Shepton
Mallet Collett Reunion June 1996
On
Saturday 8th June
1996 a reunion of the Collett clan took place,
thanks to Margaret Chadd
who organised it. This took place at Collett
Park
in Shepton Mallet in Somerset
and attracted the interest of Colletts from as far
away as Australia
and New Zealand
who attended the large gathering. The
actual day of the reunion was chosen to coincide with the annual Shepton Mallet Country Fair known as ‘Collett Day’ and to
celebrate the park’s ninetieth birthday.
The
parkland and lake originally belonged to John Kyte
Collett (1836-1933) who was born in Longbridge House
in Cowl Street. His father, who ran a day school for boys,
died when John was just two years old forcing his mother to open a grocery
business. As a schoolboy John was
evicted from the privately owned land behind Langthorne
House (St Paul’s
Junior
School). This caused him to vow that one day he would
make sure the children of the town had somewhere to play. John eventually joined his mother and his
sister Ann Mary who had moved to Cardiff. Once there he set about converting his
mother’s grocery business into a successful international wholesale trading
company. During this time he did not
lose touch with Shepton Mallet and quietly bought
field after field which, on 20th
June 1906 culminated in him officially handing the
land over to the town. In 1909 the park
was visited by the Prince and Princess of Wales,
later King George V and Queen Mary, who officially thanked John Kyte Collett for his gift.
To show their appreciation, the townspeople elected to honour his memory
by naming the park after him. However, a
formal naming ceremony had never taken place, hence the reason for the reunion
in 1996.
The
day commenced with a buffet breakfast at the Shrubbery Hotel in the centre of
the town. It was a warm summer day and
numerous Collett family trees were displayed in the hotel garden, where
everyone mingled and exchanged information.
A number of vintage motorcars lead a motorcade the short distance from
the hotel to the park. The first car
carried the Mayor and Mayoress with the guests of
honour John Collett and his wife Esme from Sydney
in Australia
who were there to undertake the official naming of the park. John’s family originated in Yorkshire
and this was only his third visit to England. During an earlier visit in 1992 he had met
members of the town council and it was this chance meeting that prompted them
to invite John back to participate in the opening ceremony. It should be noted that he had no known
connection with John Kyte Collett expect the sharing
of the same christian name,
which seemed to satisfy the town council.
Also
attending the ceremony that day were Maxwell Amner
Collett, his wife Noeline and their son Noel, who had
travelled all the way from their home in New
Zealand. This family line is the subject of this Part 6
of the Collett Family History commencing with Elizabeth Collett (Ref. 1N47).
Other
Colletts present that day included: Margaret
Chadd nee Collett and her husband George; Alex
Collett from Dartmouth in Devon; Sheila Sewell nee Collett and her husband
Donald from Southwold in Suffolk; Robert Collett from
Suffolk; Phyllis Collett Tyler and her step-daughter Margaret Collett from
Cheltenham; Gordon Rookledge
Collett from Carshalton Beeches in Surrey; Rob Collett and his wife from Lincolnshire;
and Neil Collett from Kenilworth whose family line is the subject of Part Five
of the Collett family history.
Also
in attendance were Diana Firmston Williams nee
Collett and her husband Paddy from Godalming in Surrey.
Diana’s uncle was Bernard Collett who compiled the 1921 Upper Slaughter Collett
family tree that was deposited in the Gloucester
Public Library. Her brother Peter
Collett lives in Australia
and was unable to be present on this day.
Another Peter Collett from Oslo
was also invited, but again was unable to attend.
Last,
but by no means least, was Brian Collett (Ref. 1R3) from Northampton,
accompanied by Philip Goddard (Ref. 1R5) his Collett cousin from Swindon,
and father and son David (Ref. 2R24) and Barry Collett (Ref. 2S29) who had
travelled up from Plymouth.