Tower and Town, June 2018

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Family News

Annie and Andrew Studdert-Kennedy came to live in the Rectory in 2002.They celebrated their Silver Wedding Anniversary on May 22. Congratulations Annie and Andrew. They plan to mark this with a special family holiday with their family later in the year. Local children will remember their children at St Peter's and St John's. Jamie (23) is working for Raconteur a publisher that specialises in Business Reports, Phoebe (21) is studying Comparative American Studies at Warwick University but is currently spending the third year of this course in Madrid. Megan (19) is at Manchester University reading Classical Studies and Alice (19) is working as an intern for a Musical Events manager in London.

Michael and Kay Cripps reached two milestones recently.  In April they celebrated their Diamond Wedding with a Buffet lunch for extended family, with lots of talk, and black-and-white photos of The Day showing on the TV – enjoyed by all.  They came here from Aldbourne and  Michael worked from 1981 till 1994 as a Priest in the Anglican Team, latterly as Vicar of Minal.  He was active in the Marlborough Ecumenical Parish, and after retiring (and a Chaplaincy in France) was from 1999 till 2004 a very energetic Chairman of Tower & Town. In May Michael reached his 90th. birthday, around which they welcomed friends to informal tea/coffee. They thank members of St George’s Church, their Quiet group, and other friends and neighbours for their good wishes and prayers. Congratulations to them both. Their wedding text was ‘They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength’. 

Mabel Horsell's funeral was at St. Mary's Church and the Town Cemetery. Her daughter, Lin, says that she was born in Berwick Bassett and after marrying Frank in 1956 they lived in Manor Cottage East Kennet and later lived in Avebury . After living there in Manor Cottage they moved to part of the Manor itself for seven years, working for Sir Francis and Lady Knowles. They came to Marlborough in 1977 and she was a cook at Combe End Care Home. Mabel loved baking and gardening and she enjoyed coach holidays. She will be sadly missed by Lin, her sister, Chris, and brothers, Richard, Steve and Alan, and Mabel's two grandsons, Jon and Toby.

Jackie Stoker died in March. She married in 1955 and came to live in London Road in 1973 with her husband and sons, Jeremy and Dominic and her late daughter, Alison. While working as the secretary at the Town Council offices in 1, The Green she was acting Town Clerk for a while after Fred Richardson died. I remember her as the key holder for the tennis courts on the Rec.

Jackie worshipped at the Catholic Church, worked with the WRVS meals on wheels and delivered Tower & Town, always having time for people. She moved to Priorsfield in 1994. Dominic described her as a typical Margo from The Good Life. Our sympathy to Jeremy, Dominic and Jackie's seven granddaughters.

Bruce Tulloh, one of the great distance runners of his generation, died 28th April, aged 82. His feats were legendary – an early four-minute miler, running barefoot on a grass track; gold medallist at 5,000 metres in the 1962 European Championships, and his epic record-breaking 1969 run from Los Angeles to New York, averaging about 45 miles a day. “Running defines me” he said, and he was dedicated to his sport, but he was also a man of very many parts. Bruce, with Sue and their three young children, Clive, Jojo and Katherine, arrived in Marlborough in 1973 as a biology teacher at Marlborough College, after teaching in Kenya where he also coached a number of Kenyan athletes, an interest that continued through his life. In Marlborough he immersed himself in coaching the College track and cross-country runners, as well as a stream of amateurs and professionals who came to him for advice. He wrote poetry, and a number of coaching manuals for runners of varied age groups; he had a subtle but quirky sense of humour and a fine tenor voice. He loved music, and choral singing; he was an enthusiastic player of the harmonica and concertina, and an avid reader with a hugely retentive memory. He was a keen botanist and gardener and an enthusiastic if slightly accident-prone sailor. And his love of exercise, competition and the great outdoors remained unabated, such that he celebrated his 80th birthday by walking from Marlborough to Big Ben. His was a life very well lived.

Audrey Peck