Jack’s Corner
Over the past six or seven years, Joyce Chatton has spent a lot of time and effort helping Mary to maintain the plot behind St. Catherine’s Church where the old Village Pump stands. The pump was the original source of water for villagers in times past. Before the village went on to mains water, the water cart would be pulled by horses and the buckets would be filled from it. As a young lad Jim Green used to help, it was one of the deepest wells in Towersey. Jack Brackenbury teamed up with a friend and decided to restore the pump and with a lot of hard work they succeeded. Jack had great pleasure in showing children how water was obtained in days gone by. Mums and dads would take them and show them how to pump up the water. From that, Jack and Mary put in a seat, hoping that people would enjoy this quiet corner. Then Jack got the bug and a garden started to appear. Mary would find Jack spending more and more time taking plants round from their own garden. Then came the bee hives behind on Jims land, with permission, of course. Finally Jack put up a sign on the pump, “Please enjoy and not destroy”.
Jack wanted so much to share this little bit of heaven, a quiet corner which is so hard to find in our fast moving world. Sadly, Jack died and so Joyce became involved and with more hard work has continued where Jack left off. With Mary’s financial support and the help of friends, Joyce has been able to continue developing the garden. Although it has been hard work, Joyce does not regret it and would like all villagers to share in the enjoyment of it, young and old.
N.B.
How to prime the pump: Take water from the butt in a small vessel, pour into the top of the pump until water runs out of the tap. THEN you start to pump the handle up and down. You can then pump up the water.