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After 300 years a new gateway was opened into the churchyard of St Mary’s Church in August 1985. It had previously been a private entrance for the Samborne family who lived at Timsbury Manor House and four members of the family were present to see the dedication and blessing of the gate by Rev. Clifford Jones. The ribbon was cut by Sheila Cunningham who was one of the last Sambornes to live at the Manor and joining her were Mrs Barnaby Samborne, Sheila Cunningham’s son Robert Heale and Mrs Richard Samborne.
After 34 years as the man with the baton Ken Janes retired as the conductor of Timsbury Male Voice Choir. Mr Janes who had taken over from his father Oliver in 1951 estimated that he had conducted nearly 400 concerts. He was replaced by Brian Attwood.
Two weeks of determined money-raising by the pupils of St Mary’s Primary School meant that over £740 could be handed over to the African Appeal Fund. Sponsored walks, runs, rides, spells and silences all took place and the final cheque was handed over to Lawrence Barth of Emergency Care For Children by Kathryn Cleevely and Andrew Keeling.
Lady Wells, County President of the St Johns Ambulance Brigade in Avon, was guest of honour when a cheese and wine evening was held at the St Johns Hall to celebrate the completion of a £2000 renovation programme. The latest work involved the laying of a new floor and the enhancing of kitchen and toilet facilities.
The earliest days of Guiding were portrayed in words and music by the 1st. Timsbury Girl Guides to mark the 75th. anniversary of the movement. At the Conygre Hall the Guides presented an old tyme music hall and a series of mimes showing scenes from the past. A centrepiece of the evening was the blue and yellow division candle which was specially made to celebrate the 75 years and which was brought to the concert by Miss Jean Brown, the Divisional Commissioner.
Members of Timsbury Youth Club took part in a torch run starting from Keynsham Town Hall to celebrate the International Year of Youth. They ran in half-mile relays along the route which took them through Marksbury, Farmborough, Timsbury, Tunley, Carlingcott, Peasedown and Radstock.
Bath P.C. John Day from Timsbury retired after nearly 30 years with the city’s force. For the previous 14 years he had been Warrant Officer in Bath. John who had joined the force in 1956 after serving with the Royal Marines was presented with a salver from the Police Club and with a work bench from his colleagues.
The introduction of computers at the Cheshire Home was proving a godsend for the residents. Val Peters said that the computers extended occupational therapy, stimulated hand co-ordination and were a great help physically and mentally. At that time there were just three computers in the room.
In 1985 Timsbury G.P. Dr. John Newman died at the age of 42 after a three year battle with cancer. Dr. Newman who studied at the Crypt School in Gloucester and at Bristol University was also a talented musician playing double bass in the National Youth Orchestra for 4 years. The village also said goodbye to Bryan Adams who died at the age of 63 and to centenarian Arthur Parfitt who had reached the grand old age of 100.
On the sporting scene Timsbury Youth Club C won Division Two of the Mendip Table Tennis League. The team comprising of Paul Wadsworth, Jon Marsh, Lindsay Newell and Mark Stewart won by a clear 13 points from Hinton C. Timsbury Cricket Club gained one of their best cup wins when defeating Midsomer Norton by 6 wickets in the Somerset Senior Cup. Midsomer Norton were restricted to 71-8 in their 18 overs and Timsbury knocked them off for the loss of 4 wickets. In the Norton ranks on that day were Jerry Thompson who was later to play for Timsbury and former Timsbury Football Club manager Andy Vaughan.
Finally Timsbury Athletic appointed Nigel Hammond as their new manager. The club had decided to play their home matches at Radstock at this time because of what they considered the high cost of playing games on the Recreation Field. Hammond replaced Paul Ingram who stood down because of pressure of work.