Badsey
(with Aldington)
and Wickhamford
Parochial Magazine
1918
JANUARY
During the month of December, Badsey has lost by death two of its most highly-respected parishioners.
Mr Alfred G Kerr died at his residence on December 8 at the comparatively early age of 49. His health had for some time given cause for anxiety, but his final illness was a very short one as he was actually in Evesham only a fortnight before his death. Though a resident in Badsey for about nine years, Mr Kerr never severed his connexion with S Laurence’s, Evesham, where he regularly worshipped and was for many years a sidesman. He was a man of quiet and retiring disposition, esteemed by all, and one, moreover, of whom one never heard an unkind word spoken. The funeral, at which the Vicar assisted, took place at Evesham Cemetery on December 11.
News of the death of Mrs Mustoe on the evening of Sunday December 23 came as a great shock and was received with profound sorrow. The doctor was only first called in on December 11, but he advised an immediate operation which was performed at the Cottage Hospital the same day. The operation was quite successful and Mrs Mustoe progressed wonderfully well; so well that the period of anxiety seemed to have passed, and on the Sunday in question she was able to be up and had tea with several members of her family who left her full of hopes for her speedy recovery. Soon after their departure from the hospital, however, she had a heart attack and died before all the family could be summoned. It is superfluous to say that Mrs Mustoe was universally beloved both for what she was and what she did. A sincere Christian, a devout communicant, one full of thought for others, there stand to her credit innumerable deeds of kindness of which the public knew nothing, and many have cause to mourn the loss of a true friend. The funeral took place at Badsey on December 28, the choir attending and singing two of Mrs Mustoe’s favourite hymns.
From Vol 24, No 4, April 1919 -
Badsey churchgoers who use the western entrance to the churchyard should be grateful to Mr Mustoe who has erected a handsome lamp over the gateway as a memorial to Mrs Mustoe. The lamp not only lights the gateway and churchyard path, but effectively illuminates the village street for a considerable distance in either direction. It is a pleasure to add that the ironwork was forged by a local craftsman, Mr W Woodward, and we congratulate him on his work. The old lamp is to be removed to the eastern entrance to the churchyard.
From Vol 24, No 5, May 1919 -
We were in error in attributing the ironwork of the new lap at the entrance to Badsey Churchyard to Mr W Woodward. The lamp was supplied by Messrs S C Averill & Son and the ironwork was made at Mr T E Davies’ forge, Mill Bank, by Mr J Richmond, assisted by Mr T Bond, to drawings by Mr Harry Averill. We much regret the mistake, but the information was supplied to us by the donor himself who had every reason to believe it to be correct.
OCTOBER
In the death of Mrs Sparrow we lose one whom we could ill afford to spare. Intensely interested in all that concerned the welfare of the Church at large, and deeply attached to our old parish church, she never tired, so long as her strength permitted, of working on behalf of any scheme promoted for the benefit of either. But to tell of everything she did in this way would be to rehearse but a fraction of all she accomplished in her quiet, unobtrusive way; those who knew her best could tell of many a kind deed which escaped the public eye, to say nothing of the influence of a kind and sympathetic nature – perhaps the most permanent of all influences in this restless and fretful world. Bowed down with grief at the loss of her gallant son whom she loved so well, and worn out by months of suffering borne with patience and with fortitude, she passed peacefully to her well-earned rest in the early hours of Friday September 20th.