Herbert George Cheverton
1907-1993
Summary of Significant
Events
Profession:
Gardener.
Dob.
October 19th 1907
Married:
Violet Isobel Ralph
June 18th 1938
Children:
Keith Bernard
Gwyneth Anne
Died:
September 16th 1993
Personal Chronology
1907
1920
1920-1923
1923-1926
1926-1927
1927-1929
1929-1930
1930-1932
Born 19th October.
Llanwenog, South Wales.
Left school at age 13 years.
Worked in the gardens at ‘Highmead’ Llanybyther
For three years with his father William Henry
Cheverton Snr.
Worked at ‘Summerlands’ under Brig Gen Ricketts
for two and a half years.
Continued at ‘Summerlands’ under Brig Gen Crosbie.
There appears to be a gap here in the history.
Worked at ‘Brockhurst’, East Grinstead.
Trained at the Royal Horticultural Society at
Wisley.
During this time he lodged with his
prospective mother-in-law Agnes Katherine Ralph
(Big Granny) at Cobham, and met her daughter
1
1932-1935
1935
1936-1946
1938
1939
1946-1951
1950
1951
1952-1955
1955-1960
1960-1972
1972
1979
1993
Violet Isobel Ralph who was to become his wife and
my mother.
Sometime during this period following his
training he appears to have broken off his
relationship with my mother and went to sea
aboard the ‘Mauretania’ as a cook.
He
travelled to New York twice by this means.
By this time he had returned from the sea, and
was living with his mother Al;ice Isabell Cheverton
(Little Granny) and sister Ellen Mary Cheverton
(Auntie Nen) at ‘Ashtead’ in Surrey (File No.22),
and had renewed relationships with my mother with
an ultimate view to marriage.
Worked at various locations for Mr Hewitt.
Married my mother 18th June.
Birth of first child March 2nd – Keith Bernard
Cheverton.
Worked
for Lord & Lady Myddleton at Chirk
Castle,North Wales.
Birth of second child February 26th – Gwyneth Anne
Cheverton.
Worked for a short time at Llynclys, Oswestry for
a commercial garden firm.
Worked for Mr Mechenzie at ‘Pantiles’, Denham,
Bucks.
Worked for Mr Byrnes at ‘Penn Pitts’, Wincanton,
Somerset.
Worked on an estate at Maiden Bradley, Wiltshire.
Retired to a cottage in Warminster, Wiltshire.
My mother died on May 14th.
Following this loss
father sold up and went to live with my sister,
now Gwyneth Burden at Dartmouth, Devon.
Later
they all removed to Rhos-on-Sea, North Wales.
Died 16th September at Rhos-on-Sea where he was
buried.
2
Detailed History
As you will observe from the accumulated material contained
in the large folder, there is a wealth of information about my
parents here. In order to supply a comprehensive understanding of
this material I think I will commence with these files and then
move on to the photographs later.
Files 1 - 13 are love letters written by my mother to my
father probably from Easter 1935 to the back end of that year.
From the contents of these letters it will become clear that
there had been a serious breach in their relationship, but that
had now been repaired with the help of my grandmother. Following
this breach, my father made a decision to go to sea on the
Southampton - New York run on board the ‘Mauretania’ as a cook.
This ship was withdrawn from service in the New York/Southampton
run in 1934 and scrapped in 1935. The reasons for my father’s
decision to go to sea you must judge for your selves by reading
the relevant correspondence. There will be a couple of postcards
in the album from New York during this period of time - page 31.
By 1936 he had acquired employment again with a Mr Hewitt, who
spent a considerable amount of time moving around the south
country avoiding wartime bombs. My father worked for him during
3
this period as a gardener/handyman/chauffeur and moved with him
to Slapton in Devonshire, Send, near Guildford, Copthorn and finally
ending up at Lowfield Heath, near Crawley. In Devonshire I think that
they probably stayed in a small bungalow right on top of the
cliffs overlooking the bay at Start Ridge however, before they
moved into their home, a rented cottage called‘Barn Cottage’, in the
centre of the village of Slapton.
My father married my mother in
1938. My mother talks about the
‘threatened invasion’, and I think
that was a threat raised in 1941.
There
are
many
interesting
references to their experience of
World War 2, and the letters were
written, it appears,on the occasion
of mother coming to stay with my
grandmother Agnes Katherine Ralph
who was ill. My father remained
living at Slapton in Devon during
this period.
The next group of files cover
letters (Nos 19 - 26) probably
written during 1944 - it appears I
had
started
school,
a
small
‘kindergarten’
at
Cobham.
I
remember it well! My mother seems
to be staying with my grandmother once again, and probably for
the same reasons as before. She obviously has a supply of Slapton
notepaper with her!
The final letters are no.26, which was
written by ‘Little Granny’ and my Auntie Nen sometime at about 1943,
and No.27 written by my mother from a spell in Crawley Hospital,
she was knocked down by a Greenline Bus and broke her ankle if my
memory serves me correct - I was there!
Files 28 - 37 are an extraordinary collection of personal
references from my father’s employers, and make fascinating
reading, giving quite an insight into his character as a young
man.
The final group of files contained in the large folder
concerning my father are as follows:
38 39 40 41,42 —
43 –
44 –
Birth Certificate.
Marriage Certificate.
Death Certificate.
Burial details.
Medical Card.
National Identity Card.
4
Wedding photograph of Mother and Father 18th June 1938.
William Henry Cheverton (ID 23) conducted the wedding.
Rev
Here we have a wedding photograph of
the happy couple!
5
Personal Reminiscences of my Father.
The photograph on the first page is of my father as a very
young man, probably taken around the 1930s before his marriage if
you compare his marriage photograph with this one.
The next
photograph is of my father as a member of the Royal Horticultural
Society football team 1931-1932.
He can be seen back row,
fourth from the right.
Sometime
during
the 1930s my father had
a motorcycle accident
that resulted in the
loss
of
his
curls.
Mother tried all sorts
of potions to get his
hair growing again, but
all to no avail.
She
finally in the 1940s
tried a wicked brown
ointment, but that just
resulted in a short
fuzz
being
created
which looked worse than just plain baldness.
Perversely, he was
always known by my mother and by our friends as ‘Curly’!
Within
his own family he had been known as ‘Bid’ a shortened form of
‘Herbert’.
During the time of his horticultural training at the RHS he
lodged with my grandmother Agnes Katherine Ralph, and made
acquaintances with my mother Violet Isobel Ralph. It must have been
pretty cramped for I understand from mothers letters that Jack
Youden was a lodger there at the same time.
They were living at ‘Rest Harrow’, Tartar Hill, Cobham, Surrey.
It was the first semi-detached house on the top side of the
common on the left going up the hill.
The first house was
occupied by ‘Tim Edser’ (Doc.No.23).
He was an elderly man who
looked after himself, but if he needed help he would bang on the
adjoining wall over the fireplace with a poker to summon my
grandmother to his aid!
The house must have been pretty old or else it stood on the
site of a much older house, for my grandfather found an 1806
George 3rd penny in the garden while digging potatoes one day. I
still have this coin; it should be in the box with the family
6
effects.
The two postcards shown on page thirty-one in the
photographic album were brought back from New York by my father.
It appears that sometime during 1932 - 1935, having completed his
horticultural training, he left his lodgings and joined the
merchant navy, serving on board the ‘Mauretania’ on two occasions
as a cook. It appears he loved the sea but did not fully
appreciate the company he was obliged to keep! On returning from
sea he went to live with his mother and sister at Ashtead in
Surrey, and renewed his acquaintance with my mother.
Details of these events can be gleaned from the letters my
mother wrote to him around 1935. Throughout his life my father
was quite happy to tell me about his sailing days, but would
never disclose his reasons for going to sea. I suggest you draw
your own conclusions after reading the full set of letters
written by my mother.
On the 18th June 1938 my parents were married. If you examine
the marriage certificate - document 39, you will see that my Uncle
Willie - William Henry Cheverton Jnr, married them. This was again in
accordance with my mother’s wishes as indicated in her letters.
The witnesses were Agnes and Herbert Ralph my mother’ s parents, and
Alfred and Nen Cheverton.
The odd thing about this event is that Uncle Willy was the
Vicar of St.Barnabas Church, Emmer Green, Oxford, at the time of the
Wedding and yet we find that he sends them a congratulations
telegram from Kilnhurst, in South Yorkshire.
See Doc 47.
Following their marriage and my own birth they moved to
Slapton in South Devon, where they remained in ‘Barn Cottage’
opposite the village shop until the whole village was evacuated
(including all the farm animals) in preparation for the Normandy
landings, June 4th 1944.
During this time my father was an active member of ‘Dad’ s
Army’ the Home Guard, and saw considerable action from downed
aircraft, and local bombing raids. Some of the trauma of war can
be gleaned from Mother’s letters, for she was in the thick of
flying bomb country as she visited her sick mother at Cobham on
at least two occasions during this period.
The photograph below left shows father in his army uniform
with myself in a kilt! This kilt is mentioned in the letters. I
do not remember the kilt but I certainly remember the sporran,
for mother kept it for many years in her drawer.
7
I have scattered memories
of this period myself.
For
example I remember the ‘Slapton
Lea’, a strip of freshwater lakes
that separated the beach and
the road from the mainland for
a few miles. It was in this Lea
that
father
said
a
downed
German pilot was drowned after
baling
out
of
his
plane.
Apparently a ‘diviner’ who was
‘dowsing’ the lake looking for
the site of the fallen aircraft
found him at a later date by
the
metal
buckles
on
his
parachute harness!
I can also
remember watching a group of
youths playing football on the
beach, the ball strayed into
the fenced off minefield that
covered most of the beach, and
they lost their ball.
This
beach
was
obviously
very
important for the preparations for the Normandy landings and
coming ‘D’ Day.
The reason was that it is a very steep beach
with deep water within a few feet of the tide line, and thus
enabled large navel vessels to anchor right up to the shore line,
and land craft directly onto the beach.
The events related to me by my parents of their experiences
during this time are legion. The events related by mother in her
letters during this time are particularly vivid, especially the
bombing raids. Even now, sixty years later, I find myself feeling
quite upset when I hear the sirens from the war time era on the
television.
I well remember spending nights in the cupboard
under the stairs that was used as a makeshift shelter, or else at
a later date, actually spending nights in an Anderson Shelter.
This was a corrugated iron shelter half buried in your own back
garden. It smelt terrible and was very damp, but more about this
in its proper place.
8
This
next
photograph shows father
at
work
pushing
my
cousin Pat and myself
in his wheelbarrow which of us are which I
do not know.
Pat was
the
daughter
of
my
mother’s brother Cyril
and his wife Peggy.
They
lived
at
Leatherhead,
and
you
will find details of
their
plans
for
marriage and also of
Pat in mother’s letters.
The photo was taken in the nursery
belonging to his current employer Mr Hewitt just outside Slapton.
I remember that Pat stayed with us for some considerable while
during that period, and was even with us one Christmas eve. We
shared a bed together, and I remember actually talking with her
and wondering if a certain light upon the wall of our bedroom was
a sign that Father Christmas was coming that night!
Following the evacuation from Slapton, my parents moved back
to live for a short while with my Grandmother at Cobham, and
then, still in the employ of Mr Hewitt, they moved to an estate at
Send near Guildford.
They lived in a large house called ‘Send
Barn’. It was right in the middle of the ‘doodle bug’ zone (Flying
bombs – Vis), and we used to spend night after night in the
Anderson Shelter. Details of this period in the life of my
parents and myself are to be found in my own biographical record.
From there we moved to Copthorn near Crawley, into a
furnished house. This was when Grandma Ralph came to live with us
on a permanent basis.
This would have been occasioned by the
death of my Grandfather Ralph (Doc 59) in 1944, following which she
eventually would have sold up and made the decision to come and
live with us. She remained with us right up to her own death in
1955.
After Send we moved to Lowfield Heath near Crawley, just down
the road from a wartime aerodrome that has now grown into Gatwick
airport.
During this period I commenced school at Hawley, and
it was here that I remember coming home terribly excited to tell
my mummy that the war had ended. Apparently my teacher had given
me this information, and I thought that I was the first one in
9
the family to hear the good news.
It was here also that I
remember the Ariel motorbike and sidecar that father used. I used
to ride in the sidecar and blow my windmill out of the front in
the wind.
Chirk Castle
Here we leave the war years
behind and move to Chirk
Castle in Denbigh, where my
parents moved in 1947.
We
lived on what was then
known as ‘Home Farm’, about
three miles up into the
Berywn Mountains.
chrysanthemum. He was also a highly
the occasion of the death of the old
a six foot high wreath in the form
work of art to look upon. From that
getting orders for wreath making.
My
father
was
head
gardener here, developing a
considerable reputation for
his expertise in growing
early
strawberries,
mushrooms
and
skilled wreath maker, and on
Lord Howard de Warden, he built
of a cross that was truly a
point onward he was forever
My parents seemed to hold a fair amount of status on the
estates, my mother being made responsible for organising the
annual Christmas party for all the children from about six local
farms. This event was held in the great hall of the castle with
an enormous Christmas tree that reached right up to its vaulted
roof.
The Myddleton family owned the castle and six thousand acres
of farms and estates.
I used to play with their youngest son
Hugh during the school holidays from Eton College exploring the
fantastic playground that the castle made for two small boys who
had complete freedom to roam where they wished. The history of
the castle and its gates can be read in the accompanying book on
the subject contained in the box.
That first winter that we were there (1947) was terrible. The
farms were all cut off by a six-foot fall of snow. (Details of
these events are related in my own biographical chapter.
During this period of their lives my parents finally left
their association with the Church of England following an
altercation between my Mother and the Vicar of Chirk, who
10
disapproved of mother starting a religious meeting for the women
of the farms.
As a consequence of this altercation he publicly
called her a heretic! I well remember mother’s offence at this
label, and so from that point onwards they both began to attend
on a regular basis the Brethren Assembly at Willow Street, Oswestry.
The top photograph shows the members of this little Assembly.
It must have been taken by my mother for she is not on the photo,
but I am situated front - third from the left, and father is
right at the back -just the top of his head showing - seventh
from the left.
The lower picture
on the left shows the
Assembly Sunday School
at an outing. I am
arrowed and father is
circled
just
to
my
left.
My
mother
and
grandmother are seated
at the back just right
of
centre
and
both
circled. The right hand
picture
is
taken
outside the farmhouse
at Chirk Castle and shows
father
holding
baby
Gwyneth, my new sister, born February 26th 1950.
I think that this may be an appropriate time to insert the
11
following comments concerning my father and mother and their
lifelong commitment to the work of the Lord.
There are many who
over the years have had the great joy and privilege of witnessing
the life and ministry of these humble children of God.
They may
even have had the great privilege of coming to know Christ
through their personal ministry.
My father came to know his Lord as his personal Saviour in
the late 1930s, probably during his courtship of my mother. If
you read her letters you will find frequent references to her
personal faith and the encouragement she gave my father to find
Christ for himself. It would appear that his conversion to Christ
came as a result of a tent mission at Cobham in Surrey.
Following this mission it would appear that a work was commenced
there by the Brethren, and my parents identified themselves with
this work, and for the rest of their lives continued to be
faithful to that particular cause when opportunity availed
itself.
My earliest memories of their work for the Lord came during
the late 1940s when they were living at Chirk Castle in Denbighshire
and attended the Oswestry Brethren Assembly. Both my parents during
this time commenced a lifetime commitment to work with children
and young people. I well remember their first Sunday School on
the farm where we lived in the Berywn mountains. It was a
collection of farm children gathered Sunday by Sunday to hear the
Word of God in our living room around the large dining room
table.
Mother also commenced a work at this time with the
various women on the farms round about. Later, possibly early in
1950 they commenced a young people‘s work in Oswestry itself for
teenagers during a weeknight.
Between 1952 and 1955 there were two further moves, one to
Llynclys, North Wales, the other to ‘Penn Pitts’ at Higher Denham
in Buckinghamshire. ‘Penn Pitts’ however, was to be our home for
the next five years.
The major work undertaken for the Lord by this couple came
when they had moved to Penn Pitts in Somerset, and while
associating with the Brethren Assembly at Castle Cary, they commenced
a work for the Lord in a disused Baptist Chapel in the village of
Bourton in Dorset just over the county border. Here they opened
up the work and commenced what amounted to a small mission work,
where the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ was preached regularly
every Sunday to a small group of villagers for about fifteen
years. They also commenced a work with children - a Sunday School
and what they called a Sunshine Corner on Thursday evenings.
12
This was indeed the most fruitful period of their lives, and
there are many young people, who, as a direct consequence arising
from the ministry of my parents, were converted, and by the grace
of God entered missionary service, and the work of the Gospel
ministry, becoming elders, deacons and workers with young people
in a wide variety of situations and churches. To those of us who
observed this work and perhaps were involved in it in some
measure, it appeared - certainly now on looking back on these
events, as if the Lord had raised my parents up for this main
task of ministering to just one generation of children over a
span of fifteen years. Certainly John 15:16 seems an appropriate
comment on their life and ministry: “... I have chosen you, and
ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that
your fruit should remain.....”
Due to circumstances beyond their control the work at
Bourton came to a conclusion after fifteen years of ministry one whole generation of children.
Following that period my
parents spent the remainder of their ministry fostering children
in their small cottage home at Warminster. My father was not a
great scholar or preacher - he told me this himself, his ministry
was a simple one - he was a gardener, his life was totally
absorbed with the wonders of His Lord’s creation. These wonders
he could not fail to talk about in his pulpit ministry, he made
the works of creation live as he sought to reveal to his small
congregations the love he had for his Lord. “The parable of the
Vine” was his favourite passage from the Scriptures - I have
forgotten just how many sermons I heard him preach on that
subject alone.
The Cottage at
Penn Pitts
This photograph
shows our cottage
in 1955 at ‘Penn
Pitts’, about four
miles
from
Wincanton
in
Somerset.
Here
my parents began
the major work of
their lives at the
little Baptist Chapel
of
Bourton
in
Dorset,
about
three miles away.
During this period they attended the Brethren Assembly at Castle
13
Cary in Somerset.
Their main efforts were towards the children
of the village of Bourton, the adults, apart from a faithful few,
in the main being totally uninterested in the cause of the
Gospel.
This photo shows
the view from the top
of the cottage which
was situated in quite
an isolated situation
in the middle of a wood
with
this
beautiful
view
covering
the
county of Dorset in
front of the windows.
These woods were well
known for their quite
remarkable displays of
wild bluebells in the
spring, and also for their ‘pitts’. These were stone age flint
mine pits, of anything up to 30 foot deep, and covered the floor
of the little wood end to end for a couple of miles.
The photograph below on the left is of the woodlands
belonging to Mr. Byrnes, my father’s employer at Pen Pitts,
showing some of the grounds that father cared for. While he
worked on this estate he specialised in the propagation of shrubs
for the local woodlands. In the spring these woodlands, which
belonged to the estate, were a blaze of colour. It stood just
behind our cottage and the view at bottom of the previous page is
taken from its veranda.
Sir Arthur Bliss the composer
originally built this house, which
also
had
a
music
room
built on stilts located in the
woodlands at the back of the
property.
14
The photograph below left is of the woodlands belonging to
Mr. Byrnes, my father’s employer at Pen Pitts, showing some of
the grounds that father cared for. While he worked on this estate
he specialized in the propagation of shrubs for the local
woodlands. In the spring these woodlands, which belonged to the
estate, were a blaze of colour. It stood just behind our cottage
and the view at bottom of the previous page is taken from its
veranda.
The photograph left is of my
parents behind their cottage at
Warminster. Behind them you see
the little greenhouse that was
Mother’s pride and joy. The other
photo (right)appears to be the
occasion of my sister’s wedding
in 1971. They were married in the
little Baptist Chapel in Bourton
by one of the elders of the
Castle Cary Assembly.
This Chapel has now closed,
been sold and has been converted.
Following the period at ‘Penn
Pitts’ they had moved for a time
to Maiden Bradley, few miles away,
only into a tied cottage again.
Here on the left we see
father in one of his beloved
greenhouses. I am not sure where
this
was
taken,
but
it
was
obviously towards the end of his
working life.
Shortly after this they bought a
small cottage at 55, Woodcock Road,
15
Warminster, Wiltshire, at which point in 1972, father retired. Once
again you will notice, the greenhouse figures prominently in
their lives.
The following comments on
these latter years of their life together are a very personal
view, and may not be shared by my sister who was living at home
with them during the early years of their retirement before her
marriage to Trevor Burden.
Over the years my father had often expressed the hope he had
that on the occasion of his retirement he would have the
opportunity to spend more time in the work of the Christian
Ministry. This, however, was not to be. Following their move to
Warminster they explored two little Brethren Assemblies, one at Frome
which they did not like at all, the other at Crockerton, a small
village just outside Warminster.
The chapel had a history going
back to Puritan times, and had an outside baptistery between the
chapel and the road - just right for public baptisms!
It also
had a quite remarkable carved pulpit that dated right back to mid
17c. However, Mother decided that she did not wish to continue in
fellowship there and associated herself with the General Baptist
Church at Warminster.
Father refused to associate with this Church. He still held
very strong views with regard to the established ministry
consistent with his Brethren background, and he never relented
from these views, consequently he and mother began to drift into
different spheres as far as their Christian fellowship and
ministry was concerned.
Mother began to get very involved in
working with the women of the Church, and became their
‘president’. Father never did give his innermost views upon this
matter.
One thing I did note about him over the years, if he
disagreed with mother, he would never criticise her to a third
party.
He kept such views, and opinions to himself and
maintained a strict loyalty.
A second cause of sorrow to my
16
father during these years (yes, it was sorrow, for mother told me
so!) was my mother’s total commitment to fostering a number of
children during this period right up to the tine of her death.
She expressed to me that father saw this work as a major factor
in restricting his wider involvement in the work of the ministry.
During this period of time Gwyneth married Trevor Burden,
and they moved to Oulton Broad at Lowestoft where Trevor worked
as a chemist.
Following the death of my mother, father moved
eventually to live on a permanent basis with Gwyneth and Trevor
at the home for the elderly that they ran together at Rhos-onSea, Colwyn Bay.
Photo on left is of my sister Gwyneth.
Following the death of her husband Trevor
she married again to Phil Craker.
She
still lives in North wales in a small
cottage hidden away in Abergele, Conwy.
Following the death of my mother, he
came to live with my sister and her
husband Trevor, initially while they lived
at Dartmouth in Devon and later following
their removal to Rhos-on-Sea in North
Wales. During this latter period of time,
while living in my sister’s ‘Home for the
Elderly’, he associated with the Brethren
Assembly at Rhos, but constantly complained
at the increasing age of its members and
their increasing limitations to minister
the Gospel effectively and with power.
While with my sister he took responsibility for the care of
the grounds of the house, even up into extreme old age.
He
continued to show a constant interest for his little greenhouse,
and supplied the residents with the fruit of his labours.
As he
became increasingly more frail he constantly expressed his
longing for glory and union with His Lord.
His conversation and
preoccupation during his latter years was with the things
concerning His Lord and the glory of His work in this present
age.
Father had his own room in the home where he gathered all the
mementos and furniture from his past around him. It was a lovely
little room and well depicted the quiet and peaceable life this
child of God had led for the past eighty odd years. He obviously
missed mother terribly, and felt very keenly his increasing loss
17
of functional abilities as the years rolled on.
My father never however lost his love for motorbikes, and
during his final years with Gwyneth and Trevor he acquired a small
scooter.
It was bright pink, and very soon he acquired a name
and reputation among the locals as the ‘Pink Panther’!
He was
riding this right up into his 80s, even after coming off on one
occasion and ending up in hospital with a broken rib.
He was
never one to let little difficulties get in is way!
After he
sadly relinquished the scooter, he got himself an invalid
carriage, one of these little electric battery cars that go at
about six mph. This he continued to use up until just a few days
before his death.
I regularly at least during the early years of his residence
there, used to fetch him over the Chapeltown for long weekends. It
was very noticeable that during these visits he was very
preoccupied with his concerns for his greenhouse at Rhos, and his
personal sorrow that he was no longer able to actively
participate in Christian ministry as he used to love doing. He
became very attached to the work that was being pioneered here in
Chapeltown, and this was obviously a constant source of
conversation with his Christian friends back in Rhos.
-
As time began to draw to a close, his frailty increased,
though he still managed a limited amount of involvement with his
beloved garden and greenhouse, but I no longer felt happy with
bringing him over to Chapeltown. During this time he injured his
arm in a fall. This injury was never properly repaired, and was
a constant source of irritation to him, severely limiting his
functional abilities.
Here we see father with a
friend in happy retirement at
Ross. Bottom - in a more somber
mood in our rocking chair at our
home at Chapeltown, Sheffield on a
brief visit.
18
Here we see father frail
but happy not long before his
death.
For
a
little
while
immediately prior to his death
he complained of problems with
his bowels. He was eventually
admitted
to
hospital
and
underwent an operation for ?
appendicitis.
From
this
he
never
recovered,
dying
peacefully in his sleep on 16th
September
1993.
Bottom
photograph the flowers on his grave at Rhos.
-
He was buried in the
little
cemetery
at
Rhos-on-Sea
directly
under the shadow of the
Great Orms Head.
The
funeral was held at the
little Brethren Chapel in
Rhos
where
he
worshipped for the last
few years of his life.
The photograph on the
following page is of
his grave stone in that
little
cemetery
and
finally we have what I regard as my favourite photograph of him.
It was taken in 1986 when he
was 78 years of age.
Here
we
see
the
gravestone
erected over my father’s grave in
Conwy,
North
Wales.
The
inscription states ‘For me to
live is Christ but to die is
gain’.
19
Herbert George Cheverton 1907- 1993
20