Welcome to the Rudloe and environs website.
Here you will find news, articles and photos of an area that straddles the Cotswold Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in north-west Wiltshire.
Contributions in the form of articles or photos are welcome. Even those with completely contrary views to mine!
Thanks to the website builder 1&1 and Rob Brown for the original idea.
Rudloescene now, in January 2014, has a sister, academic rather than anarchic, website about Box history here: http://www.boxpeopleandplaces.co.uk/
It contains thoroughly professional, well-researched articles about Box and its people.
Contact rudloescene through the 'Contact' page.
November 2020 and the end of an era with the sad news of the death of John Parker whose eponymous gallery was a significant presence for many years at the corner of the High Street and Martingate Precinct. John was always engaging whether talking about the interesting items in the gallery and his quests at auctions or of the evening talks on crafts and antiques that he arranged.
We would always feel rather guilty going into the gallery just for a chat with John and Jackie or to fuss George, John's Labrador, who would rush to the door (usually with his 'teddy' which may be seen on the floor of the gallery in the picture at left) to greet us.
Whenever the family came over from Gibraltar, the kids (and the adults too) would insist that we visit the gallery so, in order to 'justify' our visit, we would buy a greetings card or two (or three). But there were times when proper purchases could not be resisted. Christmas 2018 saw the arrival of quite a number of GWR (the original GWR, not the current one) railway jigsaws - the temptation was too much (see elsewhere for a photo of a completed jigsaw) for a railway nerd.
Another 'big' purchase was an aluminium model of Concorde, a model which would, at one time, have sat on the desk of an Aerospatiale or BAC executive.
But with John's passing we have come to the end of a notable era in the life of Corsham High Street. He will be sorely missed.
In December 2020, a Corsham High Street 'institution', Green Ginger, will close its doors for the final time with the retirement of Stuart and Nina. The photo below shows the couple 'in their heyday' outside the shop in 2012.
And in the early summer of 2020, another loss to the High Street was Camomile Cafe, effectively a victim of the Covid social distancing requirement. Frances, Anna and staff provided a space catering for people with small children to enjoy meeting with others without the need to worry about the children being disruptive or messy. As well as a cafe, Camomile organised numerous activities designed to bring the whole community together such as birthday parties and after-school clubs in cookery, science and yoga. There were 'Girls Pudding Nights' with guest speakers and 'Date Nights' for couples, who could not not find a babysitter, to enjoy a meal while the children were looked after upstairs. A unique cafe and a significant loss to the High Street scene.