Tower and Town, April 2021

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Family News

Claire Markwell writes:
Christopher Lawrence RICS was hugely valued by the local community of local estate agents; a kind and gentle man, he was renowned as a reliable and safe pair of hands.  He was the first person to be recommended when a buyer asked for a top notch surveyor.  His twinkling eyes missed nothing as he performed his building inspections, his gimlet gaze falling on each crack and crevice in houses both large and small.  Whilst his reports were comprehensive and utterly reliable, he always took the time to explain to his clients that what sometimes sounded horrific was often not nearly as bad as it looked, reassuring nervous buyers in a calm and practical manner.  Chris took on huge projects, acting as the imaginative and innovative conduit between planning authorities and clients. He held the hands of first time buyers and acted time after time for returning clients who were serial house movers.  After thirty years he was seldom surprised yet approached each job with fresh enthusiasm.  He leaves a massive gap in the estate agency armoury and it will be a very long time before we remember to stop suggesting him as the surveyor to go-to.  Chris was a man we will miss for his charm, personality and conversation as much as we will for his professionalism.

Many thanks to Henry Pearson for his help with the following paragraph:
Ernie Newell was born in Savernake Hospital in 1939. He was a choirboy, a scout and a keen lover of sports who played golf from the age of 10. When he left school he was taken on by the Marlborough Times as an apprentice, a learning experience that he valued and appreciated throughout his life. He became a golf journalist and wrote regular columns for the MT and Wiltshire Gazette and Herald as well as for golf magazines and sports columns for the national press.

In the 1970s Ernie was one of a small group of people who fought to develop the municipally owned golf course of nine holes which had two redundant GWR coaches for a clubhouse. Their legacy can be seen on top of The Common today in the challenging full sized eighteen -hole golf course which uses the natural slopes of the downland and is one of the top courses in the region. For the occasion of the Marlborough club’s centenary in 1988, Ernie wrote a book in which he set out the history of the club and recounted some of the many anecdotes that he recalled. Sadly, many years ago he was diagnosed with neuromyotonia which robbed him of much of his independence and mobility.

Ernie7#039;s other main passion was writing and reading poetry. He produced many folders of work during his lifetime and whilst in hospital said that the one thing he wanted most to help him pass the time was a pair of reading glasses and a book of poetry. He declared that he was going to write some more when he felt better. Ernie, who died on February 10th 2021, will be remembered by those who knew him for his fantastic brain, his dry sense of humour and, above all, his kindness.

Jessy Pomfret