Chas Bamford
14 December 2016
Our dear and lovely friend Chas Bamford, who many will know from his many years at Botton, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly at home in Stroud on December 9th, at 2.30 pm.
He had been ill with flu and recovered, but a few days later he began to feel under the weather again, and became out of breath after exertion. The GP checked his lungs and said they were clear, and advised that he needed a bit more time to recover from the flu. Then in the middle of the day on the 9th his breathing became difficult. Elizabeth called the ambulance, but before they came, Chas passed away gently and lightly. The ambulance crew could not revive him.
The funeral will be held at: Westerleigh Crematorium, Westerleigh Road, Westerleigh, Bristol, BS37 8QP, at 3.30pm on Friday 23rd December, followed by refreshments at Gannicox in Stroud.
Elisabeth and the boys, Daniel, Francis and Chris and grandchildren are together in Stroud at present and are happy for people to communicate their thoughts and memories of this gentle, serene and lovely man.
Chas was 64. He and Elisabeth recently celebrated 40 years of marriage. Born into a Staffordshire engineering family, his first training was as an engineer. He met Camphill in Ringwood in 1974, and he spent most of the following years up to 2014 in Camphill centres, the Sheiling School Ringwood, the Lantern Community and Botton Village and Delrow. He taught in the Camphill Eurythmy Training in Ringwood and Botton for 21 years and took part in many eurythmy tours. At the same time he was active in running various Camphill households. One of his greatest joys has been his three sons, and their partners, and now three little grandchildren.
An appreciation of Chas, his life, his work and his dedication to the Camphill cause and the life of a Co-Worker will appear in the next AFB newsletter, in January 2017.
In the meantime, please join us in expressing our deepest condolences to Elisabeth and her family on Chas’s passing.