downsmail.co.uk
Organist Bob, 100, can’t wait to get back on keys
BOB Caudwell has just turned 100 and, understandably, now has poor eyesight and hearing – but the treasured organist and choir- master at St Nicholas Church, Linton, cannot wait to get back once the lockdown comes to an end. He took up the post at the age
of 76, when he first moved to Kent, and he plays for Sunday services, weddings and funerals. Bob, the son of a gardener, as-
sists if needed at other benefice churches in East and West Far- leigh, Coxheath and Hunton, and still gives concerts which prove significant fundraisers. The Rector, the Rev Peter Call-
way, said Bob is a remarkable man. He added: “He is enormously
loved and respected by our con- gregations. It is a privilege to have such an accomplished musician to lead our worship.” Nottinghamshire-born Bob was
opening his birthday cards, in- cluding one from the Queen, when the Downs Mail spoke to him at his Medway home. He said his poor sight was not a real problem. “I have been playing for so long I can do it by touch,” he said. Bob, a widower, is helped, in-
cluding with car journeys, by his friend at the church, Margaret Howe of Stockett Lane, Maid- stone. He served with the Liverpool
Welsh Tank Regiment in WWII in Egypt, North Africa, Sicily, Italy and Greece, where he was a front- line infantryman. He conducted the regimental choir and concerts were broadcast by the BBC. He later enrolled as a teacher
and spent the rest of his working life teaching maths, science and music master. He gained the Li- centiateship of the Royal Academy of Music and was awarded the Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists.
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News Bison project
BISON are to be introduced into woodland following a ground- breaking conservation project led by the Maidstone-based Kent Wildlife Trust and the Wildwood Trust and funded by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. The animals will be introduced
in Blean Woods, near Canterbury, with the aim of restoring the an- cient woodland’s ecosystem. Kent Wildlife Trust said: “The
European bison is the continent’s largest land mammal, and males can weigh as much as a tonne. The species is known as an ‘ecosystem engineer’ because of its ability to improve habitats for other species.”
Elmer parade
A NEW date in 2021 has been con- firmed for an art trail in Maidstone featuring one of the world's most popular children’s book characters. This summer’s Elmer’s Big Heart
of Kent Parade, in aid of the Heart of Kent Hospice, was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The event on June 19, 2021, will feature up to 50 elephants based on David McKee’s children’s book Elmer the Patchwork Elephant.
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