Worcestershire | Archive | 2005 | July | 8
From the archive, first published Friday 8th Jul 2005.
A BEWDLEY woman and her family have become the latest inmates of tourist hot spot the Tower of London.
But for Caron Sanders-Crook the new address is great - albeit, she acknowledges - "a little weird".
Her family have taken up residence in the Tower after her soldier-husband, Mark, was given the prestigious appointment of a Yeoman Warder - known to millions the world over as Beefeaters.
The couple, who met while they were serving in the Army, have moved into a flat within the outer walls of the Tower with their children, Charlotte, aged 10, and six-year-old Gareth.
Mr Sanders-Crook, 39, who served for 10 years with the 1st Battalion of the Grenadier Guards before joining the Royal Army Medical Corps for 12 years, has made history by becoming the first person to follow in their father's footsteps as a Yeoman Warder.
"It's a bit weird living in the middle of London with the city on your doorstep and yet, after 6pm, it's like you're in your own little world," said Mrs Sanders-Crook.
"When the Tower is open it's very busy but when it's closed the children are free to play around the grounds and moat and can skateboard and ride their bikes."
Aged 38, the former nurse with Queen Alexandra's Royal Army Nursing Corps, attended Bewdley High School and was a member of the town's Red Cross.
Her children were excited at the prospect of living in the Tower but were already familiar with the unique surroundings, having both been baptised there and made numerous visits to their grandparents during their residency.
Mr Sanders-Crook is busy swotting up on the history of the `Bloody Tower', which he has to learn as part of his role as tour guide. Anne Boleyn was beheaded there and her daughter, Elizabeth I, was a prisoner.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008