Siegfried Sassoon: Fight to save village park loved by poet

Heytesbury Recreation Ground Trust (HRGT), a charity constituted of residents of the village, near Warminster, is campaigning to raise the funds to save the recreation ground at the heart of the village.

The land has historically been used as a cricket ground, as well as a football ground, and has offered villagers an important green space for generations.

Perhaps most notably, it was once beloved by celebrated war poet, Siegfried Sassoon, who made Heytesbury his home in 1933 and lived there until his passing in 1967.

Sassoon is known to most for his devastating portrayal of the realities of, and couplets such as “Sneak home and pray you'll never know / The hell where youth and laughter go”.

However, he is also known to Heytesbury residents for his love of the cricket club, located on the land the trust is fighting to buy.

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The land in Heytesbury, however, has gone up on the market at a guide price £315,000 and is being marketed by BCM Wilson.

Now, a number of villagers hoping to are fundraising to make a bid to buy the land and protect the poet’s legacy.

Michael Hutchings and Alex Morris are two of the four trustees of HRGT helping lead the fundraising efforts.

Mr Hutchings said: “It says in our mission statement that we want to protect the land from developers.

“The cricket ground is important because it was a favourite spot of Siegfried Sassoon. That’s a national literary giant, and it’s important that we recognise his association with Heytesbury."

Mr Hutchings continued: “Following interviews within the village, we’ve had two £10,000 pledges among many others.

“There’s clearly an appetite from concerned villagers that this is a once in a generation shot. It’s concerning people and they want to help.

“We’ve got to raise £330,000, which is a lot. And to do that you need time. That thing could be sold at any moment. That has already happened to the plot over the road from the site we’re interested in.”

Asked what the trust plans to do with the land, the trustees said they didn’t have any firm objectives aside from obtaining the land for the village.

They added they were pursuing an open dialogue with Heytesbury villagers and were optimistic about the expertise available to the campaign.

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Mr Morris explained: “Setting up the trust was purely out of, ‘there must be something we can do’.

“While there’s a small group at the moment, it clearly needs to be a functional unit of individual. The people involved have a lot of business experience and bring a lot of knowledge to the table. But we’re also working with a lot of villagers who kindly donated time and effort to help themselves.

Mr Hutchings added: “The key point is that we aren’t here to make the trust some magic thing, we’re just here for the community to secure the land and to give them a means of saying how it should be developed, as a recreation ground.”

The trust appears to have strong support from the villagers, with a Thursday, February 27 meeting drawing almost sixty villagers to support the initiative.

Almost 60 villagers attended the meeting to show support for the campaign led by HGRT. (Image: HGRT) HRGT spokesman Roly Rickcord shared his enthusiasm for the early success of the fundraising effort.

He said: “Upholding Siegfried Sassoon’s legacy, especially his passion for the cricket pitch and its surrounding parkland, is of paramount importance to us.

“The outpouring of support from the community has been nothing short of inspiring.

“We remain optimistic about working together to achieve a positive outcome, ensuring that this treasured land remains a place of recreation and inspiration for generations to come.”

To read more about the campaign, click the following link: https://www.hrgtrust.co.uk/