Photographs scanned some ten years ago, by kind permission of Mr Dennis Kirk and Mrs Joan Kirk of Plungar, Leicestershire.
Dennis was born in 1920, and in April 2020 he celebrated his 100th birthday – Hearty Congratulations from the Bottesford Community History Project. The event was celebrated by the Melton Times which on April 27th printed a memorable picture of Dennis and Joan (93) at home, displaying the Brithday Card received from The Queen. The paper also described the villagers’ celebration, during the Covid-19 lockdown, “Dennis Kirk was serenaded by villagers as he reached his personal milestone on Saturday – they gathered in the garden of his home at Plungar to sing happy birthday accompanied by a lone trumpeter”.
Dennis was son of farmer Tom Bonser Kirk, and is thus one of a long line of farmers in Plungar and the surrounding area. His family ran Poplar Farm in Plungar. As a farmer, he was in a reserved occupation and remained on the land through the Second World War. He enlisted with the Home Guard, and was an Air Raid Warden. On March 5th 1943, a Lancaster bomber, attempting to land at Langar, crashed near Plungar. Six crew members were killed, but Dennis was able to help the one survivor reach safety. A plaque commemorating the crash was enveiled some years later at Plungar church.
He was a bell-ringer for many years, wound the church clock, and looked after the churchyard for many years.
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