Robert (Bob) Lewis

We recently lost Robert from our Chantry community. Many of us in the village knew him to be a kind, quiet, and intelligent engineer, but few knew his hidden artistry, his music making and many other interests. I've added some of his paintings through this tribute.

Jan Bramston shared this with me:

About 30 of us went to the Crematorium and then enjoyed a drink and sandwich, at The George in Croscombe and then a somewhat different group of 3O went to the internment of his ashes the following week on the 30th April. Here his friends, distant relatives and even some colleagues spoke fondly of him - his daily walks, his cooking skills, (his shared pots of jam) his gardening, a spooky ghost story from Bristol Museum, his meagre food orders from Sainsburys, his model making and interest in boats, his willingness to help others and generosity to all were all well acknowledged. Most of us, however, were NOT aware that an anonymous annual donation to the church came in fact from Robert, who although not a worshipper himself, perhaps saw some good in the teachings of the church.

And a tribute from his funeral (given by Barry Davies):

Robert was born on the 17^th of November 1939 at Green Ore where his parents, Kenneth and Lucy, were living at the time. 

When Robert was seven, he was sent to a weekly boarding school in Knowle, Bristol, as his parents worked long hours, his mother teaching and his father in the local garage. 

The family moved to Puddington, a small village in Devon, in the late forties where they owned a smallholding which both parents farmed. They had three sows, twenty smaller pigs and a cow and they made butter and cheese which they sold locally. His mother was also the organist of Puddington Parish Church. 

In 1957 the family moved to Chantry, where his parents bought Clements for £500.This property consisted of two run down cottages with a paddock which they renamed Sunny Nook. They re-built the cottages as one house where his parents and his elder brother, John, lived until Robert later moved to Bristol. 

Robert won many art prizes at his various schools and gained O Levels in Art and Woodwork. He became the handyman for the Vinings in the village. When some of them moved to Sixpenny Handley near Shaftesbury, they started a museum and had some rare breed animals there.  Robert went to help them set up. He was an intelligent man, very capable, trusting, kind, and always willing to help. 

His first job was with the GPO as an apprentice, and he studied metalworking at night school which he loved and would carry on using metal for the rest of his life. He then moved on to Singers, in Frome, where his metal working skills came to the fore. 

Later he became self-employed and moved to Bristol where he met his future wife, Pamela. They were wed at Holy Trinity Church, Chantry, in 1975 and held their reception at The Crown in Frome. They were married for some 20 years.  

During this time Robert got the job he loved the most as a conservator at the Bristol Docks Museum, now known as M Shed. He became highly specialised in repairing and preserving anything industrial including cranes, steam engines, buses, boats, Fry’s chocolate machines, penny farthings and clocks. 

From Bristol Robert returned (now sadly divorced) to Chantry to help with things at home when his parents died.  John needed support, having had a hip operation that in those days involved a lengthy recovery period. The two brothers helped and supported each other for the remainder of their lives. 

I was amazed to discover the breadth and variety of Bob’s skills. Having taken sketching and painting lessons, he was an accomplished artist, and some of his paintings were displayed at his memorial service at Chantry Church. His workshop suggests that he was a man who liked to be kept busy. He delighted in restoring old radio sets and had quite a collection of them. He was also a model maker, having been commissioned to make a model of a local canal lock system for the museum in Pontypridd, and a musician, making and playing his own guitars, which is why guitar music was chosen for the recessional music after his cremation service. 

Bob survived John by just over a year and his remains were laid to rest close those of his brother in the churchyard at Chantry after his memorial service on 30^th April. 

May they both rest in peace and rise in glory. Amen.