This year we are having a tea party for Macmillan, remembering Bel who organised many Macmillan coffee mornings. 

 Rose Annabel Kerr was born on 17th August 1923 in Eastbourne, Sussex, the youngest child and only daughter of Arthur Crook, a general practitioner, and Margaret nee Wetherbee (daughter of George Wetherbee, a Royal Academician). She and her three brothers were privately educated, two brothers became doctors and one an architect, and all four joined the army when the Second World War broke out. After the war she studied at the Guildhall School of Music and earned her music teaching certificate – she played both the piano and oboe, taking part in orchestral concerts from time to time. At this time she met Ronald Kerr who had served in the same regiment as her brother Peter. Bel and Ronald married in 1950, and had two daughters in 1951 and 1953. Living first in Tunbridge Wells and then in Sussex, they moved to Winchester in 1965. After Ronald died in 1979, Bel moved house a number of times but eventually settled in Hartington where she became actively involved in village life as church organist, Brownie leader and secretary to the PCC. She was also an active member of the Sheen W.I and frequently organised fund raising events for the Church and other charities, including the MacMillan Cancer Support, where she organised an annual coffee morning.  A well known figure about the village, she continued driving, gardening and playing the organ well into her nineties. She remained Church organist until she was 95, having been awarded a Bishop’s badge for outstanding services to the Church some years before.