In Memoriam
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In Memoriam

George Whitton

 

George was born on 14 June 1914, the only child of Frank and May Whitton. They lived in a cottage at the end of School Lane, and George attended Thorpe school until he was 14.

Like many lads of his time, George did odd jobs for people. He collected milk from the dairy at the Hall, and took it in little cans to various houses in the village. One frosty day George decided to slide on an icy puddle, fell over and spilt all the milk. He returned to the dairy for more, but when he delivered the cans to the women concerned they wanted to know why the milk was not fresh ‘but yesterday’s’. As ‘backhouse boy’ for the Dyer family, George was rewarded with the first cake out of the oven from Mrs. Dyer’s baking. He also worked for the Edwards family on Saturdays, and it was through Walter Edwards that George eventually became verger at the church. The story goes that George was in church and noticed Walter, who was the verger, dozing during the sermon. He happened to have his peashooter to hand, and landed a direct hit. However Walter wasn’t asleep and he saw who it was. The outcome was that he taught young George to ring the bells, and over the years George perfected his unique two-hands-and-one-foot style of ringing all three bells together.

When George left school he started work for the Dyer family at Moat Farm and continued there until the farm was sold in 1971. During that time he met and courted Connie. When she was in service in Bury, they would cycle to their meetings on Hardwick heath. Several people mentioned the bunches of flowers that George carried on those occasions. For a while Connie worked in Sussex and then George would cycle to Lavenham, catch the train to London, cross London, train to Sussex to see her, and return the same way. During the Second World War George was a member of the Home Guard. They met at Hall Farm and on Sunday mornings practiced manoeuvres at the Wash. One of the important tasks was to man the roadblock nearby and George was very diligent in keeping a lookout for the enemy who never came.

When George and Connie first married they lived in Glebe Cottage, now Conifers, moving later to Moat Farm Cottage. When Moat Farm was sold George went to work for Admiral and Mrs. Currie at Thorpe Hall, and he and Connie moved into 3 Bury Road. George was gardener at the Hall for many years. Mrs. Currie was very fond of new potatoes and to humour her, George would buy early potatoes from the market and put them into the compost heap. Then when they were needed, he produced earth-covered new potatoes that she thought had come from the garden. He also did odd jobs about the house, and on one occasion was summoned to fmd the cause of the maggots that were dropping from the dining room ceiling onto the table where Mrs. Currie was hosting a smart lunch party. On investigating, George found a dead and decaying rat in the ceiling. He removed it, but the maggots continued to fall.

When Admiral Currie left Thorpe Hall, George cycled to Lavenham to do his garden. He also continued to work at the Hall for the Molyneux family, arriving promptly on his bicycle at 8 am each day. For 15 years he gardened for Dr and Mrs. Muirhead at Water Hall, and their family have very fond memories of George. He described his time working there as ‘fifteen happy years’ and said ‘I know God has been in their garden because He has given me advice


on many occasions’. He enjoyed teaching Pauline’s dog Duke tricks, and would talk politics with anyone who had the time to spare.

As well as gardening for other people, George tended his own garden and allotments. A former resident of The Nook was amazed to see George arrive at his nearby allotment by lamplight on a frosty night and start digging. He continued the next day until the whole plot was dug.

As verger, George prepared the church for services, lit stoves, rang the bells, cleaned, tended the gardens and graves and climbed the vertical tower ladder to put up the flag for special occasions. The photo shows George’s glorious view of the village every morning. Len Smith remembers an occasion when he and George were replacing the rope on the church flagpole. They lowered the flagpole so that the top of it was sticking out several feet over the parapet. Len casually suggested to George that he should walk out along the pole to thread in the new rope at the end of it. Fortunately George had more sense!

He always rang in the New Year, as he knew people in the village liked to hear the bells then. He arrived on his bicycle to unlock the church every morning, and locked it again in the evening, and he carried out this regime until his retirement in 1993. On this occasion a representative of the Vergers’ Guild presented George with a badge and a certificate recording his 53 years as verger. He was also given a cheque from the people of the village at a special lunch party in the village hall, and a plaque was erected in the church to commemorate the event. When asked about his job, George would say that he was ‘half a verger’, because he and Connie worked so much together. They presented the church with a visitors’ book and a table, both still in use today. George came out of retirement briefly in 1995 when he again donned his verger’s robes to conduct Lord Belstead, the Lord Lieutenant of Suffolk, to his seat at the memorial service for Admiral Currie.

George was a member of the Parochial Church Council from 1946 to 1998, and a parish councifior for many years. During his latter years he lived in Greatfields and represented the residents at meetings of the Suffolk Housing Society. George and Connie were members of the Over Sixties Club at Brettenham, and for a while after Connie’s death, George went to The Laurels in Felsham on Thursdays.

George worked hard all his life. He was conscientious and reliable, and very independent. He loved a chat with anyone he met until increasing deafness made that impossible. His friends and neighbours were a great help to him during his last years in Thorpe. Herbert and Phyllis Rampling collected his pension and made sure that his rent and council tax were paid, Jim Smith regularly took him his bread and groceries, and several more friends helped him when he moved across the road from No3 to Greatfields. Every week from 1994, Norman and Betty Squirrell took George to visit Connie in the home in Bury, until her death in December 1996. Early in 2003 George’s health declined and he went first to Walnuttree Hospital in Sudbury, and from there to Ixworth Court, where he died peacefully on Christmas Eve.

Thanks to all those who have supplied me with information about George. I knew him only at the end of his long life, but his death seems to mark the end of an era in Thorpe Morieux.

 

Liz Morley

 

Mrs. Mary Brooks, B.A. (Hons), SRN, SCM, HV

 

 

Mary passed away peacefully at home in Thorpe Morieux on Tuesday, 31st May 2005. She was born in Hallaton, Leicestershire on 21st March 1917.

The funeral took place at St. Mary’s Church, Thorpe Morieux on Friday, 10th June, at 2pm followed by tea and refreshments at the Village Hall.

During her younger years she moved to Coventry with her Parents where at the tender age of 8 she met Edward Charles Brooks who later on became her Husband. Even during those younger years there was a considerable amount of devotion to each other as well, it seems, a certain amount of competition! When Edward got a certificate she also went and achieved one (not to be outdone!). She was also a keen member of the Guide Movement.

When leaving school she then went for training as a Nurse at Gulson Road Hospital in Coventry achieving her State Registered Nurse qualification. She then continued to train and obtained her State Certified Midwife qualification in the latter part of the Second World War. All this time she was also frequently dealing with the casualties from the very heavy bombing of Coventry,

In 1946 she married Edward who by this time had become a Curate at St. Albans, Bushey and they both then moved to Hove, where their son Paul was born. The family then moved to St. Barnabas Church in Epsom in 1948 where her two daughters, Anne and Jean, were born. In 1952 Edward was appointed as the Rector of Elsing with Bylaugh near East Dereham in Norfolk and so the family moved and commenced their association with East Anglia. Whilst there and raising her son and daughters she took up teaching in a local primary school. In 1957 the family moved again when Edward was appointed Vicar of St. Cuthbert’s in Thetford. They were to stay there for 11 years during which time she once again took up her interests in Guiding and rising to be District Commissioner. She also took up her career in Nursing and was one of the local District Nurses and Midwives. In 1964 she found her dream home in Thorpe Morieux as she always said that when Edward retired she felt she would be retired into the old Close in Norwich with all the other retired Clergy and she was not looking forward to that and felt if she didn’t do anything about it then nobody would. After about 7 years she then took a qualification as a Health Visitor and combined all three post for a few years before taking up a post at West Suffolk Hospital as a Nursing Sister Tutor. During her time as a Sister Tutor she saw through the changes from the old Hospital Road site to the new Hospital as we know it today. In 1969 Edward was made Rector of Somerleyton with Ashby and Herringfleet near Lowestoft. She continued her Sister Tutor’s position at West Suffolk Hospital using her home in Thorpe during the week and then going to Lowestoft for the weekends. She retired in 1983 when Edward retired and they both came to live at Thorpe Morieux. She was then called back a total of three times to act as a Nursing Examiner for the then General Nursing Council for the practical examinations of the Operating Theatre Staff in the East Anglia Region and spent weeks at a time staying on site at various Hospitals so that she could examine the Nurses quite often in the middle of the night when the operations were in progress.

During her time she also developed a number of hobbies and pastimes in subjects such as needlework, bookbinding, calligraphy, history and heraldry as well as her passion for gardening. Even in retirement she continued to study at the Open University achieving a B.A. (Hons). She also continued her close ties with the Church and the Village as a whole developing many friendships over the years. She was a keen supporter on village life and will be much missed by her family and her many friends.

 

Sir Peregrine Rhodes, KCMG

Ronald Arthur Fenton

Ron died on the 1st January 2005 aged 77. He was a local lad, going to school in Brettenham and then working on the land. Because of an accident he was unable to serve in the forces during the war but after recovering Ron worked all his life in farming.

Ron was a keen drummer and also played the mouth organ in the local village hall. He was an active member of the National Farmer's Union, and together with his wife, Joan, promoted British Farming through their farm shop. Ron had lived at Felsham for 40 years.

John Morton

John died peacefully at home on 9th November 2004. He was born at Green Farm, Thorpe Morieux on March 6th 1921, eldest son of Jo and Nettie Morton. He attended the local village school until 11 years of age and then went to Needhams in Ely, where he lived with his Grandmother. After his mother died in 1938, he tried to join the RAF but was refused because he had flat feet. He entered an apprenticehsip with Botwoods in engineering, at which he excelled, only leaving because of the war in 1939 to work for the Ministry of Agriculture. There are not many fields in North Essex and Suffolk that John had not worked on.

As part of a reserved occupation, he also joined the Home Guard, reaching the rank of Lieutenant in Bomb Disposal. At the end of the war he met Mina, they married in April 1947 and moved to Green Farm Cottages, which stood on the site of Oakapples. Anne was born in June 1948 and Michael in 1950. John farmed with his father until 1952, when the family moved to Rookery Farm, Belchamp Walter. (This caused great confusion and some hilarity, there ebing three John Mortons, all cousins living in close proximity, all farmers and all using the same bank!) He continued in farming until 1969, having spent 10 years at Barnardiston.

The family moved back to Windrush in Thorpe Morieux and John returned to engineering, his first love, and continued until his retirement in 1986. John and Mina moved into Green farm in 1974 to look after John's brother Peter, who had suffered a severe stroke. Oakapples was built in 1975. After John retired, he became a keen gardener, he enjoyed both indoor and outdoor bowls in Stowmarket and latterly in Thorpe Morieux Village Hall. His great passion for bygones and engines, in particular, made him an avid member of the Monks Eleigh Bygones and Collectibles Club and, a source of pride, the Prickwillow Drainage Museum.

Florence Violet Scott

‘A royal send off is how the funeral of the late Mrs Florence Violet Scott, of 3, Greatfields, was described by a local resident, and it was. Her coffin arrived at Thorpe Morieux church in a magnificent horse-drawn hearse, followed on foot by members of her family and other mourners. It was a fitting tribute to Thorpe Morieux’s oldest resident, who died on 25th March at the great age of 99 years.

 

Mrs Scott, known to everyone as Lil, was born in London in 1905, the third eldest in a family of seven children. In 1924 she married Horace Victor Scott at Cairn Hall Baptist Church and together they ran a greengrocery business in Leytonstone. They had three children, Victor, who died in action aged 19 in World War II, Leslie, who died in 1992, and Margaret who recently left London and moved into Greatfields to be near her mother. During the war Lil worked in the Eveready battery factory in Leytonstone, and her husband, always known as Sam, worked on the railways and was an ARP warden. Later Lil worked as a home help in London. After retirement, they moved to Brightlingsea where they both worked as school cleaners. Lil continued living there after Sam’s death. She later went to Earls Colne where she lived for several years, before coming to Thorpe Morieux in 1992 to be closer to her granddaughter Lorraine in Hitcham.

 

 

Poppy Day Collection 2003

Many thanks to everyone who gave so generously to the Poppy Day Collection. We are pleased to say that the total collection amounted to £255.45 - the best ever.

Ginny and Bobbie

 

Pam Phelps

It was with shock and great sadness that we heard of the death of Pam.

We offer our heartfelt sympathy to Arthur, Liz, Dave and Emma, Tim and Sharon who we know will miss her greatly.

Many of us here in Thorpe Morieux will have happy memories of Pam, running the Mothers' Union and Sunday School, and the active part she took in lots of village activities - Garden Parties, Fetes and similar events which were held in her garden. We were always made welcome in Pam and Arthur's home for meetings etc., and many of us had the privilege of celebrating their Silver Wedding on April 21st 1981 and both Liz and Tim's weddings.

Pam was a happy caring person, and we were sad when we lost our Rectory here in Thorpe, but it had to be! But Pam's memory will still be here for many of us for all she did in the Church and the village life of Thorpe Morieux.

Dot McNaughton and Betty Squirrell

 

 

Basil Lister

Many people in the village are sorry to hear of Basil Lister's death on March 1st. Basil, who was well known in Thorpe Morieux, died very suddenly and peacefully at home. He was born in Thorpe at No.1 New Cottages and lived there until his marriage to Shirley. They first lived in Brick Kiln Cottages but moved to No.2 New Cottages where their son Barry was born. Basil worked for Strutt & Parker until his retirement in 1999. He took a great interest in gardening, and his immaculately kept vegetable plot was a joy to see.

Shirley and Barry would like to thank all their friends and neighbours, especially their next door neighbours who have been so helpful and supportive. Thank you also to all those who sent cards and letters. Your sympathy and kind words are much appreciated.

 

Alex and June Muirhead

Colette Baigrie's address on the occasion of the dedication of the Muirhead memorial stone in Thorpe Morieux churchyard, December 8th 2002. The service was attended by Alex and June's three children, six grandchildren and grandson-in-law, some of whom had travelled long distances to be at the ceremony.

" I am glad that you are all able to be with us this morning because I want to tell you something about my parents to enable you to identify a little more with the blessing of this memorial.

My mother was born and grew up in Lowestoft, and although she travelled widely with her husband, she was glad that she was able to return to the Suffolk countryside in the end. After her death we discovered that she had written her own epitaph in a small notebook in her handbag, it read: "The greatest of lives: to love and be loved."

June believed in the power of love. She was a cuddly mother. She was also an excellent cook and hostess. She could sew and knit and embroider. She helped raise funds for the village hall and organised events to raise money for cancer research. She also helped raise money for the repair of the church roof, and she loved the church and often worshipped in it. She adored her garden and all the living creatures in it. She was proud of her career as a wife and mother. At her memorial service one of her grandsons said: My grandmother was a kind, caring and generous person... She was strong, positive and very, very brave and when I read this poem this morning I thought of her:

Count your garden by the flowers

Never by the leaves that fall.

Count your days in sunny hours

Don't count the clouds at all.

Count your nights by stars not shadows,

Count your life in smiles not tears.

And with the joy of all your journeys

Count your age in friends not years.

There is a coat of arms on the stone outside. It was granted to my father in 1988 by the Royal College of Arms in London. It is not just titled people who have crests, but people from all walks of life. I thought it might make it more interesting if I told you about my father's life through the elements of his coat of arms.

Across the shield there is what is known as a "Bend or, thereon another engrailed gules". This means that on the gold stripe that runs from the top left to the bottom right of the shield there is another red one with a ragged edge. This is designed to look like a saw. In the old days doctors, particularly surgeons, were often called "Sawbones" as they used saws for amputating limbs. My father was a doctor, in fact he was a specialist surgeon, but he did not practise as a surgeon for very long as he was offered the job of Chief Medical Officer to the BBC in London. He thoroughly enjoyed looking after the BBC staff as well as visiting personalities such as Pike Milligan and Sir David Attenborough, but he also enjoyed the opportunities he had while he was at the BBC to work on experiments on the effects of television on eyesight, the effects of loud noises and music on the hearing of the sound technicians, and the effects of isolation on people who had to maintain the booster stations for radio and TV. On one occasion he was accidentally dropped into the North Sea in winter, and on another BBC expedition a huge sea turtle trampled on his tent while he was trying to sleep inside it.

The elephant represents my father's early life in India. He was born in Calcutta though his parents were both English. His father was chairman of the South India Railway and Alex had memories of having his own servant when he was a little boy, and of travel in his family's personal train carriage. Summers were spent away from the heat in hill stations and his parents entertained the Viceroy on at least one occasion. When Alex was eight years old, he and his mother were invited to attend a Durbar by the Maharajah of Mysore. However like most English children in the India of those days, Alex was sent back to England to boarding school when he was ten years old. So he would have understood many of the experiences and feelings that you are now having at Old Buckenham Hall School.

The deer in the bottom left-hand corner of the coat of arms is a springbok, one of the emblems of South Africa. Alex's mother spent about sixteen years in South Africa from the age of three, and when Alex grew up and qualified as a doctor he spent four years in Cape Town. Later when I married a South African and went to live in Cape Town my parents came to visit me frequently. So three generations of our family have had ties with South Africa.

The crest on the helmet shows two hands clasping a winged dagger. This is the emblem of the SAS regiment and you will find my father's name mentioned in several of the books about the SAS during the Second World War, for instance "These Men are Dangerous". Alex Muirhead was one of the original members of the SAS. Their very first operation into enemy territory was in mid-november 1941 in North Africa and it was during the first few days of January 1942 - about six weeks later - that my father joined this very special regiment. He won a Military Cross for bravery in Italy, and then in 1944, still only 24 years old, he was parachuted behind the enemy lines in France. Alex lived in the forests of Morvan working with the Maquis - the French Resistance - for several months. Later, in Germany, he was one of the first to discover Belsen concentration camp. His final assignment in the closing weeks of the war was to secure the surrender of an entire German division and six German submarines anchored outside Bergen in Norway.

So my father had a rather adventurous life with many different aspects from soldier to doctor and, while at the BBC, from the deskwork of a businessman to the adventures of an explorer or scientist. But when he retired to Thorpe Morieux in the 1970's he learned to love the peace and tranquillity of the countryside and he enjoyed things like heraldry, fishng and feeding the wild ducks in the garden. Thorpe Morieux was very much "home" to both my parents - a special place of quiet retreat, beauty and peace.

Thank you choir for your beautiful voices, and my thanks to all the pupils of Old Buckenham Hall School for listening to me so patiently - I hope the chocolates will be a small reward for your patience!

My family and I would like to thank the villagers of Thorpe Morieux for all the affection shown to my parents, and to us, over the years - and I should like to add particular thanks to Rachel for this morning's blessing of the memorial stone and to Mr. Mike Newall for his much appreciated encouragement and support"

 

Norman Squirrell

Norman died peacefully in St. Elizabeth Hospice on October 4th aged 78 years after a long illness borne with great courage.

Norman was born at Flushing Farm, Edwardstone in 1924, one of four children. When he was fifteen they left the family farm and moved to Thorpe Morieux where he and his father began work for Strutt & Parker. There began a period of employment for Norman that was to last over half a century, culminating in an award from the Royal Agricultural Society, for fifty years unbroken service with the same employer. In 1950 he married Betty and they came to live at Jaggards where they were to stay for the next fifty two years. Children followed and he became father to John and Ann and later grandfather to Oliver, Robert, Jemma and Florine, all of whom he supported in every way possible.

Norman's quiet placid manner was perfectly suited to looking after livestock and most of his life was as a herdsman, mainly at Birds Farm, Thorpe Hall and Rushbrook Farm. He began his life with horses and milked cows by hand but over the years adapted to finish with computers and sophisticated milking machines. Although, when asked what he regarded as the best advance in farming, he replied that it was rubber boots and dry feet for the cowmen.

Norman was a man of simple need, content with his home, family and garden. He was always pleased to help out both family and friends, particularly with gardening or transport. He will be sadly missed by all.

  

Reggie Soanes

Died Catchpole Court Nursing home, April 22nd aged 92 years.

Reg and his family moved into Jaggards Cottages in Thorpe Morieux in the early 1940s. He was a head cowman for Strutt & Parker’s Farms, first at Thorpe Hall then at the Rushbrooke.

Reg leaves three sons and two daughters, only his eldest son Reg remains in the village. Many thanks to his neighbours Betty and Norman Squirrell for keeping an eye on him in his last years. He will be buried in Lowestoft next to his wife Stella.

Joan Soanes

 

Tom Valentine Smith

Tom Valentine Smith died February 20th 2002 aged 84 years. Born at Underwoods Farm Thorpe Morieux on February 14th 1918 Tom was one of ten children. Married to Nora for 57 years, they lived all their married life in Thorpe Morieux, Nora died in 1998. Tom moved to Cockfield in 2000 to be near to his son and daughter in law. He worked for Strutt and Parker Farms from 14 years of age, for many years, then West Suffolk Highways. A collector of many things including coins, stone bottles and jars, which he often displayed at country events. He wrote and had published a book of his life up until the Second World War. During his life he played football, the David Beckham of Cockfield in the way he could bend a ball from a corner kick. He also played darts and cribbage. Another pastime was old time dancing. He was a Parish Councillor at Thorpe Morieux and a keen member of the Over Sixties always willing to help organise and taxi when needed or just take some other folks with no transport for an outing. One of the main things he will be remembered for in the surrounding area is his playing of the accordion. He had a great love of music, and taught himself to play from the age of 14, and mainly by ear. He had great knowledge of many Suffolk and comic songs, several of these were compiled onto tapes and CD discs along with other singers and musicians, by John Hawson an authority on Suffolk music. These along with photos were also published in books by John Hawson. Tom’s dad Bert Smith also featured in these books. He played at pubs, clubs, parties and venues of all sorts, and when asked to play requests however obscure would very rarely be unable to play it. He lived a simple country life but brought great joy to many people. He will be sadly missed by many people not least of course by his two remaining sisters and one brother. His family of son Adrian , daughter Felicity, four grandchildren and three great grandchildren. He will of course leave and enormous void in all our lives but he lived a good and long life and we are sure he will be welcomed into the next world with great affection, of course with his accordion!!

Adrian Smith

 

Ruby Dyer 

Most of you will be aware that sadly on 30th January 2002 Ruby Dyer passed away at Melford Court Nursing Home where she had been for almost a year. I visited Ruby on Wednesdays to keep her informed of all that was happening in and around the village, and also to make sure that she was comfortable and had all that she needed. Ruby still had a very keen interest in the village and loved it when people like Liz Morley, Betty Squirrell and Jeff and Ruth Scott would visit as they would talk about old times. Ruby’s memory was sharp as a pin, recent events sadly evaded her memory but the past was clear and made interesting conversation. I only knew Bob and Ruby for 5 years in total, Ruby longer as we lost Bob some two years ago; Ruby was always a pleasure to care for, as she never complained about anything. The only complaint that I ever received from Ruby was that I shouldn’t spend so much time looking after her, of course this fell on deaf ears the pleasure was all mine.  

Ruby’s passing has been a sad loss for Thorpe Morieux as for the Dyers and the Edwards it’s the end of an era. After so many years of them being situated here it’s hard to think they have all gone. I know that Ruby has gone to a better place, and I was privileged enough to spend the last hour of Ruby’s life with her, something I will never forget and will be forever grateful for. On behalf of Ruby’s family and myself we would like to thank everyone who came to the funeral and to everyone who has spoken to me since. Many of you know the closeness I shared with Ruby and that has been reflected in all of your kind words.

God bless you Ruby.                   Sue Carvell.