Dad
Dad died on 13 September 2018 at the age of 77.
Earlier this year, he was diagnosed with cancer, and had been undergoing chemotherapy - at which he was doing very well. Unfortunately, after an exploratory operation at the end of July, he suffered a stoke. He had a number of further strokes and a coronary arrest, and died in hospital with mum, Chris and I holding his hand.
Dad was born on 4 October 1940. He went to Chipping Hill infant school and then to Maldon Road Primary school in Witham, before passing the eleven plus and moving to Braintree County High School. While at school, he joined the cubs, something that he was to continue to be involved in later in life when he helped run the cub pack that Chris and I went to. He managed to collect many badges with the cubs and scouts, many of which also signalled things to come, such as for cooking, art and collecting. He also joined the Army cadets.
When dad left school, he joined Cromptons as an apprentice, leading to his qualification as a draughtsman. This lead to him joining the Post Office (later to become British Telecom), where he became a leading draughstman. When he was appointed a leading draughtsman in February 1971, he was paid £1750 (plus £125 for inner London weighting), a very good salary at the time.
Dad and mum met at Frank Clarke’s ballroom dancing classes at the Odeon in Chelmsford - more generally known as the “local marriage bureau” due to the large number of couples who met there and got married. Mum and dad married on 28 August 1965.
In 1968, mum and dad moved to the house that he was to live in for the rest of his life, and it was while they were living there that Chris and I came along. We both have so many memories of dad and the time that he spent with us. One of my earliest memories is of sitting on a little red seat that he had on the crossbar of his bike to take us to the swimming pool early on a Saturday morning to teach us to swim - sometimes taking a piece of polystyrene to use as a float (which also broke up and risked blocking the outlets at the pool!). He also ensured that we tried to get everything perfect - our Airfix and Shake-a-Maker models were always bang on.
Dad was always very keen on his garden - ensuring that every year there was a fine display of flowers, as well as a supply of vegetables that we have still enjoyed to this day. He also made sure that the house was kept in shape - having installed the central heating, and decorated every room in the house many times over. This all came in handy for making sure that the plants in the garden continued to grow - setting up a system of pipes and water butts to collect water from the bath, washing machine and anywhere else to get water for the garden. Only a few years ago when there was a burst pipe in the road, dad was out there collecting the water for his garden - don’t let anything go to waste. Dad also continued his dancing, becoming a caller as well as a dancer for many folk dances around Essex (and beyond), and also spent time fly fishing (and tying flies to fish with). His initial love of fishing started when his dad took him, as a young boy, river and carp fishing, and in the last 20 years, he has continued to keep it in the family by fishing with his younger brother, Uncle Ronnie.
Since retiring at the age of only 53, dad has welcomed into the world his four grandchildren, Rachel, Dominic, Georgia and Maddison, kept up his hobbies (and in most cases developed them), and managed to have many holidays with mum, including their round the world trip in 2006 taking in USA, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore, as well as other trips to Canada, Sri Lanka and many walking, river and rail trips in Europe (not forgetting many holidays in UK, including trips to Southwold where he would often make sure the garden was in shape and do any odd jobs that needed doing).
Dad’s funeral took place on 22 October. It was a lovely sunny day, and we had a gathering afterwards in the fabulous setting of Hylands House. Although we had tried hard to determine how many people would attend, and had expected somewhere between 80 and 90, there were many more people at the crematorium than the 120 seats available, with the best estimates at there being at least 160 people. A wonderful turnout for a wonderful man, which showed just how popular he was. Always with a smile and always wanting to help.
Thanks for everything dad.
