'Tails'
A vehicle for Occold folk
to have their say or
to exchange their thoughts

When I first stepped foot in Occold twenty five years ago I was shown around ‘The Forge’ by Albert Elliot. The buildings had clearly seen better days.

Having been taken around the cottages and the Forge buildings, I began to wonder if there was a toilet. Eventually we were lead into a toilet-cum-bathroom built into an outbuilding which had been joined onto the cottages, upon which Albert exclaimed “Take no notice of our tails”.

He quickly realised that we hadn’t a clue as to what he was talking about and explained that he was referring to the bundle of small sheets, about the size of this page, of newspaper which were neatly hanging from a string by the toilet.

Today we think we’re very ‘Green’ when we toddle down to the playing field with a few (dozen?) wine bottles. But in Albert’s time recycling was a normal part of getting by. I can imagine a young Albert reading these clipped writings by a Tilley lamp whilst conducting his ablutions. Surely his brother, with such a literary name as George Elliot, must also have been an avid reader of ‘tails’.

When I decided to add some odds and ends of, hopefully interesting, anecdotes, history, humour and views at the tail–end of Occold’s newsletter, I could think of no better name than that of the Elliot masterpiece Tails. I cannot expect it to prove as useful as the original work.

Andy Andrews