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Ivor was born in 1913 in South Wales and during the depressions of the 1930’s came to Corsham to find work. He found this at Westinghouse Brake & Signal Company in Chippenham.
There he met Phylis who he married, they had a daughter and settled down in Corsham. Ivor became blind after a motorcycle accident on the Corsham to Melksham Rd. After much training at the school for the blind in Torquay, he started to make trays, stools etc from basket work, as in the picture below taken at his workshop in Corsham. Later he had a guide dog called Dollie, which he was trained with in Exeter.
In 1975 Monks Chapel was on the verge of closing down and in need of lots of repair work.Under Ivor’s leadership a group of people raised the money for the repairs and in 1980 the Chapel was rededicated. Ivor passed away in 1990, he is buried along with Phylis in the grounds of Monks Chapel.
Thank you Michael. Whatever you can find regards pictures and any stories behind the pictures I will put up on the website.
@admin:
Hello, Nick, and Happy Easter!
I do indeed have some photographs, which go back to his early days in Corsham. They include their wedding day; the ceremony having been performed at what was then the Congregational Church, situated behind what was ‘Pickwick Papers’ newspaper shop.
(And who is Oscar you might ask? He is my wonderful. four-legged companion of nearly sixteen years.)
I shall seek out what I can find that may be of interest for you and the website.
Best Wishes for now, Michael (Davies)
Michael, thank you for this most interesting insight into Ivor’s life and your relationship with him. It’s a welcome and very precious contribution to the website. Any other information/stories/pictures relating to Ivor can be emailed to me at worship@monkschapel.com – If you have photos of Ivor and know someone with a scanner, we will put them on the website. Nick
What a delightful find.
I am the adopted son of Gladys Tilley, youngest sister to Ivor. I am now 65 and have such fond and inspirational memories of uncle Ivor and aunty Phyllis who lived at ‘Pen Y Bryn’, 2 Pound Pill, Corsham, Wiltshire. Sadly, I so remember when he came off his BSA Bantam motorcycle on the outskirts of Melksham, when he brought magazines/papers over to our home in Melksham; a task I normally performed on the way home from Corsham school but on that particular occasion, forgot. I have such very fond memories of him and indeed, both of them, over some number of years in my childhood. He was indeed an inspirational person who marked my life in a very positive way. He was a very independent man who was determined to live as independently as possible and to that end, set up a garden shed in his garden and worked 9-5 weaving an assortment of items such as baskets, stools, bed trays etc. Indeed, I still have a tray and stool which he made.
I also remember Jim Minds; a lovely gentleman and friend of uncle Ivor who were both members of a ley religeous organisation that I cannot recall precisely the name of at this time. (It will certainly come to me in my sleep!)
Ivor & Phyllis adopted Sandra, who subsequently gave them two grandchildren (grandsons).
Uncle Ivor’s passion for Monks Chapel was enormous and I have very fond memories of his ley preaching at that delightful, former Quaker Meeting house, with it’s very typical, Dutch arched roofing. They are both buried there of course and I attended both their funerals.
Do please feel free to contact me for any additional information about a truly grand gentleman and lovely lady.
Michael (Davies) – nephew
Thank you for your kind comments David. Also thanks for pointing out the date error regarding Ivor’s passing, I have made the correction. Nick
Well done Nick. This is a brilliant and very readable site. Thanks for drawing my attention to it last Sunday.
Ivor Tilley passed away in 1990 by the way, not 1980. We didn’t arrive in Wiltshire and get to know Monks until 1988, after which I was privileged to meet him many times.
Keep up the good work.
David.