BONDS were reforged at a grand reunion to mark the 20th anniversary of Chedham’s Yard in Wellesbourne winning the BBC Restoration Village contest.
Twelve of the first people who had a blacksmith experience at the historic wheelwrights got together on Saturday (April 11), bringing along the fire pokers, hooks, stakes and plant stands they created at the forge all those years ago.
With backgrounds ranging from air traffic controller to banker, and from learning disabilities support worker to engineering consultant, all the participants admired what the others had achieved in the forge.
Among them was farmer, Michael Gibbs, who had taken time out from lambing to bring in his poker, which had won first prize in a village craft competition.
The yard in Church Walk was run continuously by the Chedham family from the 1820s through to the mid-1960s passing from father to son. Bill Chedham’s was the last of the family working at the yard.
Following the parish council’s purchase of the yard from Bill in 2001 there were 11 years of hard work with archaeological surveys and planning, aided and assisted by Oxford University and other groups.
In 2006, with funds very low, the yard won the third series of the BBC Restoration Village programme which gave access to up to £1million. This was the figure identified as needed to complete the surveys and restoration and to make it a site of interest.
It took another five years of hard work before the yard opened to the public. The work included restoring and preserving the existing buildings and erecting a visitor centre.
Volunteer Derek Apps, who welcomed the blacksmith students back to the yard, said: “We are now in our fifth year of blacksmith experience. Everyone I have spoken to after their time in the forge has been delighted to show me what they have made – and we’ve had over 200 now. It has certainly been very popular – so much so that 2026 sold out before last Christmas.”
After Derek’s welcome, a horse-shoe shaped cake, baked for the occasion by volunteer Margaret Taylor, was cut and handed round.
Visit chedhamsyard.org.uk/ for more details on visiting the yard.
