My family of St. Briavels BEARD/BAKER/LEWIS (General)

by Joy Mrchant , Saturday, February 19, 2011, 15:04 (5024 days ago) @ Deborah B Asbell

I was born in St Briavels in 1944, at my grandparents farm, Close Turf farm (between St. B and Bream) My grandparents were James and Florence Baker who had 7 children Bert,Howard,Bill,Ivy, Ruby, Muriel (who was my mother) and Edith, (who is still living) I was delivered by Dr Nanda,a predecessor of Dr Eskells. I beleive Dr Nanda was Nigerian. Apparently, it was down to him that I survived. There must be an interesting story of how he came to the village.

Unfortunately,my mum & dad left after the war to live in London and later Worcester, but I spent many happy school holidays in St Briavels. Both at Close Turf and "The Roads" farm (never short of playmates with loads of cousins) I was especially close to my Aunty Ruby (married name Lewis) who lived first in a little wooden cottage outside the village and later at Ashfield House in the village and ran a cafe there for a while, I remember the Driver and Conductor of the buses coming up for a cuppa every two hours when the bus came in to wait in the square outside the castle.

Happy days indeed. My many cousins and their families are now widespread of course. It is a very big family, but many still live in and around the village.

At the moment I am particularly interested in finding out more about my Grandmother Florence whose maiden name was Beard and is reputed to have been born in Symonds Yat possibly around 1885 and I also know very little about my Grancher, James.

Thanks for raising some happy memories. I will be interested to see if I jog anyone elses. Joy Marchant