Naval theme for tributes to former Towersey pub landlord

ST Catherine’s Church, Towersey, was full today (Tuesday) for the funeral of Jim Barrett, popular former landlord of the Three Horseshoes pub in the village and a well-known resident of Thame.

Jim Barratt at Oxford Town Hall in April 2015, when he was presented with a Convoy Medal by the Russian government

Jim, who died on September 1, at the age of 95, served in the Royal Navy for 25 years before taking over the pub, and saw action on destroyers and other warships from the Pacific to the Mediterranean and the Arctic during the Second World War. He was at sea from before the war started until it after it ended.

Naval veterans were among the packed congregation for the service which reflected Jim’s life story and included the Navy’s hymn ‘Eternal Father Strong to Save’.

There were tributes to Jim and memories of him from his son Roy and daughter Gill Coleman, and from his grandchildren, and the service was conducted by the vicar, the Revd Rachel Cross. The Three Horsehoes provided the venue for the refreshments which followed the service.

Echoing the theme of the occasion the congregation left the church to a sequence of sea songs and shanties, including ‘A Life on the Ocean Wave’, the Hornpipe – and ‘What shall we do with the drunken sailor?’ No doubt Chief Yeoman of Signals, Jim Barrett, would have known how to cope.

CONTRIBUTED by Norman Brand