Millennium Project
Bernard Bowerman 1905-1989
Deddington News - June 1989
Bernard Bowerman was a born writer. Fluent and prolific, he combined detailed observation and recall with dry humour and a distinctive turn of phrase. He won a prize for writing when he was in standard two and as he went up the school he was always getting cuffed for scribbling. "Apparently it didn't do any good“, he concluded and how thankful we should be for that.
It seemed there was nothing he couldn't write about for the Deddington News. Watermills and railway trains, farming and carting, the Home Guard, Petty Sessions Bernard had something interesting and thought-provoking to report about them all. "Not a Jane Austen" he wrote of himself "but I do my best to give a picture of life as it was." He remembered what it was like when work was done the hard way and money was so short that with half-a-crown in his pocket he "walked tall and felt like Rothschild". He appreciated "all the modern things. They make life much more comfortable".
Bernard Bowerman never liked school or hurrying, preferring "Life in the Slow lane”. Though often in pain and unable to get about, he remained lively and friendly and very appreciative of the help and support he received.
"A non-stop scribe, just like talking to someone" was how he described himself, and so he was. We and the Deddington News will miss him, his courage, his humour and his "keen eye for a good story" as the Banbury Guardian had it.
In almost his last piece for ‘The way we Were‘, he wrote "I had only been in the world a few months when I was told I was too slow for a funeral, which I thought was not a bad thing". We can't help thinking that somehow, somewhere, Bernard Bowerman is chuckling at the irony of that.
THE EDITORS
As his obituary says, Bernard wrote quite a few articles for the Deddington News - see under the heading 'Deddington Past' in the DN Index of articles
He also recorded them in fuller form in his 'Red Book' of memories
Banbury Guardian - 9 February 1989
The Banbury Guardian ran this article about Bernard only four moths before he died. (click on image to read) It makes a very suitable epitaph to his story telling.