Tansley Village

Updated 23rd September 2014

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Memories of Tansley in a letter from Terry Condliff (received 16th September 2014)

My name is Terry Condliff and for the first 7 years of my life I lived in Knoll Cottage opposite Knoll Farm that was run by Bill Taylor. I do know that he has a daughter still living in Tansley (Kathleen I think). My mother, Lil as she was known from Bow in London, a cockney and my father Denis from Stoke on Trent met whilst serving in the war with the RAF. When my mother was pregnant with me she left the RAF and settled with her mother in Matlock because her family had been evacuated from the heavily bombed East End of London. Mothers to be from London were sent to Willersley Castle which was a temporary maternity home where 2,000 or so babies were born in a 2 year period. Luckily I was born there on 28th August 1944 and I am proud to say that I am a Derbyshire Lad.

When my father left the RAF at the end of the war they moved to Tansley where we lived until 1953, then we moved to Essex where there were more prospects of work available and when we moved I was bereft because I loved Tansley and still visit regularly to this day as much as I can.

My life revolved around the farm because I became pals with young Bill Taylor (Willy) who has just retired from farming near Bourne in Lincolnshire. I can remember riding atop the big shires dragging the drays down the village to the Hollywood area, using cut off hayforks to do our bit. I can remember playing on the brook at the farm, fishing near the dam, going on a day trip by coach to the coast (Cleethorpes I think). I went to the new school in the year it opened and my claim to fame is that because I had a day off school I was able to watch the workers taking the fence away from the new swing area and I was the very first to use the swings! I must confess that on many of my visits I still go and sit on the swing for nostalgia's sake.

Names I remember are Terry Hayto, sadly no longer with us, Cliff Bradley, the Crappers where I saw my first TV and many more happy memories of your lovely village, please look after it I might be back!

After schooling in Essex I left at 16 and joined the RAF and eventually became a Transport Command Navigator and have been fortunate enough to see a large part of the world but Tansley has never left me!

I now live in North Lincolnshire married to Helen with a daughter Rebecca who lives in Australia and a granddaughter Helen who lives nearby.

[Many thanks to Terry for sharing these memories]

Edify small garment printing business - now open in Tansley

Using the latest direct to garment printing technology Edify produces T shirts with your design and choice of colour, style and size. Specialising in small print runs from 1 to 100 it offers a low cost, high quality service with no set up fees, so whether you want a single bespoke shirt, company work wear or team colours it can deliver just what you need.

For more information and to place an order visit the Edify web site.

World War One Rolls of Honour

One hundred years ago, on 28th June 1914, the murders in Sarajevo, Bosnia of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie led to Europe and much of the world being engulfed in a Great War, now known as World War One. The War mobilised 70 million combatants and left nearly 10 million of them dead.

On 4th August 1914, after Austria-Hungary, Serbia, Russia and Germany had gone to war with each other and Germany had invaded France, Luxembourg and Belgium, Britain declared war on Germany. According to Keith Taylor's book, Tansley Remembered, on that day 20 men in Tansley who were members of Territorial Battalions or the Derbyshire Yeomanry were mobilised. Later, in the evening of Tuesday 1st September, 3 men volunteered at a recruitment meeting at Tansley National School (now Tansley Village Hall). The enlistment list remained open at the Tansley Institute (now Tansley Community Hall) every evening from 7 pm to 9pm and many more men were recruited. In total, 115 men enlisted from Tansley, shown on Rolls of Honour and 31 of them (27%) died in service, as recorded on the memorial, unveiled in January 1920, in Tansley Church. Extensive information about each man is in Tansley Remembered and there is a summary at rolls-of-honour.com.

Information about and photos of World War One Rolls of Honour relating to enlistment in the armed services by men from Tansley and men who worked at Tansley Wood Mills have been added to the 'Local history' menu. You can take a shortcut to them here (Tansley) and here (Tansley Wood Mills).

Caroline Povey wins a bronze medal

Congratulations to Caroline Povey from Tansley who won the bronze medal in the women's trap clay shooting at the Commonwealth Games at Carnoustie, Scotland, beating New Zealand's Natalie Rooney in a shoot-off.

Photos of Tansley Church's flower festival published

Please click here to see this year's beautiful and creative displays on the theme of wedding anniversaries.

Photos by Steve Greenhough of Tansley's hanging baskets

Steve would like to share these photos of the village's hanging baskets on/near Church Street that he has taken on his post round.

Dog walking and pet minding

See details of a local service by MCS here on the "Information library" page.

Results of the 2014 Tansley Hill Race held on 5th June

See the results, race report and photos on the Tansley Hill Race page.

Tansley Church's clock converted to electric power

The clock in Tansley Church has been converted to operate under the power of electric motors rather than the gravitational force of heavy weights wound up each week by hand. The last person to wind the clock is John Rigarlsford, shown in the photo. The clock will automatically keep the correct time as it is now synchronised with the radio time signal. For more information, see the Church's Tansley Times, 25th May 2014.

Derbyshire Dales District Council approves allocation of 25 houses on Whitelea Nursery site in Tansley

At a meeting on 14th February, DDDC approved this allocation of houses. Details of other allocations in DDDC's area, as reported by Matlock Mercury, can be seen here.