Hilda Chart
Profile
(Photo is of a damsel fly on a phlomis in Hilda and Norman's garden)
Hilda Chart was born in 1909 in the Gloucestershire village of Oldland Common, a rural community with the advantage of work for the women in the shape of a corset factory. Hilda remembers walking past the factory and hearing the wonderful singing of the girls as they worked. As a child she was greatly influenced by her father. He was a builder by trade, and at various times a postman, merchant seaman, and pet-shop owner. He was not a church-goer, and he was poorly educated, but he was a man of high principles who had a lively sense of humour and read and thought deeply. Hilda remembers vividly the day when he was arrested and taken from their home as a conscientious objector in the first world war. He was in prison for some time and did hard labour, building roads. Hilda’s mother was a Primitive Methodist.
Hilda did well at school, won a scholarship, and later passed the exams for a place at Cambridge University. But the family could not afford to send her there, so she went instead to Bristol University and remained living at home. Her subject was French, and she spent some time studying at the Sorbonne and working as an au pair in southern France. When she qualified, she took up various teaching posts in secondary schools. It was while she was teaching in the Midlands that she was first introduced to the Unitarians. The preacher in the Wolverhampton chapel was the eloquent Revd. Keir Murran – and, says Hilda, "That was it".
Hilda married Norman Chart in 1945. She continued to attend the Unitarian chapel in Walsall, while he went to the Anglican church, where he was sidesman and bellringer. Later he became a Unitarian too. As well as bringing up two daughters and helping with Norman’s market-garden business when they moved to Wiltshire, Hilda (with her husband’s support) took five elderly relatives under her wing (and roof) during the 1960s and 1970s, patiently caring for their various needs. She was active in the local Dramatic Society, both on the stage and behind the scenes, where she created imaginative props and costumes, including a splendid mermaid. Natural history and art have always been important to her. She draws and paints, having illustrated the covers of many village magazines.
Hilda and Norman retired to live in Oxfordshire, in 1981. Her contribution to the Standlake Illustrated Map is displayed in the village hall. She is particularly interested in birds, has painted many, and derives great pleasure from watching them in her garden. She also enjoys people watching! She and Norman rarely miss Sunday morning worship in Manchester College Chapel. Asked what she particularly values about Unitarians, she replies: "Independent thought and interesting people". Christine Jones July 2002 (Hilda Chart died in March 2008, age 98)