Memories of a much-loved local teacher and historian were shared at St Chad’s Well memorial garden last Sunday, as family and friends of Norman Voake gathered to see a brand new bench unveiled in his name.

Norman was born in Cardiff in 1931, completing National Service which saw him become part of the Royal Fusiliers until 1951. In 1954, he decided to retrain and furthered his education by studying at Westminster College, London. He took up his first teaching role in 1956, in a small Cornish school.

Norman came to Midsomer Norton in 1959 as a teacher at Somervale School, working with children with Special Educational Needs. He was appointed Head of this role by 1969, gaining a diploma in SEN, and spending eighteen years at the school teaching hundreds of pupils. In 1960, he became a preacher at the local Methodist Church; a role he continued for many years, and was also a member of the Norton Radstock Orchestra. In 1988, he took early retirement and concentrated on his love of discovering local history, producing a series of books.

But even during retirement, Norman worked as a supply teacher until the year 2000, lectured at colleges, and took a study course with inmates in a local prison. He was closely involved with the Midsomer Norton Society, and a charity organisation that he helped to set up in 2002 as a relief fund for people in the town.

Such was his popularity, that public subscription paid the £800 for the new bench, which sits appropriately in the garden next to Somervale School.