Tuesday 16th September 2025
Two stalwarts of Warminster Carnival, namely John Rich and his partner Pam Mitchell. The photo was taken at their home at Bread Street (or should I say Lower Bread Street?) on Friday 2nd November 2001.
If you are eagle-eyed you may notice that John is holding a quiz sheet and a gift voucher card, and Pam is holding a book: Thorburn’s Birds by Archibald Thorburn (edited by James Fisher). Back in the good old days I used to organise a lot of quizzes and treasure hunts, for fun and to raise funds for local charities and community projects. On this occasion I had put out a postal quiz, the answers to which were all birds’ names. John and Pam achieved the most correct answers and won the first prize which included the voucher and the book. I wasn’t surprised they won, as John was a keen quizzer and sometimes organised quizzes himself.
John was a builder and handyman. He died earlier this year, only a few weeks ago. The last time I saw him he was dog walking with his daughter and grandson (from Swindon) at Gooseacre Lane, down at Smallbrook.
Pam married David Mitchell in 1962. Pam was well known – she worked in Woolworths at High Street, Warminster, for many years. Pam and I found ourselves together on many occasions – one that particular stands out is when we met Matt Baker from BBC tv’s Countryfile, we both had our photographs taken with him. I knew Pam’s parents very well too – Fred Byrne and Nora Byrne (nee Turner), from Ash Walk.
Pam died during 2022. I remember, at her funeral at the Minster Church on Monday 26th September 2022, everyone who attended was given a packet of forget-me-not seeds with a message on the packet which read: “In loving memory of Pam Mitchell, 23 July 1939 – 28 August 2022. Please plant these seeds and grow them in memory of Pam.”