Welcome to ‘Dabdown’, the title of the definitive biography of Whitecroft, written by Jenny Care. There are generous and evocative introductions in this book, by the Countess Bathurst, who has a particular interest in the village, and by the most famous of Greeks, Geoffrey ‘Gruffy’ Aldridge, the official ‘Lord Mayor of the Ancient Citie of Whitecroft’. Dabdown is inhabited by the Greeks, and in honour of the Whitecroft choir in 1932 the famous forest poet FW Harvey wrote ‘The curious thing about the Greeks, they always sing before they speaks, and drinks before they sing’.

Not perhaps the most inspired of Will Harvey’s verses, but it captures the spirit of the great Whitecroft choirs of the past in genuine forest grammar. No one seems to know for certain why the nicknames ‘Dabdown’ and ‘the Greeks’ are associated with the ‘Ancient Citie’ emerged, but there are many theories.

Whitecroft is at the western end of the string of contiguous villages from Yorkley, Will Harvey’s home, through Pillowell to Whitecroft, and it’s not easy for an outsider to tell when one ends and the next one begins.

The best Sunday pub quiz team in the Forest at the end of the last century was based at the pub known as The Swan Pillowell but it always seemed to me to be in Whitecroft. The Miners Arms at Whitecroft continued the quiz traditions of the area, and the gentle walk from Whitecroft back to Parkend through the forest corridor along the 1903 highway was a scenic end to a happy evening, especially if we had won.

In the early part of last century, Whitecroft had thriving football, rugby and cricket clubs, but sadly only the football club survives, which it does very successfully. I played cricket for St Briavels against Whitecroft many years ago in its wonderful forest venue in the low hill on the Parkend side of the village.

This venue, with the former Speech House cricket field were the most scenic grounds that I have played on. The pitch was in the forest on the edge of Pillowell Woods, celebrated in verse by Will Harvey. I was given out lbw when I had clearly hit the ball with my bat, and the injustice of that umpire’s decision still rankles, especially as it was a St Briavels umpire who made it.

The Whitecroft cricket club did not survive long after that, and the rugby club, which was a formidable force in the early part of last century, had folded many years earlier.

It’s good to see the reopening of the Lydney to Parkend rail line over the last few years, with the level crossing at Whitecroft and Whitecroft station coming back into coming back into action supported by the active rail supporters group. The famous pin factory, a local landmark has gone, but around the level crossing there is a wide range of local businesses, as well as the great Miners Arms.