St Andrew's Church, Chelmondiston

A Memory of Chelmondiston.

My mother, Mary Rands, was christened in this church in 1929. Her Grandparents, Herbert and Mary Ann Rands, lived in a cottage at the back of the church called 'Myrtle' They passed away before the second world war, they are buried just outside the entrance to the new church. My mother's uncle Jack (John Frederick Rands) and Aunt Elsie continued to live at the cottage.
On Sunday the 10th December 1944 at around 18:30hrs her Uncle Jack heard a noise so went outside to have a look, It was a German doodlebug. Sadley it was dropped onto the church and killed Jack, he was 57 years old. My mother Aunt Elsie was found in the church yard still in her arm chair. When she was put in the ambulance she handed her false teeth to a neighbour to look after. She had bits of glass in her which occasionally made there way out of her skin. They found parts of Jacks body scattered around the village. My mother house Ingolnook, where she was born, is where the shop, Hollingsworth is today, had its windows blown out. Luckily my mothers family where in Scotland at the time as Granddad Charles Rands worked on his barge, Empress, ferrying stuff around the Clyde for the Royal Navy.Many of the gardens in Chelmondiston have rockeries made from stone from the old church. The current church was built in 1958. My mother and father were supposed to be the first couple to get married in it, however it wasn't finished in time so they married at St Marys church Sholtey.
One of my mothers uncles Harry Rands also lived in Chelmondiston he had the barge 'Cabby' which is still around, he passed it to Alex Rands, both have now passed away.
My grandmother, Flossy Rands, had a café for a few years in the 1950s, if anyone knows where this was could they please leave a comment.