The Somerton Hour, SWIG, the youth club and the Teatime Club
Alongside the church, the show and the Social Club, Somerton has had its own talks, groups and campaigns. This page gathers some of them. Each one rests on reports in the Valley News, and we have kept advertised events apart from those reported afterwards. All three stories have gaps, and we would love your help to fill them.
The Somerton Hour was "a series of talks designed to entertain, inform and stimulate discussion", held in the village hall. The first report we have found, in the February 2011 issue, says the series was then about halfway through and describes its first three speakers (Valley News, February 2011, p.10):
The report does not give dates. It mentions signed books making good Christmas presents and looks forward to "a good 2011", so the talks were probably given in late 2010. It thanks Sue Muir "for finding and persuading such interesting people to come and talk", the Social Club for running the bar, and the ladies who provided the refreshments. So the Social Club helped on the night, but we do not know that it organised the series.
These were announced in advance. We have not yet found reports confirming that they went ahead.
Della Paviour also remembers Raymond Blanc giving a talk. We have not yet found a report of it, or a date.
Can you help? Do you have a programme, poster or ticket for the Somerton Hour, or remember who else spoke and when? Photographs of any of the talks would be wonderful.
SWIG was a village group for women, separate from the Social Club and not part of the Women's Institute. It met in the village hall on the second Tuesday of each month, at 7.15 in the evening, with speakers, a famous Christmas supper and outings. "We are not called SWIG for nothing," its 2017 notice said of the meetings (Valley News, December 2017, p.16).
At its November 2017 meeting the group looked back over the previous six months and decided to carry on as before without a committee, with volunteers taking charge of each meeting: arranging the speaker and refreshments and opening up the hall. Caroline volunteered to be treasurer, and Chris to send out the notices of meetings (Valley News, December 2017, p.16). The report gives first names only.
SWIG's last meeting was in October 2023. In "SWIG Swan Song", Rosemary Arnold wrote that for many years the group had welcomed speakers, several from the village itself, and enjoyed festive meals and trips out, but that no one was willing to take over as organiser, so it had decided to close. At the final meeting Yvonne and Terry Crane brought their guide dogs, Velvet and Flo, to talk about the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, and £236.75 was given to the charity (Valley News, December 2023, p.26).
Can you help? We do not know when SWIG began, or who started it. Early programmes, lists of speakers, photographs and memories would all be welcome.
In the 1980s Somerton had a weekly youth club in the village hall, probably on a Tuesday evening. Della Paviour remembers it being run by Shirley and Jerry Grant, with help from Chris Gill, Ken Stroud and Karen Bowmaker. Ron Beasley often came down with his guitar and taught the children songs.
It was not only for Somerton children. Young people came from the villages round about, including Ardley, Souldern and Fritwell. There was a little tuck shop and plenty to do: games of all kinds, darts, pool and table tennis.
Source: Della Paviour's recollection, October 2026. We have not yet found a written record of the club.
Can you help? Did you go to the youth club? We would love to know when it started and finished, which night it met, and who else helped, and to see any photographs.
Somerton's playground opened in the summer of 2013, after five years of work by the village's young families. The story is told in a report in the August 2013 Valley News (Valley News, August 2013, p.15).
According to the report, there had once been a small play area on a site known as "the old sewage works", with equipment built and put up by local farmers, but it was condemned and taken down in the 1990s. In 2008 a group of young families came together to campaign for a new playground. They formed a social group, the Somerton Teatime Club, which met regularly in the village hall.
The Parish Council applied for grants for landscaping and equipment. The Teatime Club did most of the local fundraising, and the Social Club also arranged events. Nicholson's nurseries did the landscaping and fencing, with native hedgerows, and Trevor Stewart Timber Play designed the equipment around a farming theme. Work began in the spring of 2013 and the equipment was built over the following months.
The opening was announced for Friday 26 July 2013 at 4.30pm, with a Teddy Bears' picnic. We have not yet seen a report of the day itself.
Can you help? Do you have photographs of the opening, or of the old play area? Do you know when the farmers' equipment was put up?
See also A Night Out in Somerton: the Social Club and The Village Hall.
Did you grow up in Somerton, or does this article bring back a memory? Do you spot something that needs correcting or adding? Rosemary Arnold and Della Paviour would love to hear from you.