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March 2021 March 2021

on the lectern waking Mr.
Toms up with a start! Mr
Fooks, the thatcher, played
the organ. George Toms
planted the oak tree on
the road going towards
S c h o o l L a n e ,
commemorating the
Coronation of George VI in
the May 1937, sadly he
died in the August of the
same year at the age of
80, being the village’s
oldest resident then. One
of his sons, Harry, was
apprenticed to a carpenter through the Frampton Charity. Another son, Reggie,
who many in the village still remember, bought No.18, Briantspuddle at the
auction of the Estate in October 1953 for £150, having lived there while employed
on the Estate. No.20, next door, was sold for £25 but the Fire Station, now the
garage for No.20 went for£60! Reggie’s son Arthur bought No.20 which was in a
very dilapidated state, renovating the entire cottage himself, then selling it on.
BERE REGIS BELLRINGERS Reggie and his son Geoffrey, who was profoundly deaf, lived in No.18 until
Reggie’s death in the 1970’s.
On January 26 we heard the grim news that the number Recently a generous donation was made by George’s great granddaughter,
th
of deaths in the UK from Covid 19 had exceeded 100,000. Joan Nash of Winterbourne Kingston, to do up the commemorative plaque at the
In sadness for those deceased and for their families, the base of the oak tree and to tidy up and replant the hedge behind it, so it now
Union Flag was raised to half-mast on the church tower and looks very smart and cared for again.
a single bell was tolled. Also in our thoughts were the
thousands of medical staff and carers of all sorts who would Susan Taylor
have been risking their own lives trying to save those who
have not survived.

Over the 500 years that they have hung
in the tower our church bells have rung
out to mark many major occasions,
some sad like this time, some watchful
as for curfews, some joyful like the
cessation of hostilities after WW2. I
imagine that, like all of us, they look
forward to the next occasion being one
of hope and gladness.

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