We are hoping to build a collection of memories from current and ex-residents – a written version of oral histories, so to speak. As the collection builds, we’ll add links so that you can jump to a particular item, and jump back to the top of the page.
If you have any memories you’d like to share, please contact us. If anyone has recollections of the markets in the 60s and 70s, or any photos, we’d love to hear from you. We’re also still looking for Well Dressing photos to plug the gaps in our collection and any further recollections of how it started in Monyash.
You can get in touch via our contact form here.
May Market
One of the current village residents shares her memory of how the May Market came to be…
It began in the 1960s when a number (mainly women) of villagers formed a group to help raise funds to support a medical centre in Southern India founded by a lady called Dora Scarlett. She named the clinic Seva Nilayam, which means Home of Service, and it provided free medical care. It’s thought that the connection with Monyash is through the sister of one of the villagers at the time. So the bank holiday markets were started, one in May and the other in August, under the umbrella of the charity War On Want.
There were stalls on the green around the market cross selling pottery made by the people who used the clinic. Then there were also stalls for village charities including the church and the WI. The Methodist Chapel served refreshments.
Dora Scarlett used to send letter updates to the village. There’s lots of information online about her.
The well dressings were started later by another villager, who lived on Chapel St. Although Monyash in the Domesday Book is referred to as ‘Maneis’, meaning ‘many wells’, there was no tradition of well dressing previously.
If anyone has recollections of the markets in the 60s and 70s, or any photos, we’d love to hear from you. We’re also still looking for Well Dressing photos to plug the gaps in our collection.
You can get in touch via our contact form here.