Villagers unveil new welcome sign six months after storms

A NEW village sign has been unveiled in Russell’s Water.

The last one needed replacing after it was damaged by storms in March this year.

The new sign was unveiled on Sunday to a crowd of more than 100 people.

It was designed by resident Jim Martin, who took inspiration from the old sign which was designed in the Nineties and was once used by the Beehive Inn pub and a picture he took of the pond.

Mr Martin used the font from the Beehive sign and incorporated the village pond, a bee and the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car. Part of the 1968 film of the same name was shot in the village and was based on the book by Ian Fleming, from Nettlebed.

The sign and repair work cost £2,000, which included paying suppliers to create and install the sign.

Mr Martin said: “As some of the older residents may be aware this concrete pub sign would have been installed to direct people to the old Beehive Inn.

“We know that steel reinforced concrete wasn’t used until the late 1800s so this old sign could have stood and watched over two world wars, the filming of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the installation of an old and new village hall, the entire life of resident Bob Warner and the comings and goings of hundreds if not thousands of residents and visitors.”

The Beehive Inn closed in the Eighties and after that Mr Warner and fellow villager Drydon Pennington came up with a plan to repurpose the old pub sign to welcome people to the village.

Mr Martin said: “Drydon’s sign included an image of the duck pond surrounded by reeds and a bee as a nod to the Beehive Inn.

“For more than 30 years Drydon’s sign has stood proud but then in March of this year following a period of very strong winds, one side of it was broken and had blown off to reveal the original Beehive sign beneath.”

Work on the new sign commenced in late June, which included repairing the the concrete and metal work. It was sandblasted, powder-coated and repainted to protect it.

Grahame Benbridge, a builder from the village, repaired the post and frame of the sign. He said: “I made a new pedestal on the front to match on the other side, put a new piece of iron in and supplied materials and other bits. It took a few weekends because you can’t do it all in one go, you have to build it up.”

Mr Martin said the treatment of the new sign should mean it lasts for about 100 years.

The multimedia designer said he based the new sign on a photograph he took last year when a plaque was installed and dedicated to Sally Ann Howes, who played Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and was famously driven off the village road into the village pond by the actor Dick Van Dyke.

He said: “The photo included one of the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang cars in the foreground with our famous pond in the background.

“Then, using the refences from Drydon Pennington’s sign, a bee was added and the Russell’s Water lettering was closely matched to the original Beehive Inn sign. Having Chitty included as part of the sign will be very special and there are a couple of other things to look out for in the new sign, including a nod to the vineyards that are becoming part of the landscape.

“On the original version I tried to get past the committee there was a swan but Bob Warner said: ‘You townies, you are all the same we don’t have swans up here’.”

The new sign has an oil paint effect to replicate the look of old pub signs. It was unveiled by Mr Warner, who had Happy Birthday sung to him before he cut the ribbon as his 85th birthday was the day before.

After the unveiling a three person ride in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was auctioned off and children watched the film in the village hall.