Jimmy Round, a close childhood friend of mine, has lived in Birch all his life and so knew the Luards of Birch Rectory as family friends. He has kindly allowed me to reprint has own appreciation of my Luard aunts and uncles.

THE LUARDS not in chronological order
Fred
G. [Clara Georgina Luard]
Percy
Rose
Alec
Evelyn
Frank
Amy C.
Hugh
Nettie
Trant
Daisy
Lucy

Their father was Rector of Birch and was followed by Percy, who was our Rector for 48 years. He christened us, married us, buried us and loved us all in Birch, and we in return loved him because he was so much part of "life". He and Nettie and Daisy who shared his life were to be seen daily in the village and knew everyone both young and old and they were all an "ever present help in trouble".

If I had to sum up the Luard family characteristics, I should say Faith in God, humour, longevity, intelligence, happiness in small things and complete imperviousness to cold. (Indeed G. was once found reading in the garden in a snow-storm). It was always a moot point as to whether the Rectory was colder than the Hall (my old home) or vice versa.

Several of them were in advance of their time. G. and Rose were graduates and G. ended her career as Head of Whitelands College. She published a delightful volume "Journals of Clarissa Trant" her grandmother who was in Portugal during the Peninsula War. Rose taught at Cambridge and there ran a boarding house for students.

Evelyn was a nurse all through the 1914-1918 war and her diary which she published is a classic of its kind. She ended her career as matron of a house at Bradfield where she was much loved by generations of boys.

This is bound to be rambling as stories and personal memories flood back to me.

Fred was a sore trial to the rest of the family. He lived in Cambridge, and although they were all a bit better off than they made out, he dressed like a tramp. I remember seeing him in Kings College chapel in Cambridge and a friend who I was with was deeply ashamed of me when I went and had a long talk with him.

G. Evelyn and Rose on retirement lived in a charming house opposite Wickham Bishops church. Talking of church it was one of our childhood amusements to see my Father waving the offertory bag in front of G. who never had any money for the collection. He always ignored her cries of "Go away, Charles"!

Alec died in an accident while a midshipman and Frank was killed in the 1914-1918 war. I never knew them. Frank's granddaughter married my brother, however.

Hugh, an army doctor whose son and daughter are my oldest friends, Lucy who married my great uncle was a sweet quiet and self-effacing character, of whom Sue and I were very fond. She was rather a professional widow and apt to say things like "today would have been my husband's 100th birthday" Rather difficult to find a reply! Two things I shall remember always at her funeral on a lovely day: Daisy saying to me "Lucy (aged 85) has died out of turn"! Nettie also sailing in to tea saying "wonderful weather for these sort of things"!

Trant was a delightful character who lived to be over 100 full of quiet humour.

I have mentioned the longevity of the Luards. Amy Charlotte who died in infancy was looked upon with scorn by all the rest who varied from 80-100 years of life.

But it is really Percy, Nettie and Daisy who I knew and loved most.

They were, to me, the ideal of a country parsons family, knowing and visiting everyone whether church people or not. No one enjoyed more than Percy being called "bloody old Percy Luard" by a parishioner who disagreed with him. Full of interest in all around them: quietly happy in all seasons, rarely leaving the parish, rejoicing in the first snowdrop or the song of the nightingales. (How unlike the modern country parson). Their religious faith shone out of them. I still think of Percy every time I say in the Creed "and was made man". It meant a lot to him. God looks after his own in a wonderful way. Percy survived motor smashes as did Nettie and Daisy who were knocked down by a lorry. The only result of this encounter was that when they tidied themselves up, they put on each others hats back to front! Percy's driving was again watched over by the Almighty. He drove a large Morris Oxford saloon looking rather upwards through the wheel. In a narrow street he managed to hit a pram with a baby in it who mercifully was caught on his bumpers as well as a bicycle, which he also hit. He was stopped by a policeman and was horrified by what he had done. The baby and the bicycle were restored to their owners totally unharmed. Really God works wonders.

Percy was rather cross with me when he was christening a goddaughter of mine and I suggested he should put the baby on his bumpers and take her home to tea! The only other time that Percy was cross was when he took G. to watch a cricket match. He told her not to talk, this was too much for her and after a bit said "Percy, what would happen if the wicket-keeper took off his pads and started to bowl?" History does not relate the answer but G. lived to tell the tale.

Nettie: a quiet person but full of character. She had a way of saying something quite ordinary which reduced all the rest of the family to silence. She was reserved and elicited respect. A delightful story shows this. When my father got two cows, they were naturally called Nettie and Daisy. The stockman in conversation about them always referred to the cow "Daisy" as "Daisy" but the cow "Nettie" was always called "Miss Nettie"! Nettie's great religious faith led her to revere the Rector not as a person but as God's representative. While Percy was Rector, Nettie revered him devotedly but when he retired and they moved to Witham, her allegiance was transferred to the Witham incumbent (a man whom they heartily disliked!) I once went to see them and was talking to Percy in his study when Nettie came in with a note, she said it is a note from the Rector and you must answer it at once: she stood over him while he did it!

Daisy, bless her, was one of the loves of my life and it was so good that Sue loved her too. One never thought of the age gap as no subject was taboo, full of fun and laughter and interest in all subjects. A wonderful friend, never interfering but if asked she said what she thought, living a quiet but happy life. "Give me a scallop shell of quiet, my staff of faith to walk upon" sums up Daisy perfectly. She was devoted to Percy and to Norman Lang, Bishop of Peterborough and when they both died a light went out for her and she was not quite the same again. That made no difference for my love for her.

They have all been dead these many years but I still remember, love and miss them.

More Birch History.