In June 1970, the house was conveyed by George and Joan Excell to Arthur William Beverley Selman of Pullins Green.
‘Bev’ was the son of Bill and Lena Selman who were living next door at number 16. Read more about Bill and Lena
Bev was actually William Arthur Beverley and his birth was registered in the Weston area in 1938.
In 1960 Bev married Sheila M Gardiner. Joan Excell told us that because Bev did not have a job at the time, the Selmans asked her and George to sell the house to Bev. Joan said that they came to ‘an arrangement’ because they liked Sheila, Bev’s wife, so much and said that she came from a nice family. Bev seems to have paid them something and then paid a sum each month. This is largely confirmed by a document that we found in the deeds, which says that Arthur William Beverley Selman agreed to pay back to George two thousand four hundred pounds at the rate of nine pounds ten shillings per centum per annum. It was to be paid in equal monthly sums of 30 pounds on the 19th of each month.
We were not sure what Bev’s trade was but he seemed to be a trader who bought and sold all sorts of things. As a young man he had worked for Wilkinsons, a bakery in St John Street delivering bread. In the period around 1969 Bev advertised as a window cleaner in the Outlook Magazine produced by the Thornbury and District Community Association. At that time his address was Resthaven, Pullins Green. The 1970 electoral register confirms Bev and Sheila Selman were living in the Bottom flat, 3 Pullins Green.
We heard later he had moved to South Bristol to run a bakery with his new wife. When we saw him last, he was living in Hartcliffe, travelling around in a succession of converted ambulances and selling ‘antiques’ at car boot sales. We liked Bev very much and found his stories very funny. He also gave us one useful piece of advice that we have not yet been able to use. Apparently if you are ever chased by the police in a car, you should find a ploughed field to run across as the police don’t like to get their boots muddy and won’t follow. This was before they had police helicopters! We have no idea how he came by this information. He also tried tried to sell us an ambulance because they are very good for getting through traffic jams or for holiday homes.
1984 Bevs fireplace with people in the way
Bev did not keep the house long. In the short time he was here he did undertake some improvements. He ripped out both the old Victorian fireplaces and surrounds, and in the sitting room built an enormous fireplace out of Cotswold stone (which was in fashion at the time). The fireplace in the dining room was on a smaller scale.
We have traced Bev to when he was living near Bristol, with his wife, Jacqueline in the late 1990s. We have just discovered that he still comes to Thornbury and we have been hoping to meet with him.