CIRENCESTER residents are aghast, while those in Stroud should be agog.

The respected Sunday Times annual survey of the best places to live in Britain rates Stroud as seventh in the South West.

Cirencester is completely ignored. I agree, and I live in the latter and, of course, am fond of it but realise there are many ways in which it lags behind the beating heart at the confluence of the Five Valleys.

First of all Stroud has more individuality. Cafes like Star Anise, Woodruffs and my favourite Café Max cannot be found in Cirencester.

Add on the excellent Fifteen and you have a range that Cirencester cannot match.

Jacks is badly missed and, of course, the Old Café is a welcome addition, with Heathers and Mosaic being excellent.

Stroud is certainly ahead on the café count… but it is a close call.

It certainly is not close when you think of pubs. The Crown and Sceptre and the Prince Albert head the Stroud list.

They are lively, community pubs and venues for interesting musical events. The Vaults is badly missed in Cirencester, where I am delighted to say the Twelve Bells remains a place of good beer and better conversation.

Shopping is an area where both towns have their limitations. Scott’s in Cirencester does a splendid job for people of the more affluent type, yet Stroud has a branch of Iceland.

Cirencester’s markets are improving, noticeable both in the Corn Hall, where Diversitea is an asset, and in the Market Place.

Go to Stroud on a Saturday, however, and I defy you not to be uplifted and inspired by what you see. Nothing more demonstrates why the Sunday Times rates Stroud so highly.

The whole top of the town reflects the spirit, joy and variety of life in Stroud.

Cirencester is a fine looking town with plenty of fine buildings and with many thriving organisations and societies, but Stroud has more to offer the heart.

I love living in Cirencester, the hills of Stroud being too steep. Thornbury, very unlucky to miss out on inclusion on the list, would make a pleasing alternative, but I shall leave the last word to the perceptive Mrs Light: “Why do you worry? We know and love the two towns and enjoy the best of both”.

Indeed we do. See you in the market.

Spitfire farewell for Joy

A Spitfire flew over Cirencester on Monday afternoon (March 25) to coincide with the memorial service for Joy Lofthouse.

Joy had flown Spitfires in the Second World War, delivering them from factory to front line. You may have seen her, bright as a button on television the previous evening in the excellent programme about the RAF and its history.

Joy, born and brought up in Cirencester, had returned here in retirement. Attending the finest of Cotswold grammar schools, she excelled at lawn tennis but, of course, her life was disrupted by the Second World War. Like so many, Joy wanted to “do her bit” and ended up flying Spitfires.

In no way did this unassuming lady think she was special. She was just one of many, not in action at the front but doing important war work in order to support those at the front.

She knew there were very many like her, both men and especially women. Many travelled by pushbike or bus to Filton, Brockworth, Kemble or the factories in Stroud to build aeroplanes or make parts for them.

All over the Cotswolds people made domestic sacrifices for the war effort.

Like Joy, they did not complain and just got on with it. They knew the importance of this work and their country needed them.

This generation is dying out now, but deserve remembering.

The Spitfire that flew over Cirencester was a memorial not for just Joy, but all of them. No one would have agreed with that more than Joy herself.

I am afraid I did not make it clear to the editor that my matron cousin Marion was Marion Light, not Marion Haskins, whose picture accompanied this column last week.

The marvellous book Stroud’s Birthplace contains so much about so may fine people it was an easy mistake to make. I am sure those who knew them both will not mind.