LOCAL history was brought alive with a model of Symonds Yat Railway Station being displayed at Whitchurch at the weekend.

The exhibition was the culmination of Whitchurch and Ganarew Local History Society’s nine year research into the two villages and surrounding area.

Paul Lansdell, a keen railway modeller for over 50 years explained that it took him six months to complete the model of Symonds Yat Railway Station, complete with platforms, running trains and associated buildings and landscape.

Mr Lansdell said: “The last train service ran from this station in 1958. However, by this time there it was only a single track with the other track being removed in 1921. I have made this model from photographs that pre-date this era with two tracks in place.”

Mr Lansdell, who had been chief mechanical engineer at the Dean Forest Railway for 35 years, explained that a lot of the buildings on the site were of standard construction so that he was able to take advantage of the Great Western Railway buildings kits which are readily available.

One of the characters that was unearthed by the history society was that of Captain Crawshaw who lived in an old chicken hut in the Doward during the 1920s. He sported an untidy moustache and beard; his hair was unkempt and topped off with a Fez while wearing clothes made from rabbit skins.

Once a year he made an appearance that would have graced any Monty Python sketch by wearing his full regimental mess-dress and Wellington boots as he went to boarded the local ferry, en-route to London.

When the ex-army officer advertised for help in carrying out work on his property which was nestled in the woods between Mine Pitts and Doward Crest, two lads responded and ascended the path by the Pancake Hole.

On their arrival Captain Crawshaw, wearing his Fez and rabbit skins and brandishing a rifle shouted out: “Halt! Who goes there?”

The two lads took to their heels and fled not stopping until they reached the bar at the Jampots. The landlord suggested that they had seen a ghost to which they replied: “Bloody hell, no! We’ve just seen Robinson Crusoe.”

Another story that was brought to life was that of a retired Vice-Admiral Harry Woodfall Brent, who entered the Navy as a cadet in 1848 and as captain he commanded the troopship Himalaya from 1879 to 1881, running between Great Britain and the Mediterranean and later became the director of the Royal Indian Marine. He retired in 1889 and moved to the Manor House in Ganarew with wife Elizabeth and daughter Rosa.

As a Mary Berry cook of her day, C S (Dorothy) Peel wrote several books on cookery and worked in London with food production during the First World War and was linked by family to Doward House, which later became Doward Hotel. Her autobiography was ‘Life’s Enchanted Cup’ first published in 1933.

Dorothy married a distant cousin, Charles Steers Peel, with whom she set up home in London. During the First World War she was writing for various magazines, including Hearth & Home, The Queen & The Lady before becoming director of Women’s Services in the Ministry of Food. She was responsible for advising women across the land on how to use their restricted supply of food wisely and began to write recipes which eventually resulted in a number of cookery books being published.

Sally Yeshin, chairman of the history society said that the event proved very popular with people staying for long periods of time, learning about the history of the area and even their own houses.

She added: “Over the years people have given us stories with leads that still needs investigating including the area being involved in the manufacture of glass eyes and having an observation post for the Royal Observer Corps during the early part of the Cold War.”