Abbotsbury

  • LAST week I reported how disappointed I was that there were no village celebrations for the Royal wedding.

However, I have since heard that the Ilchester Arms put on a bit of a do of which we were unaware.

Unfortunately the deliverers of the flyers missed our house out.

Speaking to Colin Boxall, the landlord on Monday, I find that it was a great success.

He gave special thanks to Julie Keefe, Mandy Lesley, Brian Dredge and others who helped make the event go with a bit of a swing.

They had a reduced price BBQ and bar and a band and it all sounded like a bit of fun. Well done to all involved.

  • A very special service took place at St Catherine’s chapel on Saturday April 30 to commemorate the royal wedding.

Visitors and residents alike with good dogs on leads climbed the hill for the celebration that was well attended.

On view was the card of congratulations that has been sent to The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge from the parishes.

  • THE community paid their respects to a good friend Eric Turner, aged 84, who died suddenly before Easter, on Tuesday, May 3.

The memorial service was held in St Nicholas church and conducted by Rev Ada Whittock.

Eric had been a churchwarden and deputy churchwarden and had done many little kindnesses quietly for the church community including organising the Easter egg hunt for the children.

We in the village knew him in his retirement when he moved to the village with his wife Shirley 15 years ago.

However, before relocating from Guildford he had been a very active man and we were all interested in the service to hear about his life before Abbotsbury.

Leaving school at 16 he was a spotter for the London fire brigade watching out for doodlebugs.

Later in life he retrained as a draughtsman and worked for Rolls Royce Engines marrying Shirley in 1957 in Hayes and moving to Guildford in 1963 where he became a college lecturer teaching maths and technical drawing.

In Guildford Eric was a volunteer with Act 2 at the Yvonne Arnold theatre, helping with set building and being a matron to the children something he continued to do in Dorset when he was matron on the TV production of Harbour Lights which was filmed in the area.

Always very active Eric loved swimming, cycling, ice hockey, climbing, and amateur dramatics among other hobbies too numerous to mention and he became a dedicated leader in the Scouting movement.

In our village he was an active member of Abbotsbury Heritage Fayre, was marvellous with youngsters and worked part time at the Dansel Gallery.

We will miss him greatly and our thoughts are with his wife Shirley, children Andrew and Cindy Lou and granddaughter Hannah and all his other friends and family.