the east you could put a one in front of the price 

I did think that myself, 8 bedooms and a massive downstairs.

 

For a railway modeller you could have a room for N, OO and O with room left over for a family too if you wanted one.

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That's rather gorgeous. Mind you, I bet it wasn't as nice in The Reverend's day. My memory of country vicarages in the 1970s is of damp, cold draughts and great, echoing, near-empty rooms, in a general atmosphere of decay. 

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8 minutes ago, PatB said:

That's rather gorgeous. Mind you, I bet it wasn't as nice in The Reverend's day. My memory of country vicarages in the 1970s is of damp, cold draughts and great, echoing, near-empty rooms, in a general atmosphere of decay. 

 

One definition of the average clergyman of that time was a middle-class man forced to live in a rich man's house on a poor man's income.

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Plenty of scope for various railway projects. Couldn't live there, however, the Blue Plaque's wrong; Rev. Awdry wrote 'The Railway Series'! (Based on his earlier life in the parish around Ampfield, where he was born, which included the Eastleigh Railway Works from who's staff, anecdotes leading to the adventures of Thomas and friends were gleaned.) The first book was 'The Three Railway Engines' with 'Thomas the tank Engine' his second!

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15 hours ago, Wheres_Wally said:

 

And the first engine to appear was Edward, who all right thinking people consider the star of the "Edward and friends" series. 

Yet still he ends up as number 2!

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Having looked at the photos it looks a really nice example of its type, I would however have sorted out the power supply to the freezer, before the photos as  it looks more Heath Robinson than Awdry.

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On 06/10/2019 at 00:04, Joseph_Pestell said:

There must be something in the air there that encourages railway enthusiast clergy. Teddy Boston was a curate in that area too.

 

Careful now!

 

That's getting dangerously close to asking why the personalities of some clergy and railway enthusiasts are so similar....  :P

 

https://stancarey.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/father-ted-careful-now-down-with-this-sort-of-thing.jpg

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Peter Denny once told me that he felt that it is all about creating. Those who are called to the Church spend their time doing the work of the ultimate Creator, so it isn't surprising that they undertake such activity in their own small scale way.  

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On 04/10/2019 at 11:52, woodenhead said:

I did think that myself, 8 bedooms and a massive downstairs.

 

For a railway modeller you could have a room for N, OO and O with room left over for a family too if you wanted one.

And plenty of space for a garden railway as well.

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On 06/10/2019 at 00:04, Joseph_Pestell said:

There must be something in the air there that encourages railway enthusiast clergy. Teddy Boston was a curate in that area too.

 

I would guess that a country vicar in a small town or village had quite a lot of time to kill. So probably needed something to keep him occupied.

 

After all The Devil makes work for idle hands.....

 

:devil:

 

 

 

Jason

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Another snippet from my all to brief friendship with Peter Denny was that he would have an annual visit from the Bishop as a sort of appraisal. He told me that every year, the conversation went the same way. The Bishop would ask Peter "Don't you think it is time for you to move on to something more challenging and with more for you to do?" Peter would always reply "I don't feel that my work here is done just yet". With a twinkle in his eye he told me that the Bishop knew just what he meant, then the brief official business concluded they would break open the Sherry and spend the rest of the visit with the layout. To be fair, he did have several other duties, having roles on various church committees, administering pensions and such like.

 

I recall being told that his vicarage had something like 18 rooms although several were used as guest bedrooms for the B & B business his wife, Sylvia, organised.

 

I think times have changed and many of these lovely and magnificent vicarages have now been replaced by less grand more modern properties.

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On 20/10/2019 at 12:50, t-b-g said:

Peter Denny once told me that he felt that it is all about creating. Those who are called to the Church spend their time doing the work of the ultimate Creator, so it isn't surprising that they undertake such activity in their own small scale way.  

 

On the other hand, I have heard the suggestion that it's a kind of megalomania; the modeller creates a little world that he can control.

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16 minutes ago, Bishop of Welchester said:

 

On the other hand, I have heard the suggestion that it's a kind of megalomania; the modeller creates a little world that he can control.

 

Let's be kind - some might say it's a kind of megalomaniacal comfort - that in a chaotic world gone mad, a person can dream of building a quiet well-ordered society. Where the past still has some meaning and value, and the trains run on time (to whatever timetable you like).

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I remember reading Peter Denny in RM say that he rarely had a full day off each week with the different duties the job required. But within most days there's  was an odd hour or two here and there which he could devote to the railway. He concluded that he felt he acheieved more this way than devoting a whole day to Buckingham.

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3 hours ago, Bishop of Welchester said:

 

On the other hand, I have heard the suggestion that it's a kind of megalomania; the modeller creates a little world that he can control.

 

I have met a few modellers over the years who would fit that description, not necessarily those associated with the church.

 

Peter Denny didn't come across as one of them to me!

 

A chap who I met at a show once who had been to the B & B told me that he had awoken in the small hours to use the facilities at the end of the corridor and had heard a noise from a room and looked in to see Peter working at his fretsaw machine, so at least some of his modelling was nocturnal.  

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