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Archiving Saltford’s village history

On 3rd December 1976, Points West broadcast an item by John Norman when he visited Saltford, near Bath, to meet Percy Sims, the author of a new book tracing the history of the village.

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It seems that today nobody has bettered Mr Sims' history and a search on the Internet sadly reveals very little about the village and its past.

The river at Saltford

In fact, enter 'Saltford' into Google's search engine and you begin to wonder what there is to report on.

Amongst various commercial websites is one rather sad reference to 'Toilets in Saltford' and even then when you open the site it explains how 'the public conveniences in Manor Road were closed in May 2004', concluding, 'the building has been disposed of by the council and is now under new ownership.'

So imagine the delight of the BBC researcher when they discovered that in December 1976 Saltford had plenty to talk about – particularly in terms of its past happenings.

John Norman - Points West reporter

As well as seeing Mr Sims signing copies of his book, and local women expressing their delight in receiving their personally autographed editions, the film shows Norman reading extracts as he walks the streets, visiting various notable buildings.

There's also a rather closed interview with Mr Sims who, although an expert in his field, does not appear to have jumped into the driving seat of the marketing bandwagon!

Perhaps he was thinking that Saltford's history would simply sell itself.

Sadly, after searching 80,000 booksellers online, we were unable to locate a copy of Mr Sims' publication – perhaps you have still have a copy - if you have, do let us know!

Click on the 'Play archive film' link at the top of the right hand side box.

MORE FILMS FROM POINTS WEST

Use the right hand links to other local Where I Live sites to see more archive film from Points West.

last updated: 25/06/2008 at 11:10
created: 15/11/2005

Have Your Say

Tell us about your memories of Saltford

Dave
In reply to:-andrew_bunbury@hotmail.comCan anyone explain the origins of the name of the village of Saltford? WATCH THE VIDEO

GRAHAM JOHN BENTLEY
I STILL HAVE A SIGNED COPY OF THE BOOK AND VERY GOOD IT IS AS I HAVE LIVED HERE MOST OF MY LIFE

Trevor Ewins
My father wrot a book about Saltford Manor in 1940.Percy Sims was a good friendand they worked together on parts of the book. I have a copy of Percy Sims book and several otherswith notes on thehistory of Saltford.

andrew_bunbury@hotmail.com
Can anyone explain the origins of the name of the village of Saltford?

Duncan Hill
My grandparents lived in Saltford, part of their house is visible in the report. I still have a signed, and well-thumbed, copy Of Percy Sims' book.

michael gillingham
i was bourn in 1942 and lived at twerton in bath and went swimming off the river bank at saltford most weekends in my teenage years.

webmaster@saltford.org
Thanks for mentioning our site. We are a bunch of locals who were born/grew up in Saltford and took part in village life. During a get together in the Jolly one night we decided it would be good to document village life. We hope to include all aspects of village life and include video and sound bites of events. At the moment we are preparing back copies of the communities news letter “SCAN” for display on the site. The village “on line” diary will be used to coordinate village events and may be an online booking system for Saltford Hall. As they say, watch this space. Mr Sims will have a Gallery dedicated to his work and we would like to include a like the BBC video clip. This will be in the new year. Just one thing who informed you about our site, because we are not listed on Google or Yahoo yet. A local then ? Thanks once again, Saltford.org

webmaster@saltford.org
We are putting together a village website with local i/p from Mr Sims and others. Would you like to look at it. www.saltford.org

geoff malkin
As kids in the mid-seventies (around the time of John Norman's report) we were taken to Saltford canoeing by Bedminster Down Boys' Club (sadly now gone). We thought it was a great place and regularly cycled the 10 miles from Bedminster to swim near Shepherds Boathouse during school holidays. It remains one of my favourite places.

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Local BBC Sites

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Related BBC Sites

Places features

Archiving Saltford’s village history

Click on the 'Play archive film' link at the top of the right hand side box.

MORE FILMS FROM POINTS WEST

Have Your Say

SEE ALSO

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