The following obituary is taken from the Wrington Archive website and is reproduced with their kind permission.

 

REMEMBERING DR BELL

 

By Sarah Avery (née Midgley)

 

Following on from the request for information on Dr Bell, I'd like to tell you of my earliest memories of Dr Bell. It must be at least fifty years ago, now, when I was taken to his surgery in the house off Ropers Lane.

 

It seemed to be a very large, dark waiting room, with chairs around the edge with shiny brown, squeaky seats. Am I right in recognising some of the sketches which are now in the modern surgery in Station Road? There were certainly a series of rather awesome caricatures, at least from a child's point of view!

 

Mrs Bell was always there, and the two of them most friendly and caring in my memory, with a wonderful sense of humour. My best recollection was when Dr Bell was locum one day when I was ill at boarding school, Westwing (at that time the school was at Langford Court, all of three miles from my home).

He came in to the dormitory, and whether or not I had a chest infection I cannot remember, but his remedy: "what you need is a lick of Vick" was not for the ointment of that name, but for a lick from our dog, Vicky! He cured my illness and my homesickness all in one visit.

My last memories, not so very long ago, are of Mrs Bell walking their little dog down Iwood Lane. At least, the dog trotted along, while Mrs Bell drove the car very slowly the length of the lane! I don't know if this tallies with other people's memories, but I cherish them, and would love to see some of the others if and when you get them in print!

Reproduced by kind permission of the Wrington Archive