James Beck

Visit to James Beck's Memorial Tree

Article and photo by Katie - site owner of the James Beck MySpace page

My friend and I went to St Paul's on Saturday afternoon (dodging the thundery downpours!) and after some digging around and getting rather muddy, we found Jimmy's Memorial plaque but sadly no tree.

Jimmy's plaque, which was in remarkably good condition, was on it's own in a flowerbed. The nearest tree was very large and was far too old; a smaller tree directly behind the old tree (surely not a spot you'd choose) and one other tree some distance from the plaque, which could possibly have been about the right age but had other dedicates and plaques attached to it. So it was all rather confusing!

My friend and I did manage to find someone inside the Church to ask about the Memorial Gardens. Unfortunately, this guy thought it was all rather hilarious (apparently 1973 is 'the dark ages'!!) and just kept saying that in the eyes of the Church none of the plaques exist and we could more or less choose any tree and stick the plaque in front of it!! My friend commented that it felt a bit like being in the middle of a Monty Python sketch!

Since getting home, I have contacted The Rector in the hope there maybe some Church records showing which tree is Jimmy's but I have not heard back from him yet. This is the photo I took of the plaque. While taking the photo, the sun came out for the only time in the whole day!

Many thanks to Katie for the article - feel free to e-mail in your Dad's Army stories or pictures to james@dadsarmypodcast.com