Lydney Park Estate c. 1936
Back
Row : 1 Casper (Jim) Prakel, 2 Reg Williams (slightly forward)
ran the paper shop in Alvington?, 3 , 4 , 5 Edwin (Ted) Reeks, 6 ,
7 Clifford Smith.
Front Row : 1, 2 , 3 Viscount Bledisloe,
4 , 5 Cyril Vaughan , 6, Sid Chris Murphy.
The photo was taken on Lydney Park Estate during an extension to West Wing of
the Mansion around 1936 to include the New Zealand Room and Roman Relics Room
and one other room.. We think that these were all local builders employed by
a Gloucester firm for this particular work.
- Research by : Dave Powell
Alison Badger added (August 2010): "... Lord Bledisloe was Governor General of New Zealand in the early 1930s and is remembered with great fondness for his good works here, not least purchasing with his own money the Treaty House of Waitangi and bequeathing it to the nation. Also the Bledisloe Cup is the premier rugby event here and many places bear his name Bledisloe Park etc. He founded a trust to financially support any Lydney native to travel to NZ if they wished to start a new life. My brother Christopher Vine came to NZ in 1981 as part of this scheme".
Roland Horne added (Septemebr 2010): "... Casper Prakel was not known as Jim - a nickname associated with his son Charles C.S. Prakel. Would have been aged approx 50 at time of photo".
V Millard added (September 2011): "... Can this photo be tied to Charles Taylor who worked at the Park".
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