Family memories of our wonderful Poppa by Lynne It is typical of our Poppa, Dadda, Smart Mart, Beaky, or according to Prince Charles, “The Tallest Man here”, that he left us instructions on what to do in the event that he should “fall off the twig” and we have tried to follow his wishes with “the least possible fuss”, as he would have wanted. Dad had a wonderful way with words. Weddings and landmark family occasions were enhanced by his brilliant speeches which always hit the mark, were witty, heartfelt and long remembered after the event. A very hard act to follow! He was also the main instigator of various nicknames, which, once bestowed were never forgotten (unfortunately ……. in many cases). His wicked sense of humour, ability to recite poetry learned as a boy and love of naughty songs and ditties will always be remembered. As Lisa (aka Chubb) says, “he was the most childish grown up I know” Dadda had the enviable ability to sleep through anything. We all remember the night at Winters Folly when Malcolm (aka Hedge), a little worse for wear, turned his car over on the Red Road, ended up in a ditch and then sneaked home to hide in the Rhododendrons insisting he was Rambo! The police came around and the kitchen was full of people but Dad managed to sleep through the lot. We will always expect to see the back of his head snoodling on the sofa as we pull into the driveway at home. In earlier years Dad was quite sporty, he played rugby in his youth and later took up golf. However, his main love was cricket which he played for much of his life. Indeed, he was down the pub celebrating a hat trick when Sue was born. He was the Skipper at Lightwater and during practice took a ball in the face resulting in a nasty injury which he always used to maintain he received during the Poll Tax riots in London. He was also the instigator of a quaint ceremony to try to placate the misery of being out for a duck and hopefully someone from the club might regale us with the Duckmeister address later! Dadda enjoyed simple pleasures. A good book, his daily crossword and Sudoku puzzles. On their weekly shopping trips, he never wanted to have coffee in the Marks & Sparks café preferring to enjoy a slice of his favourite cakey in the comfort of home. However, he did enjoy sitting outside Marks & Sparks waiting for Mum to finish scurrying, so he could make inappropriate observations about the passers-by. He was a staunch member of the Feltham Revolutionary and Caged Birds Society and enjoyed their monthly gatherings putting the world to rights over a pint or two. We’re very pleased that some of the OId Cocks could join us today. Dadda was never one to complain or make a fuss. He spent much of the summer in hospital, enduring the prodding and poking of the medical profession, who he managed to flummox with his wildly fluctuating blood pressure! He bore everything with an uncomplaining stoicism that was appreciated so much by the hospital staff it seemed they didn’t want to let him go. One thing that was always constant was his complete love and adoration of his Jeannie (or Molly). They met in 1957 at Marshall Andrew in London, where he was her boss. Mum used to have to tell him to slow down as he was dictating his letters and reports too quickly. As inter-office romances weren’t quite the done thing, they used to go on secret dates after work, to the theatre, dances and long rides on his Lambretta singing songs from My Fair Lady and other musicals of the time. Dad sold the Lambretta to buy her engagement ring and they would have celebrated sixty years of happy marriage next February. He would always say how wonderful she looked in “the velour”, “the spotty dress”, “her film star glasses” and was Mum’s absolutely devoted Old Chap. We all loved his Popparisms, which he would regularly pronounce and add to; “mobile disaster area”, “love and three twitches”, “I have three daughters one of whom is extremely foolish” (we never did find out for sure who that was!) , “pip pip”, “she won’t go short”, “Oh my lord Harry”, “I can’t abide silliness” and too many more to mention here. Everyone here will have their own special memories of Poppa. To us he was the heart of our family, father of five, Grandad Poppa to four grandchildren and giver of big cuddles. Someone who was deeply honourable through and through. He was thoughtful, kind and honest, someone to look up to and respect and who we could always rely on to be a voice of reason and calm amongst the chaos – a true gentleman. We have all felt secure in his love for us, our partners and grandchildren and now he is gone there is a great big Poppa shaped hole in our lives which will never be filled – Malc and David are always competing about who is Best Boy – sorry you two there is, has been, and for ever will be, only one Best Boy and that is Poppa.