Remembering  Commander Sellwood

In the summer of 2004, Commander Sellwood's three sons made a pilgrimage to Bourne as a mark of homage to their father. He had joined the Royal Navy in 1922 at the age of twelve, enlisting as a cadet at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and serving until 1947 when he was invalided out of the service and became a salesman for a firm of steel stockholders. He died in 1996 at the age of 86 and was cremated at Harlow, Essex. Checking through their father’s papers after his death, his sons found correspondence with Bert Johns who had tracked him down during his researches into HMS Beryl.

“We eventually decided that we would visit Bourne to meet Bert and to see the display about the ship in the Heritage Centre”, said Richard, aged 61, who is retired and lives at Godalming, Surrey. He then arranged with his two brothers, David, aged 66, who is also retired and lives at Bexhill, Surrey, and the youngest, Robert, aged 52, a planning consultant from Stansted, Essex, to make the trip and their plans came to fruition on Friday 20th August. “The journey was in homage to our father and all of the courageous men who served and fought with HMS Beryl”, said Richard. “Like most war veterans, our father did not talk too much about his experiences. We were greatly impressed with what we learned and the plaques and documents on display were a most moving experience because he had been involved in it all. The people of Bourne in those wartime days sixty years ago also played their part in connection with this gallant little ship and crew and we should all be justly proud.”

Early in 2011, two new streets in Bourne were named after the minesweeper and its commander. Sellwood Terrace and Beryl Mews were chosen by Bourne Town Council for the Old Laundry site development in Manning Road and agreed by the developers, thus perpetuating the memory of this wartime incident for future generations.

A street naming ceremony was subsequently held outside the new housing development on Saturday 4th June 2011 organised by the Royal Naval Association (Bourne branch) and attended by members of Commander Sellwood's family, including his sons, David, Richard and Robert Sellwood, the Mayor of Bourne, Councillor Brenda Johnson, and other civic and community leaders.

During the ceremony, a short history of HMS Beryl and a biography of Command Sellwood were read by senior branch member Bert Johns. The branch chaplain, the Rev Douglas Clarke, blessed the street names and then John Hughes, a student at the Robert Manning College, played Last Post which was followed by two minutes' silence and Reveille. The Royal Naval Association formed a guard of honour carrying their own standard and that of the Merchant Navy Association and afterwards, everyone attended a reception at the nearby Methodist Church hall.

A FITTING TRIBUTE

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