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In November 1954 the pupils at Timsbury Secondary Modern School had a surprise visit from Captain J. Stevens of the S.S. Somerset, the adopted ship of the school. He made a presentation of a large challenge cup and a rose bowl, both to be competed for on the sports’ field. He also gave the school the house flag of the New Zealand Shipping Company and a fine water colour painting of his ship. He was thanked by the Headmaster Mr Bob Pullen.
Timsbury W.E.A. Dramatic Society notched up another resounding success with their presentation of Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca”. The three-act play was performed at the Church Room on October 29,30 and saw the debut performance of Monica Fricker as Mrs. De Winter. Others making their first appearances were Ron Sands, Brian Lear and Brian Newth. The play was produced by Roland Pickford.
In September 1954 it was announced that the Timsbury office of the Ministry of Labour and National Service would close on October 7 owing to the very small amount of work which the office had handled for some time. The office which I understand was at the Church Room had been a part-time outstation which had opened for an hour on Thursday afternoons.
Four cadet teams and three junior teams entered the first competition of Timsbury Nursing Cadets at the YMCA Hall. The Senior Brigade shield was won by the team comprising of S. Hasell, J. Wilkins, A. Taviner and A. Hasell while the winners of the Junior Cup were C. Wheeler, B. Canvin, D. Gittus and A. Tribe.
Winifred Constable was chosen as Timsbury’s representative for the Midsomer Norton Carnival Queen Competition. The winner was Jeannette Whittock of Midsomer Norton who was presented with a bouquet of red carnations by the previous year’s winner – Barbara Bridges of Timsbury.
In April 1954 the death was announced of Timsbury Postmistress Marjorie Jeffs who had come to the village with son Martyn in 1947. She had previously been in charge of St. Andrews Post Office in Bath and was the daughter of the well known fishmonger and poulterer Mr. Peacock. The cremation service in Bristol was conducted by Rev. Walker, vicar of Englishcombe and the casket was taken to Bath and interred in the family vault at Widcombe.
Richard Tom Bridges of Maggs Hill died when he fell off scaffolding while working on a housing estate at Corston. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death but said that in their opinion the accident would probably not have happened if the end of the joist had been secured. The 39 year-old had been a farm worker for most of his life and was well known for his horsemanship.
The annual concert of Timsbury Male Voice Choir under conductor Ken Janes was held at the Secondary Modern School. Cyril Gates from Bath was compere and entertained with comedy and magic while other supporting artistes were BBC soprano, Daphne Whittock, Graham Dixon(guitar) and Audrey Gates (comedy).
Ken Scotcher of Escott House was serving in the army in Germany in 1954 and became the proud owner of a racing cycle. Few of his fellow soldiers had bikes, however, and so Ken joined a German racing club and announced that he planned to enter as many competitive races as possible.
On the local sports’ scene Cliff Purnell continued to prosper on the professional boxing circuit. The Timsbury southpaw heavyweight began the year by outpointing Dinny Powell of London in an all-action, hard-slogging bout over six rounds at the Colston Hall and then defeated Jack Walker of Warwick at Hanley.
Timsbury Athletic won the Paulton Hospital Cup beating Welton Arsenal 5-2 in the final at Paulton Rovers ground. The Timsbury goals were scored by George Hawkes (2), Bryan Adams (2) and Eddie Strong. The club also enjoyed a run of 21 unbeaten league matches before losing to National Smelting Company.
Timsbury Cricket Club reported a balance of £38-7s-3d at their AGM. The club had won 17 of their 28 matches the previous season and caps were awarded to Jim Hucker and the promising young Geoff Parfitt. Jim continued his long reign as captain of the club with Ken Hulbert his vice-captain.
Finally in 1954 an end terrace cottage on the fringe of the village was up for sale. It had been entirely modernised and re-decorated and had an entrance porch, two rec rooms, two bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and garden. The freehold property was available for £1250.
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