A newly created “trial” edition of an Old Guide to Old Wycombe is available as a pdf via the link below.
Incorporating material originally published in the Bucks Free Press, and illustrated with contemporary photographs drawn from the SWOP collection, Jackie Kay has updated the Guide to make it accessible to a modern reader. She invites you to imagine yourself strolling along the High Street and Easton Street at the start of the twentieth century with an elderly gentleman, Charles Walter Raffety, as your guide. The “Grand Old Man of High Wycombe” as he was affectionately known at that time would reminisce to you about his childhood growing up in High Wycombe in much the same way as he did in a series of “chats” he delivered to groups of young people at social gatherings. His recollections might not be 100% accurate, and he might digress at times, but you would be sure to emerge with a better understanding of how life was for High Wycombe residents in Victorian times.
To access the new pdf edition of the Guide, here is the necessary link: RaffetysChatsFinalVersion
The Newsletter Editor of the High Wycombe Society would be pleased to receive feedback on this publication for possible inclusion in future editions. (See Contact Us page for contact details).
