PETER BATCHELOR

CATALOGUE

RECORDING

SUMMARY

BORN: Minehead, Somerset, 1930

LIVED: Minehead, Simonsbath, Combe Sydenham, Withiel Florey, Exford

RECORDING MADE: 2001

RECORDING LENGTH: 2 hours 26 minutes

Peter Batchelor's family were in the grocery business, with shops in Minehead and Exford. His father ran the Minehead shop, priding himself on stocking things other people didn't sell. Peter helped there during the war years, skipping school.

He was more interested in farming than the grocery business and after school moved around Exmoor doing general farm work before spending seven years at Gupworthy with Leslie Norman. Back in Exford, he became gardener/handyman for Miss Reed and her companion at Lower Thorne. He spent the next 25 years there, working undisturbed in their garden. A dedicated gardener, he is president of Exford Flower Show and has been judging shows and winning prizes for years. He also keeps bees, inherited from Miss Reed.

He spends a lot of time at the church, being both churchwarden and sacristan, and is captain of the bell ringers.

Peter Batchelor died in March 2019.

Photograph by Mark J. Rattenbury