He was a great authority on The Fens and its people and customs. He wrote about the blacksmith who was forced to turn to repairing farm implements and kitchen implements, the chimney sweep, the harness maker, the pig-killer, the straw worker, the maker of corn dollies and many other now extinct trades.
Later he wrote a number of books which were edited by Enid Porter and published. He was a popular speaker at community groups and made several TV appearances.[4] He waas interviewed by Anglia TV's Dick Joice and featured in one of the Bygones books.[5]
In a letter published in a local newspaper he wrote that he had nearly finished a hand-written manuscript for a book of ghosts, witches and haunted houses, this does not appear to have been published.[6] By this time Enid Porter, the editor of his earlier publications had retired.
Death
Randell died on 26 March 1988 in the North Cambridgeshire Hospital, Wisbech. His funeral service was held at Friday Bridge church and he was interred at Elm Cemetery.[7]
Bibliography
Sixty Years a Fenman (London Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966) - Arthur Randell, edited by Enid Porter
Fenland Railwayman (London Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1968) - Arthur Randell, edited by Enid Porter
Fenland Memories (London Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969) - Arthur Randell, edited by Enid Porter
Fenland Molecatcher (London Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1970) - Arthur Randell, edited by Enid Porter
^Monger, Garry (2021). "Fenland Mole-catchers". The Fens. 38: 20.
^"Railways". Birmingham Daily Post - Saturday 31 August 1968. p. 10.
^Randell, Arthur (1970). Fenland Molecatcher. Routledge & Keegan Paul Ltd. p. 9.
^"Harvest Evening". Lynn Advertiser. 21 October 1980. p. 4.
^Dick Joice (1976). Arthur Randell Fenman. Boydell Press. ISBN978-0851150765.
^"Old characters I have known". Lynn Advertiser. 5 March 1982. p. 16.
^"Arthur Randell". Fenland Citizen. 30 March 1988. p. 3.
^Detail taken from a copy of Fenland Memories published by Routledge and Kegan Paul (London) in 1969, and edited by Enid Porter of the Cambridge Folk Museum