From The Parish Registers At St. Martin's Desford 2009
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WEDDINGS 2010
Sunday August 29th, 2010. Adrian James BAKER and Alison Jennifer CLARK of Woking. Alison’s late father Neil was a church member and bell ringer at Desford.
Saturday July 10th, 2010. Thomas ASTLE and Jessica
FUNERALS 2010
Monday August 23rd, 2010. Constance Margaret ARNOLD,
aged 62, late of Curtis Way, Osbaston, Barlestone. A native of Desford, she was one of six, living in Newbold Road and Oak Road and educated at the Primary School and then the South Charnwood School. She worked briefly, before injury and poor health prevented her. Latterly, she had been confined to the house, except for hospital appointments. She lived with her companion Brian Neale. She is buried in the Desford Cemetery
Friday July 2nd, 2010. John Edward ASHFORD
late of Manor Road. Aged 37, his sudden death shocked many and the church was full. He was remembered as an extrovert person, who loved a joke and was generous to his friends. He was well-known in the village as a plumber. Many wore football strip, as he had managed the Desford Dynamos. They formed a guard of honour at the Barlestone Cemetery, where he is buried and to which his surviving parents had moved only a few months ago.
The Rector also officiated on Thursday June 10th, 2010
at the funeral of Maynard William COLEMAN of Manor Road. Aged 86, he was born and bred in Desford. He met his wife Margaret in the Bulls Head, Leicester Forest West. She came from West Ham, London. They were married on March 26th, 1951 at St. Michael and All Angels Church, Melton Road, Leicester. They came to Desford, living briefly on Oak Road but mainly on Manor Road. They had two sons Barry and Alan and two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Mr. Coleman did his National Service in the R.A.F. He worked down the Desford and Merrylees pits. He enjoyed his trips to the Blue Bell, playing cards and crib. and fishing. He was friendly but a man of few words. His cremated remains are buried in Desford Churchyard in the Garden of Remembrance, beneath the clock.
Friday June 18th, 2010. Jean(ette) Ann SNAITH
of St. Martin’s Drive. Aged 79, one of six, she came from Chelsea, where her mother was in service. She moved as a small child up to Newcastle upon Tyne, where she lived with her grandmother. She married and moved with her husbands work to South Wales and then to Leicestershire. They had six children, of which two live in Desford, one in Kirby Muxloe, one in Narborough, one in South Wales and one in Malaysia. There are fourteen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. Jean had been widowed for thirty three years, following her husband’s death at the age of fifty one. Jean’s work had included being a welder, at DECCA, in hosiery and latterly for the Co-op. Funeral Service. She had a keen sense of humour and a kind and generous outlook on life. She loved dancing. Diagnosed with Parkinsons disease, she also had heart trouble. Her mobility and frequent ‘bus trips to Leicester were severely restricted.
The Rector was invited to officiate on Monday May 24th, 2010
at the Heart of England Crematorium, Nuneaton, at the funeral of George COLEY of Willow Street. Aged 87 and a widower, he was a father of three, one of whom had been his carer at home. He had worked down the pit and on a farm.
Friday March 26th, 2010. Miss Gladys Goulton 1906 - 2010
Gladys Margaret GOULTON, of Agnes House, Wyggeston Hospital , Hinckley Road , Leicester but formerly and principally of The Chimes , 22, Main Street . Born on July 28 th , 1906, her death in her one hundredth and fourth year brings to an end the long and prominent association of her late brother Jack., (in whose memory the current churchyard gates were put up) and late sister Muriel with St. Martin 's Church, Desford. Miss Gladys (as she was usually known) was the second of the four children of Frederick and Ethel GOULTON and came from Tottenham, North London, where her baptism at St. Mary's Church and subsequent confirmation there on March 21 st , 1921 marked a lifelong membership of the Church of England and an uncomplicated Christian faith. Her schooling began in 1912 at St. Michael and All Angels, Highgate and was completed in 1924 at St. Mary's School, Tottenham.
She was involved with St. John Ambulance Brigade and gave lifelong service to the Girl Guide Movement, notably in Desford. She trained to be a nurse, worked briefly as a nanny but moved, quite naturally to teaching, which was her principal career. When the family moved to Leicestershire, she taught briefly at the Lynhurst Private School near Leicester's Victoria Park but was chiefly associated with the Fosse High School in Fosse Road South . She served as Guide County Commissioner and Camping Advisor, as the booklet issued in her honour in 2006 put it “long after the compulsory retirement age for Guiders”.
She began playing the church organ in 1939 and was still playing for the Tiny Tots Children's Service in the late 1990s. She began ringing bells in 1944, ringing her first Quarter Peal in September 1988. On Sunday July 30 th 2006, a full peal was rung in honour of her one hundredth birthday. She sat outside in the sunshine to listen to it. A Buffet lunch was held in her honour in the church on the same day. Miss Gladys was well-known for her association with the shop A Stitch in Time in Main Street . This closed in 1999. The national press said that the Misses Muriel and Gladys Goulton were the country's oldest shop keepers. After this closure, the two sisters continued to run coffee mornings for charitable causes. Miss Gladys' other interests included the Desford Women's Institute, country dancing, Scrabble, the Desford Local History Society, needlework and gardening.
Her sister Muriel, with whom she continued to live at The Chimes by the churchyard gate, died in 2004, in her one hundredth year. Miss Gladys moved to live at Agnes House, in the Wyggeston Hospital, where she flourished. She kept her links with Desford through her relatives and her membership of The Endeavour Club. The Rector and his wife saw her two days before she died. She was sitting in a chair, looking tired but knew at once who they were and gave a characteristic smile. She died six years to the day from her sister's death. Her well-attended funeral was followed by a committal at the Heart of England Crematorium in Nuneaton and a reception in the Desford Village Hall. Notable comments made about her in 2006 were: “She was very fair” and “nothing ever seemed to daunt her” and “ she was an inspiration to the children; very positive comments were always on their reports. Her main aim was to build up their self-confidence ”.
Monday March 15th, 2010.
Peter James SMITH of Oak Road. Aged 81, he came from Newbold Verdon. Twice married, he had four sons. He had served in the Fleet Air Arm from 1946 to 1968 (of which he was very proud), which enabled him to travel the world. He worked at the Ratby Engineering. He also tried his hand at running a ‘pub. He moved to Oak Road in 1968. He had a great gift for making friends, which was reflected in the numbers attending the funeral. He had lived on his own for some years, but kept himself busy and his mind active. He recovered well from a triple heart bypass operation, but was taken ill whilst staying with family at Melton Mowbray. The funeral included bagpipes, tributes from his sons, poems read by his sons and an Act of Homage by the British Legion. It was followed by a committal at the Heart of England Crematorium in Nuneaton . A reception followed at the Blue Bell in Desford.
Friday March 5th, 2010.
John RAIN of Hazel Street. Aged 73, he was born in Sunderland, one of eight and came from a mining community. He and his wife Lilian moved in 1962 to Piccadilly, a hamlet near Kingsbury, North Warwickshire , where Mr. Rain worked down the pit. When it closed, they moved to Desford in 1968 into a new house in Hazel Street , where they have remained ever since. Here they raised their four daughters and a son. When Desford pit closed, he worked for a time at Bagworth pit, until that closed and he retired. He was interested in both politics and the Trades Union movement. In retirement, he was an avid reader and built himself a greenhouse. When not at work or at home, he was a regular at the Bulls Head and the Red Lion , where he played dominoes, darts and cribbage. The Rector was shown photographs of Mr. Rain, on all of which he was smiling. He celebrated his golden wedding at the son's hotel in Skegness.
His health began to suffer ten years ago. He is buried in the Desford Cemetery.
February 11th 2010
Desford has lost a personof exceptional quality and ability. Pam. Drinkall passed away on 11th February 2010 after a brave battle with cancer. In the 1980s she lived at The Lodge, 1 Kirkby Road, Desford, and then moved to Exton in Rutland, returning in the late-1990s to make her home at Newbold Verdon. Throughout this period she kept in close contact with Desford, and in particular with the Desford and DistrictLocal History Society (DDLHS).
Pam worked in the Leicestershire Museums Services, where she acquired a high level of professionalism and expertise, especially as a Museums Education Officer. Although not a Founder Member, she was involved very early on in the DDLHS and over the years made a huge contribution to it as a researcher, writer, speaker, committee member and exhibition-co-ordinator. Through her considerable experience in museum display work she was able to produce very high quality displays for two DDLHS history exhibitions in 1986 and 2009. She also oversaw the task of composing and erecting Desford history display panels in the Village Hall and, with others, worked on the Desford Colliery Wheel and Desford Pump projects.
Pam was Chairman of the DDLHS on several occasions, the last time in 2005, and was its Secretary for the three years preceding her death. Her own particular ‘baby’ was the Desford Seventeenth Century Research Group, which she started in 1987 and led with great enthusiasm, inspiring its members to learn to read ancient hand writing and to decipher and interpret early Desford wills and inventories. On several occasions she took some members to the National Archives at Kew to look at Desford records.Pam was a wizard on the computer, which she used to organise manyDesford records,was an excellent lecturer with power point presentations, and a creative inventor of history quizzes, talks and games.
Pam had two other burning historical interests: Beaumanor and the Herrick family, and Egyptology. She was a valued member of the Ancient Egypt Society in Leicester, created the Egyptology display at Leicester’s New Walk Museum, and had visited Egypt a number of times.
Pam cared for her husband, Don, for many years until his death, and then with loving kindness looked after her mother, Mrs BarbaraBrunner. After her mother’s death she travelled a good deal to Germany to meet with German members of her family, whom she had traced whilst doing her family tree.
Pam was a modest person with a quiet sense of humour.Shewaswell-liked and had a number of close friends in Desford, with whomshe enjoyed regular lunch outings and visits to concerts. She had three sons, Giles (a police officer who died tragicallyin a motorcycle accident), Simon and Fran; three well-loved daughters-in-law; and three grandchildren, of whom she was immensely proud. Pam. bore her serious illness with extreme courage, was bright and optimistic, and rarely complained about her treatment or sufferings. She will be greatly missed by many Desfordians, and in particular the members of the DDLHS. Mrs. Caroline Wessel.
Thursday February 4th, 2010
Mildred Ena CAVE, late of Holmfield Road. Born Mildred Ena STORER on February 5th 1910 , she was one of four children, living in Newbold Road . After leaving school, she trained as a tailoress. Her abilities were recognised when she was invited to work on an order for the Belgian Royal Family, following the death of Queen Astrid. She also worked at Reid and Seigrist, in the Desford Primary School and at the Caterpillar Plant. She and her late husband Herbert (who died in 1967) were, with her sister, Mrs. Starbuck, committed members of St. Martin's and she continued to receive the Holy Communion at Mrs. Nora Plant's home in Rowan Way, until obliged to move to Kirby House, in Leicester Forest East. She is remembered for her warm smile and sense of humour. She had one daughter Sally (now Mrs. Tuckwell of Newbold Verdon) and one grandson David, who is a friend of the Rector's son Christopher. The service was followed by cremation at Nuneaton . Her ashes are buried in the Garden of Remembrance below the Desford Church tower, with those of her late husband, sister and brother.
Friday January 22nd, 2010.
Anthony Mark LEE-CHANNING of St. George's Way, Hinckley . Aged 87 and a native of the Channel Islands , he had been married to his late wife Doreen for fifty two years. The Rector conducted her funeral in June 2008. They had three sons Michael, Nigel and David . They enjoyed dancing and some dance music was played during the service. He moved from Twycross when he gave up his car, but sadly, his health deteriorated and he was admitted into hospital on Christmas Eve. He is buried in the Desford Cemetery , to which he took a liking some years ago, through knowing Gemma and Deano at the Red Lion in Lindridge Lane . After the service, refreshments were enjoyed at the motel on the A5 near The Longshoot.
Holy Baptism
Sunday August 8th, 2010. Finlay Jason and Charlie James DUNDEE of Whetstone.
Their parents were married at Desford in 2006.
Sunday May 23rd, 2010. Archie. Jack. KERSLAKE of Main Street.
Sunday February 28th 2010. Emmanuel Paul SARKIS.
We offer our condolences to all who grieve or who have faced the anniversaries of losses