On 11 July 2011 Dad sadly passed away. On 26 July we gathered with many of his friends to say a sad goodbye to a wonderful man whose love of nature, horses and dogs, loud and easy laugh, and absolute passion for horse racing made him who he was. Dad I love you lots and miss you more. xxx
Our tribute to Dad
(read by Faye and Alan at Dad's funeral in beautiful little Pishill Church near Henley)
As a tribute to Dad we wanted to say a few words about him from our perspective, so apologies if we miss out times of his life when we weren't around.
Dad was known and loved by many, touched peoples’ lives wherever he went, and was affectionately given a variety of nicknames over the years. Officially known as 'Charles Colin' he dropped the Charles, kept the Colin, and also became known as:
Col, Colon, Crazy Legs of Goring, Uncle Arsehole, The Squire, 'Sir Colin', Grandad Horses, ‘Father’ when being formal on the phone, and simply....Dad.
Dad made many friends and we’ve had some wonderful memories relayed to us these past couple of weeks. The most common features amongst all the letters, cards and emails we’ve received about Dad have been:-
- horses
- humour
- and a humbling honesty
A friend from Canada summed Dad up as, 'a gentleman, who loved his family first, and then his friends, horses, the golf, and a scotch.”
But I think it's fair to say that with Dad horses always came first. And it is apt that today is the first day of Glorious Goodwood – something Dad's been looking forward to and talking about for weeks!
We of course grew up traipsing to Newbury Racecourse come rain or shine!
Up until our teens we lived in Goring and then Southridge, in that well loved cottage in the middle of nowhere. The earlier of those years were the Richard Wilson days. Uncle Richard, as he was known, was Dad's Guardian, and is the link to how so many of you knew Dad. Our memories of those days are of Richard's swearing parrot, rowing Richard's boat up the Thames, getting stuck on Goring Weir and running riot around Uncle Richard’s house, Grahamsfield. Though most of your memories, unsurprisingly, revolve around racing. Richard Millar wrote saying Dad never seemed to change as you all grew up, he was always easy going, popular with everyone ....that loud laugh, and the horses!
These were the years that Dad struggled to combine his work as an estate agent with his passion for racing. George Bailey described to us how Dad managed to combine the two, when supposedly working in his office, by inventing a pully system to hide his television. The system involved string being rigged up to the front door, and running across the office to the cupboard where Dad kept his large black and white TV. Dad was able to relax and watch the racing knowing that as soon as a client walked into the office the system would pull closed the cupboard door, hide the TV and customers would be none the wiser!
And Dad must have been the only estate agent in the Berkshire / Oxfordshire area not to open on a Saturday! He was always off to the races.
We may have had to put up with endless racing (and all the other sport that was broadcast on television!) but Dad also had a lot to put up with, having to contend with me and my friends. Poor old Dad nearly went insane with all the noise, annual parties while he was away on holiday, broken car wrecks, bikes, and the general madness that we challenged him with. Greg Kerr sent a classic reminder of just how mad we drove poor old Col when he described to us his memories of being chased out of manor farm cottages by a very irate Dad in his baggy y-fronts. Greg said he was mentally scarred for life!
As well as putting up with us, Dad wasn't scared to have his say. As Robin Dawson spoke of Dad, “He always looked upon the bright side of life, however judgemental he sometimes was on standards, situations or people that he felt were out-of-order or did not live up to his code.”
Things he did not agree with were commonly described as “f'ing ridiculous” from the, at times, strongly opinionated Dad. Words often used in the latter day Southridge years which were difficult times for Dad as, other than contending with me and my friends, the house burnt down forcing us to live in a luxurious mobile home in the garden.
But tough times often lead to new opportunities. Sitting in Twinks's kitchen one day led Dad to leave his UK life and head to Canada following Joan Addison's call for help with their horses. I think Dad would say he had headed to the best years of his life.
In Joan's words, “I asked him to look after my elderly Mother and my old dog Scarlet while I went to Ireland for 6 months. Well he stayed 15 years and would have stayed longer if he could. My Mother died, the dog died and Colin was still here. Thank goodness because he made it so wonderful for me.”
In Canada Dad lived on the Addison's beautiful farm with the horses and his beloved brittany spaniels. His life revolved around breeding race horses, almost daily jaunts to Woodbine race track, an immersion into horse syndicates, alongside making some very good friends who became his wonderful extended Canadian family.
When Al and I went to Canada following Dad's stroke we were amazed at how many friends he had, how devastated people were by what had happened to him, and how he was much loved by everyone. And for the past year they have regularly kept in touch with Dad, who they affectionately called 'The Squire', with their news and race horse updates. Just before Dad went into hospital a couple of weeks ago, his friend, Vreni, sent one of her regular letters saying, “we miss you”, and that, “hardly a day passes that we don't speak of you.” This written a year after he left.
His lifestyle in Canada also enabled him to escape the freezing winters and see a bit of the world through pursuing his other obsession, which was boats. So the silver fox (as he was also known) became the intrepid fox as he travelled around the globe. Dad had loved and often talked about his 3 years national service in the Navy. His Navy days gave him a taste for being at sea, and his life in Canada gave him the opportunity to see places he otherwise would never have seen.
A first cruise up the Panama Canal was followed by another a few years later around South America. This was when he surprised the Glovers as he joined the ship in Argentina knowing they were already on board. The 3 of them had a wonderful time, including celebrating Dad's 70th. And Dad enjoyed holidaying with many of you here today: on skiing trips, 'au naturelle' holidays in France, checking out Cuba, heading to the Canaries, Australia and Bermuda.
His sense of fun and colour were a large part of him. As well as his sports regalia of racing trilby, binoculars, ice hockey jerseys and the ever present baseball cap, he also had an unforgettably colourful dress sense. Remembered by his friend Deanna in Canada as, “sporting the most colourful pants this side of the Atlantic”. Many of you have mentioned the infamous red trousers, closely followed by the yellow and pink checked shirt and multi coloured jackets, in your memories of him.
Wherever Dad went on his travels and in his daily life he made new friends, I think his humour and his humble and honest ways appealed to many. Even in his latter days in Wallingford's Westgate Nursing Home he made friends and had a great laugh with the staff, some of whom are here today. His presence in the home I know is hugely missed. After his stroke he rarely complained and as ever he made the best of a very difficult situation.
This past year I have felt lucky enough to have 12 months to really get to know Dad. Ours went from quite a distant relationship, where we rubbed each other up the wrong way, to one of understanding and huge fondness. To the extent that recently Dad told me that despite the damage the stroke had done to him some good had come out of it, in that he had gained a daughter. For me I got to know and love him in the way that you all have for many years, and I even started to understand the horse obsession!
The way people kept in touch with Dad simply reiterated to us what a much loved and popular man he was. And Dad spent a lot of time talking about many of you, ensuring we found your details so he could contact you.
He also talked a lot of the old times: his younger days in Cheltenham, the Richard Wilson era, the fun he had in London, and of course always the racing. He could remember jockeys, trainers, horses and race winners dating back 40 years or so!
We all have different memories we will carry of Dad, and I hope we have reminded you of a few of them today. We know you all share with us the great sense of loss of a wonderful man, and will finish with the words of one of his close friends in Canada:
He is finally free to walk, run and watch horse races from above. Colin was very much a free spirit and when the stroke hit, that freedom was gone. He is finally free again.
Our Tribute to Dad
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