Anne Cara-Southey, whose family used to live at Eastleigh Court, visited St. Aldhelm’s Church on Wednesday 27th August with her daughter and two of her grandchildren.
Anne’s uncle Arthur Howard Southey donated the carved screen shown in the photo in memory of his wife Emily Elizabeth Mima (1865-1913).
The stained glass window on the southern wall is a memorial to two Southey sons.
Caption for photo: The Southey family in front of the carved screen at St. Aldhelm’s, Bishopstrow. (Left to right) Oliver Baker, Anne Cara-Southey, Juliet Baker, Dan Baker.
Ashley Torr has been named general manager of Bishopstrow Hotel & Spa in Wiltshire, which relaunched in June this year.
He joined the property after Ian and Christa Taylor bought the then 32-bedroom, four-silver-AA-starred hotel off a guide price of £5.5m after it fell into administration.
Torr will be taking on greater responsibilities around operations and team leadership as part of his new role.
Commenting on the promotion, he said: “I’m so pleased to be continuing my growth at Bishopstrow as I advance to the next stage of my career in hospitality. Having the opportunity to lead the team at such a pivotal time for the hotel is an exciting challenge. I love the playful, eclectic style of Bishopstrow and I can’t wait to bring my own creativity and passion to the role.”
Jonathan Walker, director of Bishopstrow, added: “Ashley’s promotion to general manager is well earnt and hugely deserved. He is both popular and highly respected in equal measures and has been at the centre of Bishopstrow’s repositioning and standing as one of the UK’s most important and revered country hotels.”
Leo Aylen, who lives in Bishopstrow, is off to KwaZulu, South Africa, following an invitation to make a film about Mangosuthu Buthelezi.Â
Leo refers to Buthelezi as “an honest and honourable politician who has regularly contravened the unwritten law of political behaviour — by speaking the truth.”
Leo, in his blog, also writes: “Some people are starting to realise that Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who for the last 40 years has had regular assassination threats, almost, almost, almost, in 1986, succeeded in instigating a peaceful transfer of power from South Africa’s white government. The abominable President P.W.Botha, his lumpily evil character appropriately matched by his purblind stupidity, put a stop to such a revolution. So it was left to the ANC, running their so-called ‘peaceful’ revolution which left over 20,000 dead, mostly Zulus, mostly innocent civilians, some of them killed by a method so brutal it would have disgusted the Nazis.”
Buthelezi is about to celebrate his ninetieth birthday, and he still risks his life.
Leo Aylen (pictured above) was born in 1935 in KwaZulu, South Africa, the son of Charles Aylen, whom the Zulus elected Bishop of Zululand. Although brought up in England, Leo kept in touch with Zulu friends, including Prince Buthelezi with whom he has corresponded for twenty years. He spent time in KwaZulu during the late 1970’s on a travel fellowship, and then made a performing tour of theatres, campuses, and Black arts centres; he performed at the Space in Cape Town, and the Market Theatre in Johannesburg. In the late 1980’s, as apartheid was collapsing, he returned to the country, was detained by South African Army Intelligence for possessing books by banned black writers, participated in various Zulu and Swazi conferences, and gave poetry performances, including one to a gathering of three thousand Zulus in an open-air amphitheatre, as a prelude to a display of Zulu dancing. He supports a charity Helwel which raises money for community development in KwaZulu.
Fran Henson, Bishopstrow College: my business sale journey with BCMS.
Fran owned and ran a specialist co-educational international school for students aged 7-17, dedicated to helping international students prepare for entrance into the UK’s leading boarding schools. A self-confessed “reluctant sellerâ€, Fran has some unique business selling advice for those who are unsure about pursuing a business sale.
In this video testimonial, Fran expresses her surprise at the number of potential acquirers BCMS brought to the table for such a specialist business. In her words: “We were brought people we were never have dreamt of, who identified with the ethos we’d created. You couldn’t sell your business yourselfâ€.
 Memorial stone to Dave Powell at St. Aldhelm’s Churchyard, Bishopstrow. The inscription reads: “Dave Powell 6th March 1952 5th September 2010 You will never be forgotten.”
A rugby ball ornament inscribed: “Sadly Missed. Happy memories are treasured forever of the wonderful times we shared together.”
 A stone inscribed: “Special Grandad. A wonderful person good and kind. I will treasure the memories left behind.”
 Photographs taken by Danny Howell on Monday 18th April 2016.
 Flat stone in St. Aldhelm’s Churchyard, Bishopstrow, for interred ashes. The wording reads: “In loving memory J. Joseph Cullen 19.3.1915   25.10.1995 Married 6.6.1940 Molly Cullen 10.9.1915   28.3.2009 RIP”. Photograph taken by Danny Howell on Monday 18th April 2016.
 A gravestone in St. Aldhelm’s Churchyard, Bishopstrow. The inscription reads:
“In loving memory of Frederick Charles Humphries, late of Norton Bavant, who fell asleep 27th Aug 1939, aged 69 years. Peace, Perfect Peace. Also of Emily, his wife, re-united 27th Dec 1947, aged 75 years.”
Photograph taken by Danny Howell on Monday 18th April 2016.
