FOR more than 30 years Doctor Christopher Maycock dealt with the ailments of people in this area when he was a Senior Partner in the Chiddenbrook practice in Crediton.

He also played a large part in the design and building of that surgery. In fact, Chiddenbrook won an RIBA award, the first in the South West. It was through this that he was invited to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party in 2003. Christopher was also instrumental in getting Crediton Hospital built before that.

He had been passionate about Crediton achieving its own hospital and was among those who worked hard to persuade the then Health Trust to find the money.

He had trained at St Thomas’s Hospital, London, then came a trip overland to India with friends which led to him working for a while in 1964 in a hospital in Hazaribagh, Bihar, India.

From this, in 2018, came the totally delightful book “Summoned by the Hon Mrs John Betjeman” which tells the story of that trip with fellow medical students and Penelope Betjeman in a VW camper van.

Of Penelope he says their “experiences were considerably enhanced by Penelope’s presence as the elder mentor, who insisted on visiting historical sites and regaling us with stimulating ideas”. It was a time of a kind of innocence and pure fun which stayed with Christopher all his life.

Christopher was also author of two books on Cumbrian poet, Susanna Blamire, an aunt and acclaimed Romantic poet, who had lived in the 18th century.

MEMORIAL

SERVICE

A memorial service for Christopher is to be held at Crediton Parish Church on Friday, September 30 at 2pm, his funeral was at Posbury Church.

Following his training at St Thomas’s Hospital in London, Christopher became a Senior House Officer in paediatrics at Odstock Hospital, Salisbury, then GP trainee in South Petherton before coming to Crediton.

While at Odstock, Christopher had fallen for a bright, attractive nurse, Rachel who had worked at St George’s Hospital. They were married in 1965, shared many interests and complemented each other wonderfully.

They lived at Neopardy almost from the time Christopher came to Crediton in 1966 and had two children, James and Charlotte.

Christopher’s CV shows how far his influence spread including chairman of Governors of St Margaret’s School in Exeter, links with the Cathedral, lectures including at The Hague.

James said his father had come from “a family of colourful characters, adventurers and intellectuals, immersed in the spiritual and creative life who had no doubt inspired him”.

His interests were wide, from learning Spanish, astronomy, theology, travel, walking, gardening - he kept bees and had a peach tree - and playing banjo in a jazz band when he was at Lancing College (where he was a Foundation Scholar), Pembroke College and St Thomas’s Hospital.

James said he thought his father was one of life’s adventurers. “He was always up for things, full of energetic enthusiasm”.

He remembered his father saying when he came for the interview about the job in Crediton, that Dr Jackson had been in full fishing gear while Dr Bettie Thurlow occasionally made her rural medical rounds on horseback.

“Dad was immensely dedicated to his profession, to helping others and looking after the local community for more than 30 years.

“I remember, after a major blizzard, Dad putting on crampons and stomping to Crediton surgery, navigating the three miles of huge snow drifts that filled up the country lanes.

“Or Dad returning from one of numerous night calls, and seeing the bottom of his pyjama bottoms sticking out from under his trousers.

“In more recent times when I’ve sometimes mentioned to people I’m Dr Maycock’s son, they say ‘They don’t make them like him any more’.”

James said that as well as being instrumental in establishing Crediton Hospital, Christopher had been asked to speak at a conference at The Hague about the medical records system he had designed at his surgery.

He had enjoyed his retirement including giving lectures at Chawton House in Hampshire and the Wordsworth Book Festival. Soon after his cancer diagnosis last year he was contacted, out of the blue, by Northumbria University to say his book on Susanna Blamire was being reappraised in academic circles.

This culminated in a Zoom conference between Northumbria and Oxford Universities and the Wordsworth Trust on “Susanna Blamire, Medicine and Romantic Women’s Poetry: An Exploration - in Celebration Of The Work Of C H Maycock” at which Christopher was the guest of honour, held a week before he died.

Crediton, and the wider local community, always meant a lot to Christopher.  He cared a huge amount about their health and well-being throughout his medical career, but also in retirement.  He was a force for good in many people’s lives. 

A memorial for Christopher will celebrate his life on Friday, September 30 at 2pm at Crediton Parish Church.

Any donations at Christopher’s memorial will be divided equally between Hospiscare (Exeter Branch) and Crediton Food Bank.  Please contact: A White and Sons, Albert Road, Crediton EX17 2BZ. Telephone: 01363 772043.

Sue Read