A celebration for the life of Derek Hosken took place at Wellington Barn on 24th January. Derek sadly died on 4th Jan 2023 at the age of 93, after battling ill health following a stroke a few years ago. Around 100 family and friends gathered to celebrate his life. He was a larger than life character who enthusiastically embraced new challenges large or small, whether that was getting his barn at South Farm ready to host the village Millennium celebrations, renovating Blackland Mill to enable corn to be ground again, or helping out around the village with his beloved JCB. He was always friendly, charming, helpful and also very welcoming to new villagers. He also had a great talent for very funny, often not PC, one liners! He was the sort of man who seemed to firmly believe that every problem had a solution. He will no only be greatly missed by family and friends, but also by those of us who only saw him several times a year, but whose day he brightened on every occasion.
Doug Price.