The Vicarage, Wray

During the Second World War, my dad's uncle Rev Alfred Bell was vicar of Wray parish church. We used to travel to Wray from Blackburn where we lived for a weekend to visit them, it seemed to take forever! Uncle Alfred and Aunt Edith had a son, Raymond who was eventually vicar of St Michaels on Wyre, Eileen their daughter was slightly disabled and very involved in the church. My memory is of the bees and Uncle Alfred making honey in the courtyard of the vicarage and hand turning the barrel. In 1995 my husband and I who live in Canada returned to the UK for a visit, went to visit Wray on the VE weekend. It was quite a sight to see the village decked out with all the memorabilia, the vicarage now a private residence, the walled garden across the road, no longer there. We met a gentleman who knew the family so it was very nostalgic for me to re-live something which happened so many years ago. Like all places, things have changed, but memories still live on.