Yeovil Bonny Baby competition
On Saturday, 19 July 1924, the Yeovil Liberal Association held a fete in the grounds of Inglemount, West Coker Road, the residence of Alderman Wreford John Charles Pittard.[1] Scheduled to run from four to ten, it included a host of fun attractions, including the Yeovil Cadet Band, maypole and country dances, skittle competitions, tennis competitions, and ballroom dancing. One of the highlights was a Bonnie Baby competition, a well-publicised event with three prizes: best boy, best girl, and a runner-up prize.
The Bonnie Baby competition was a great success and attracted forty entries. The judges awarded Mary Joyce Gatehouse of 2 Ivy Cottages the first prize for a girl and Francis Gordon Burge of Highlands Cottage, Ash, Martock the first prize for a boy. They awarded Reginald James Dedman of East Grinstead the runner-up prize.
Reginald’s parents were on holiday, staying at Hardington Moor with relatives. However, his father, Geoffrey, had worked as a young man in Yeovil.
To the passing observer, Reginald’s parents would have looked like a happy couple, seemingly without a care in the world. However, the truth was that Geoffrey had endured immense suffering and upheaval over the previous eight years.
War, peace and a fresh start
The 1911 census shows Geoffrey Dedman working as an apprentice at 14 Middle Street, a long-established grocery shop run by Charles John Hook.[2]
In the spring of 1916, Geoffrey married Adelaide Marion Purchase of Hardington.[3] In December 1916, he enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers.[4] In March or April 1918, he was captured by the Germans as their spring offensive steamrollered westward, and he was held as a prisoner of war in Germany.[5] His front-line duty on the western front would have been harrowing, while his time in Germany would have been degrading and wretched.
When the war ended, Geoffrey returned to England, and he and his wife settled in East Grinstead. Drawing on Geoffrey’s earlier work experience in Yeovil, they ran a shop in the town selling sweets, cakes, and delicatessen items. Their daughter, Joan, later remembered the actor John Mills and the comedian Tony Hancock visiting the shop.[6]
Geoffrey and Adelaide maintained regular contact with Hardington. In June 1921, Grace Hunt and her husband visited them, taking with them Hardington postmistress Emma Purchase, whose husband had passed away the previous year.[7]
Geoffrey and Adelaide had three children: Joan, Reginald and Kenneth. The bonnie baby Reginald was a leading aircraftman during the Second World War. He survived the war and married in 1958.[8]
[1] Western Chronicle, 25 July 1924, p.4. Wreford Pittard was still living at Inglemount when he died in 1959 (National Probate Calendar).
[2] RG14, piece 14414. Charles John Hook ran a grocery shop at 14 Middle Street from 1886 until he died in 1929.
[3] Civil Registration Marriage Index.
[4] World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920.
[5] Western Times, 14 May 1918, p.6.
[6] East Grinstead Observer, 10 December 1997, p.18.
[7] RG15, piece 4794, schedule 249.
[8] Civil Registration Marriage Index.
