My mother, Elizabeth (Bessie) Ann Eyre born in 1918, would have been an organist and a Sunday school teacher at the chapel prior to her marriage to Horace Dalton of Hathersage. Dad was a local preacher but I don’t think there was a romantic meeting at the chapel – more probably at Hope Fair where sheep were bought and sold. On their marriage they became active members of Edale Methodist Church as they rented first Back Tor Farm and then Lady Booth Farm (both in Edale) before becoming tenants of Cliff College Farm at Stanton Ford, Calver in 1952. They first worshipped at Baslow and subsequently Calver Methodist Church where mum was an organist until she was too old to play.
Mum’s older sister, Sarah, never married and lived with (and subsequently cared for) her maternal aunt, also Sarah. Her maternal grandparents (whose surname was also Eyre) also lived in Castleton. Castleton was a place where Sarah, Bessie and their brother, Hubert, were educated from time to time but I also have a photograph of my mother as a pupil at Derwent School before the valley was flooded. To get to school they must have walked to Gillot Hey where presumably they were picked up. Sarah was a stalwart supporter of the Methodist church in Castleton and was a steward there.
There was also a more indirect witness with friendships made before the war with scouts from a Sheffield troop who used the hut. One of them, Robin Roberts, who became a teacher/headmaster after his wartime military service, was a close friend of our family and an adopted “uncle” for my sister and me. I am still in touch with his son, Andrew, who has just retired as an orthopaedic surgeon. During the war this Scout troop printed newsletters with fascinating and amusing contributions from those on active service.
Graham Dalton
Woodlands Methodist Church 