Wally Shibley
Wally Shibley


The clang-clang heard at R & J Reeves was Blacksmith’s Striker Wally Shibley, a tall, upright, precise and meticulous worker. This work was not well paid, so typically he’d been to Dick Grant’s farm milking cows before arriving at Reeves for 8 o’clock. Back home for lunch, he’d snip-snip around his garden, or tap-tap in his shed, until lunch was on the table. Following an afternoon at Reeves and tea, he’d often spend evenings and weekends at Hubert Hosier’s farm.

Wally had grown up with horses on a Norfolk farm, joined the Royal Horse Artillery and taken part in the coronation of King George VI. How he'd met and married Joyce in London is a whole movie script on its own. He followed his Brigadier to Bratton House in 1938 and worked as his groom. At the outbreak of World War II he became the Brigadier’s Batman, stationed in Italy. When asked about his war years he'd just say “You don’t want to know about all that”.

When he returned to Bratton, Wally went to work at Reeves and stayed until they closed in 1972. People with horses came to him for help and farmers asked him to make this and mend that. For many years he was also a coffin bearer and a grave digger, and had once dug a room-size hole for Doug Reed’s petrol tank.

Everybody considered Wally a clever man who, if born in a later generation, would have had university potential. He was respected for his ability to tackle a problem and persisting until he'd puzzled a solution. Wally always had a book on the go, queuing at the mobile library fortnightly, he'd always find something that took his fancy, but never “stupid stories”. In retirement he'd care for donkeys at Manor Farm, tend his allotment, do odd jobs at Doug Reed's garage and every Thursday this tall, upright, precise and meticulous man pushed his mower to the War Memorial.




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Bratton History Association.

The Bratton History Association aims to provide all those curious about local history with an opportunity to meet, exchange ideas, and discover more about the history of Bratton and Wiltshire. Activities include monthly meetings, talks by professional historians, visits to places of interest to historians, and our own local history project.

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