John was born on 13 December 1940, eldest son to Joyce and Jack and older brother to Mike. He grew up in Colchester, attending Canterbury Road Primary School. It was however, his cousins Jan, Linda and Diana who John spent much of his childhood with as they lived nearby and fondly looked upon him as a brother that they never had. John passed his 11+ and went on to grammar school at the ‘Tec’ on North Hill in Colchester. He excelled and had a collection of dictionaries and bibles which were awarded to him by school and we would joke about how many bibles or dictionaries anyone could make use of! While he was at school, he worked as a Saturday boy at Bourne’s the butchers. Little did he realise at the time that the butchery trade would in fact play a significant part in his future career. On leaving school, John turned down the opportunity to go off to university and instead took up an apprenticeship as a draughtsman at Paxmans where he could fully use his technical drawing skills that not only was he proficient in but loved too. However, on finishing his apprenticeship at Paxmans, he decided that he would follow in his father’s footsteps and bought his own butchers shop in Dovercourt. The flat above the shop became John and Margaret’s first home after they married in 1963. They had met on 5 November 1958 when Margaret was just 15. John was smitten and in 1960 selflessly sold his van to buy Margaret’s engagement ring. John wasted no time and Jackie was born just 11 months after he and Margaret were married. This was followed two years later by Nicola, two years after this Jeremy came along and then as planned once Jeremy started school, Christopher arrived. John sold the shop in Dovercourt in 1965 to help his father at his butchers shop in Braintree. Many years later, Jackie, Nicola and Jeremy would also work at the shop on Saturdays although it was Jeremy who would have the unenviable task of spending the week before Christmas drawing the giblets from hundreds of turkeys! When John sold the shop in Braintree in 1988, he then carried on working in the meat industry for some time before utilising his natural sales skills in a range of other industries, John would have found selling ice to Eskimos no challenge at all! When John took on any task or interest his dedication to it was second to none. Over the years, he had been involved in the Braintree Lions Club, Braintree Athletics Club, TRF (Trail Riders Fellowship) and more lately AJS Matchless Club. John’s involvement in Braintree Athletics Club was instrumental in them finally having flood lighting installed. You will all know that John had two loves in his life, his wife and family and his motorbikes. John dedicated huge amounts of time to his children and their interests. When Jeremy competed competitively for his county and then his country as a decathlete, John took Jeremy training each evening and to Crystal Palace in London once a week. John, Margaret and Jeremy would then go off each weekend all over the country so Jeremy could compete. Likewise, when Chris’ interest in motorbikes took off, he would take him off to compete in motocross competitions. Family holidays also played a huge part of family life. However, as you know, no matter how far the journey, John would refer to it as just down the road. Family holidays to Italy or Spain were actually a two or three day journey each way by road, an overnight channel crossing, more travel by road culminating with a rollercoaster ride across either the Alps or Pyrenees. Not only were children taken but boyfriends and girlfriends and one occasion grandparents (that trip included towing a caravan all the way to Spain too which then sat in the drive of the villa for two weeks until the return journey). On one holiday to Spain, the use of an upturned bed acted as a roof rack, it was certainly a sight to behold! More recently John and Margaret spent much time with their grandchildren, in particular carrying out much needed childcare duties during school holidays. John was extremely proud of the achievements of his children and grandchildren. He enjoyed the fact that all of his children were happily married and was not only honoured to have walked his daughters down the aisle when they married but last year was privileged to be asked to walk his great niece Danielle down the aisle too. Over the years, John had owned many motorbikes. Margaret often smiles with fond memories of John’s first motorbike, a James. He would ride this motorbike over to visit Margaret when she lived at home wearing a long black mack and maroon crash helmet. The James was so loud that he could be heard coming for some considerable time before he actually arrived. John was never without a motorbike and usually had more than one, and many, many spare parts. He spent many happy hours in his shed repairing and restoring motorbikes including his pride and joy, a Matchless 80. John’s love of all things motorbikes led him to ride the Isle of Man TT course and at the age of 70 he rode the Nurburgring in Germany, both with his son Chris.