Owners of No. 8 Gloucester Road

The Hall family

Joan as Mayor

Iva checking the Rugby Club books

Joan Elizabeth Cox bought the house in 1971.  The house had been owned by the Trustees of George Hodges, the previous occupier had been Percy Hand, but the house had been left vacant for some time.

Joan was a science teacher employed by Castle School in Thornbury.  She was also a local councillor for several years, serving on the Parish Council, and was Vice-Chairman for three years from 1973 to 1976.  In 1976/77 she was elected Town Mayor.  She stepped down after only one year to spend more time with her family, although she continued to act as a councillor for several more years.

During her time on the Council, Joan was very active in fighting for the opening of a new Community Hall which was opened as the Armstrong Hall in 1972.  She also played a major role in the extension of the town’s cemetery.  Joan was also a committee member of the Thornbury Festival Committee, Concern for Thornbury, and Thornbury Conservative Association.

Since retiring from the Council she served as Lay Representative on the Leyhill Prison.

In 1973 Joan married at St Marys Church.  She had met her fiancée, Iva Arnold Hall, at the local rugby club five years earlier.  Iva had moved from his home in Grimsby to work at Bristol Siddeley (Rolls Royce) in Patchway where he was a senior engineer involved in the development of the Olympus 593 engine for the Concorde.

Iva became a founder member of Thornbury Rugby Club.  In 1962 he and three friends had met in the back room of The Swan public house to form a committee with the object of creating a rugby club.  The first full season of the Club started in 1963.  Iva has never aspired to play rugby for the club, but remained Treasurer until 2007 and can still be seen ‘running the line’.

Click here to see information on the families who occupied number 8 as TENANTS

 

This page was last updated: 25/06/2008