Cyril Cartmell was an inspirational, proactive and tireless Youth Leader in post-war Malmesbury. He and his wife, Ann, made a massive impact upon our community over the decades they lived here.
He was extremely well known in the town during his lifetime and is still remembered with great affection by all those who knew him. But time passes and there is now a real danger that his contribution is being forgotten.
Cyril came to Malmesbury in 1947, just two years after the end of the war, when he was appointed to run the town’s Youth Centre, then in Ingram Street. These were difficult, drab and joyless times. Recovery from the hostilities had only just begun; bitter memories, food-rationing and other serious hardships continued well into the 1950s.
Malmesbury’s young were in need of the charismatic, disciplined lead as well as the opportunities and optimism that Cyril Cartmell – ”Skip” as the youngsters called him - brought to the task. They enjoyed the social interaction with their peers, of course, but the more so for feeling safe, secure and having the sense of purpose that Cyril’s projects imparted. They had real respect for their leader and knew that he, in turn, had a genuine respect for them.
Cyril was the driving force behind Malmesbury’s very first exchange with Niebüll in Germany in 1954, which he personally led. He continued to actively encourage the Town to accept the need for reconciliation and to offer a positive response to the invitation, offered by our erstwhile enemies, to forge a new friendship. That was very enlightened and forward thinking, particularly so very soon after WW2 – a war in which Cyril had fought and been wounded. The initial youth visits led subsequently to our twinning with Niebüll (which later expanded to include Gien, in France). The Twinning Association remains an active part of Malmesbury life.
Similarly, Cyril Cartmell was one of the first - nationally! - to sign up his youth group for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme when it was first launched by Prince Phillip in the mid-1950s. Many of his charges took up the challenge, learned new skills and benefited handsomely from that opportunity.
Meanwhile the thrice-weekly routine of evening gatherings at the Youth Centre flourished and grew. The Youth Club was the centre for many varied and well organised activities: team games, DoE adventures, music making and drama rehearsals (for productions performed publicly across the district), even building and racing canoes.
The youth of that time flocked to Ingram Street. Some cycled six, seven, even eight miles (and back!) to take part. The Club was the highlight of their teenage lives.
These same people are now our Senior Citizens. None – but none – I have met have a bad word to say about Cyril Cartmell or his wife. (Ann - “Mrs C.” - always supported her husband in his community projects.) Unanimously, they eulogise his memory as a formidable rôle-model, who made such a positive mark upon them and helped shape the adults they were to become.
They now all share a concern that his memory is fading from the Town’s collective consciousness. He is mentioned on a tiny plaque, primarily celebrating the Twinning Association, on a bench outside the Town Hall. However, the Ingram Street Youth Centre is no more. The building was converted into a block of non-descript flats; just a minimalist A4+ sign denotes the building as “Cartmell Court”.
The youth club moved to the “Cartmell Centre“ sharing ground with the old Malmesbury Primary School, then on Gloucester Road. This was more significant and appropriate recognition, though Cartmell himself had to raise much private funding to establish it. But this was totally lost when the old school was demolished and the land used for the Poole Road housing development.
Only the CARTMELL COMMUNITY MINIBUS still blazons the name across the district – so titled because the volunteers who set up the bus and supported it (some twenty years ago) were determined to honour him, for they were grateful first-hand beneficiaries of Cyril and Ann’s community commitment.
Cyril died in 1978, still in post. For some years after, Ann continued to volunteer her time and energy to the town, supporting aging residents with a regular luncheon club for those isolated in their own homes or living in care. She spent her own final years in Dorset, looked after by their only daughter, Elaine, but is now re-united with Cyril in the cemetery on Tetbury Hill.
Community service in Malmesbury had been central to the lives of Cyril and Ann Cartmell. They were selfless forward-looking and creative people, committed to others. Exceptional citizens! Those of us who live here now, enjoying the community spirit that characterises the town, owe them more than we realise. Most certainly, they must not be forgotten.
Want to know more about Cyril and his wife? Then listen to the short interview that Jimmy James (one of the teenagers in the 1950s Youth Club) and John Fairhurst (Chairman of the Cartmell Minibus committee) gave to the Malmesbury Community Radio in September 2021. Go to:
https://www.mixcloud.com/FlyingMonkCommunityProjects/cyril-cartmell-inspirational-youth-worker-for-malmesbury/
John Fairhurst,
Chairman, Cartmell Community Minibus.
www.cartmellminibus.org.uk
He was extremely well known in the town during his lifetime and is still remembered with great affection by all those who knew him. But time passes and there is now a real danger that his contribution is being forgotten.
Cyril came to Malmesbury in 1947, just two years after the end of the war, when he was appointed to run the town’s Youth Centre, then in Ingram Street. These were difficult, drab and joyless times. Recovery from the hostilities had only just begun; bitter memories, food-rationing and other serious hardships continued well into the 1950s.
Malmesbury’s young were in need of the charismatic, disciplined lead as well as the opportunities and optimism that Cyril Cartmell – ”Skip” as the youngsters called him - brought to the task. They enjoyed the social interaction with their peers, of course, but the more so for feeling safe, secure and having the sense of purpose that Cyril’s projects imparted. They had real respect for their leader and knew that he, in turn, had a genuine respect for them.
Cyril was the driving force behind Malmesbury’s very first exchange with Niebüll in Germany in 1954, which he personally led. He continued to actively encourage the Town to accept the need for reconciliation and to offer a positive response to the invitation, offered by our erstwhile enemies, to forge a new friendship. That was very enlightened and forward thinking, particularly so very soon after WW2 – a war in which Cyril had fought and been wounded. The initial youth visits led subsequently to our twinning with Niebüll (which later expanded to include Gien, in France). The Twinning Association remains an active part of Malmesbury life.
Similarly, Cyril Cartmell was one of the first - nationally! - to sign up his youth group for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme when it was first launched by Prince Phillip in the mid-1950s. Many of his charges took up the challenge, learned new skills and benefited handsomely from that opportunity.
Meanwhile the thrice-weekly routine of evening gatherings at the Youth Centre flourished and grew. The Youth Club was the centre for many varied and well organised activities: team games, DoE adventures, music making and drama rehearsals (for productions performed publicly across the district), even building and racing canoes.
The youth of that time flocked to Ingram Street. Some cycled six, seven, even eight miles (and back!) to take part. The Club was the highlight of their teenage lives.
These same people are now our Senior Citizens. None – but none – I have met have a bad word to say about Cyril Cartmell or his wife. (Ann - “Mrs C.” - always supported her husband in his community projects.) Unanimously, they eulogise his memory as a formidable rôle-model, who made such a positive mark upon them and helped shape the adults they were to become.
They now all share a concern that his memory is fading from the Town’s collective consciousness. He is mentioned on a tiny plaque, primarily celebrating the Twinning Association, on a bench outside the Town Hall. However, the Ingram Street Youth Centre is no more. The building was converted into a block of non-descript flats; just a minimalist A4+ sign denotes the building as “Cartmell Court”.
The youth club moved to the “Cartmell Centre“ sharing ground with the old Malmesbury Primary School, then on Gloucester Road. This was more significant and appropriate recognition, though Cartmell himself had to raise much private funding to establish it. But this was totally lost when the old school was demolished and the land used for the Poole Road housing development.
Only the CARTMELL COMMUNITY MINIBUS still blazons the name across the district – so titled because the volunteers who set up the bus and supported it (some twenty years ago) were determined to honour him, for they were grateful first-hand beneficiaries of Cyril and Ann’s community commitment.
Cyril died in 1978, still in post. For some years after, Ann continued to volunteer her time and energy to the town, supporting aging residents with a regular luncheon club for those isolated in their own homes or living in care. She spent her own final years in Dorset, looked after by their only daughter, Elaine, but is now re-united with Cyril in the cemetery on Tetbury Hill.
Community service in Malmesbury had been central to the lives of Cyril and Ann Cartmell. They were selfless forward-looking and creative people, committed to others. Exceptional citizens! Those of us who live here now, enjoying the community spirit that characterises the town, owe them more than we realise. Most certainly, they must not be forgotten.
Want to know more about Cyril and his wife? Then listen to the short interview that Jimmy James (one of the teenagers in the 1950s Youth Club) and John Fairhurst (Chairman of the Cartmell Minibus committee) gave to the Malmesbury Community Radio in September 2021. Go to:
https://www.mixcloud.com/FlyingMonkCommunityProjects/cyril-cartmell-inspirational-youth-worker-for-malmesbury/
John Fairhurst,
Chairman, Cartmell Community Minibus.
www.cartmellminibus.org.uk