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1977 was the year of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee and Timsbury found many different ways of celebrating the occasion. Conygre Hall was packed in April for a concert given by the village Male Voice Choir under conductor Ken Janes accompanied on the piano by Kathleen Dando and Margaret Harding. Supporting the choir were Bath soprano Margot Coggan, xylophone player Sidney Mills and Fred Wedlock.
In June a special week of village events began with a United Service at Conygre Hall followed on the Monday by a dance organized by the Jubilee Committee with dancing to The Squads, a popular band of the day who were frequent visitors to Conygre. On Jubilee Day (Tuesday June 7) a tea party was held in the afternoon for children of the village and at night there was a barbecue in Mr. Holbrook’s field with Country and Western music. Miss Dolly Holbrook ignited the bonfire that had been prepared. On Thursday of the same week an over 70s supper was arranged by the village W.I. who enacted a London scene as part of their entertainment.
Residents at Greenvale Estate held their own Jubilee celebrations with fancy dress, sports and a special tea for the children and pensioners. Mugs for the youngsters were donated by Mr. and Mrs. Percy Thatcher while fancy dress prizes were won by Rachael Smith, Alison Wood, Lisa Hawkes, Kim Barnes, Kay Scrivens and Nicola Simcox.
The children of St. Mary’s Primary School put on a concert in April 1977 with each class contributing an item. The music accompaniment was in the capable hands of the late Miss Muriel Taylor who was a resident at the Cheshire Home and who used to help out with music at the school. However all was not well on the education front and parents in Timsbury formed an action committee to fight Avon’s cuts in education which was to mean the loss at the local school of teacher Anne Gurner. In addition 25 village parents of rising fives demonstrated outside the Primary School with a campaign of protest being led by Ken Sanderson of The Glebe .
Somerset County cricketer Graham Burgess and later a first class umpire, was the guest speaker at the Timsbury Cricket Club dinner at which President Bernard Cayzer was presented with a scroll by my father who was Secretary at the time in recognition of his tremendous contribution to the club. Barry Rudge received a special award for taking 100 wickets in the season while the club celebrated the formation of a third eleven. Meanwhile at the A.G.M. of the Football Club the Chairman Wayland Cox said that he felt the playing strength had improved considerably and he remarked on the fine social atmosphere that existed. The 2 team managers were Bryn Hawkins and Graham Jeffery with the secretary Malcolm Davies and the treasurer Steve Cope.
Neighbours led pensioner Mrs. Annie Moon from the smoke-filled room of her old people’s flat at Conygre Green. One of the heroes was Mr. Les Bridges who smothered the blaze with a blanket before leading Mrs. Moon to safety. He was later treated for the effects of smoke. The Royal British Legion lost a good servant with the death of Mr. Frank Collyer who 2 years earlier had been awarded the gold badge of the Legion while Mr. Fred Newth of High Street also passed away. He had worked as an engineer in the mines for 51 years mainly at Camerton Colliery. My father retired after 16 years as a postman in the village.
Finally a couple who were both Gold Medal Ballroom and Latin-American dancers were married at Tabor Church. Step forward Doug Deacon and Marilyn Bratt.