Dick and Jo Chadwick are seeking help." We collect and spend our free time studying studio and local pottery made between 1920 and the present day. Last week we came across a super green earthenware vase with WADHURST incised on the base. This excellent piece was clearly made by a very good potter and is much in the style of pots made by two of England's finest 1920-1930 potters Seymour Wakely at Upchurch near Sittingbourne in Kent and Reginald Wells in West Malling. We reckon the vase was made around that time and has all the hallmarks of those two great and influential potters. We know that there was a pottery in 1978 called Best Beech Pottery in Station Road run by Richard Thomas but this looks and feels a lot older. Do you have any records showing an earlier pottery in Wadhurst and perhaps any names. It is amazing how many small potteries were operating in Kent and Sussex at that time." If anyone has any ideas - pass them to Dick & Jo direct or through the website

Have we been invaded? Who knows what this is? In a field at the north west end of Riseden Lane there is a large figure - three legged as can be seen from the inset.   Art? By whom? or just fun like the sculptures on the autoroute from Calais to Boulogne?

Art Schefler (airplanestuff1@aol.com) e-mailed the Wadhurst Website on Monday, January 05, 2004 at 17:39:03 from 321 Corinne Circle Shreveport LA phone: (318) 865-7604 with the following comment

"I have a small metal container in the form of a pig, very detailed. The head snaps back to reveal the inside. It has a small ring on the bottom which, I suppose was to attach it to a lanyard. It appears to be a snuff holder but, I am not certain of the purpose. On the side is engraved "Old WadHurst Farm". It is about 2" tall. "

Subsequently he sent me a few pictures of it - it actually says 'Little Wadhurst Farm'.

Do you have any idea what it is or if it is associated with Wadhurst? It was then put up for sale on e-Bay and failed to sell for $63. Last month another was offered on e-Bay, selling at the last minute for £20. A further three have come to light so far.

Since then several more have come to light on e-Bay, some selling for around £30 others being ofered at much more and presumably not raising any interest.  The story of Little Wadhurst Farm has been tracked back a little [WHS Newsletter no. 3]- a 1920's scam whereby people bought pigs for fattening and a share in the profit when sold.  However, when the business went bankrupt, there was not profit - and few pigs.  Rather like ostrich farming in the 1990's.  And there seems to be no local connection - the farm was near Bluebell Hill in Kent.

Does anyone have ideas? If so, e-mail the WHS Newsletter Editor