Who was Amelia Carter?
Several local villages in and around 'The Land of The Twelve Churches' have village halls which are also known as 'Carter Institutes'. Many people ask... 'Why Carter Institutes?' and 'Has it anything to do with Carterton?'
This page attempts to answer these questions, primarily with a booklet written and published as part of the centenary celebrations for Filkins Carter Institute in 2014.
You can read the booklet below.
Whether known as Village Halls or Carter Institutes, they play an important part in our village life, as venues both for public events and for private parties. Do, please, support them.
But, first, here's a poem, also written for the Filkins hall centenary, musing on the woman in the photograph still hanging on the wall, 100 years on...
100 years on
Amelia Carter still hangs on the wall,
Embroidered in velvet, and feathers, and lace:
Victorian ghost in our up-to-date hall…
What’s she got to do with ‘community space’?
In the facts of her life there’s not much to see
That explains why ’twas Filkins she helped out, I think:
Her grandsire was vicar of Kencot, but she
Was Canadian born, so no obvious link.
But look at her picture, and see how she stands:
Quizzical, hint of a smile in her eyes.
She points to the book that she holds in her hands:
“It’s knowledge” she’s saying, “the crop of the wise,
And it doesn’t much matter at all where you sow,
So long as you share out whatever you grow.”