The following is a transcript of a letter written by Tony's Grandson, George.
When I first heard about Grandpa it was as if every single memory I have of him flashed before me. I thought about when him and I set the paving slabs in the back garden, when we would spend what seemed like an eternity just talking in the greenhouse, when we would do woodwork in the garage and when he would run about and play with me with whatever new toy I would show him.
That was the best thing about Grandpa. When you were with him he wasn't thinking about the one hundred other things he had going on; his entire concentration was dedicated to that moment, to being with you. To him there was no such thing as insignificance. He had a genuine interest in what you were discussing and he thrived to know every intricate detail of the matter in question. Never was he short or imposing. Instead he would always counsel and consider whatever issue you raised. Whether old or young he took everything people said and cared enough to think it through and reply.
There were so many attributes in him that I can only dream of one day myself possessing.
The thing is to me, it doesn't feel like he has gone as I see constant reminders in the qualities and traits that he left behind. I see him in Neil's ambition. I see him in Grandma's love and Dad, I see him everyday in your passion.
Grandpa was in his element when he was surrounded by his family. So now I just imagine that summer where we all came to our house and ate in the sun while we listened to him and Colin tell us stories of them both growing up. That was where he belongs; his heaven.
So to Grandpa I say to you only what you would have said to us - Tarra old cock.
Friday 25 June 2010
Wednesday 2 June 2010
Eulogy - Not a life cut short, but a life that was complete
Tony's funeral was held on 1st June 2010 at Charing Crematorium. The following is a transcript of the eulogy read by his son, Neil, on behalf of the family.
On behalf of Mum, Ian and myself, I would like to say thank you to you all for coming along and sharing today with us. Some of you have made long journeys, others have had to make special arrangements and we are very grateful to you for doing that.
There are some people that would have loved to have been here, but couldn’t be. I am thinking in particular of Dad’s brother Colin, who is in Florida, and life-long friends Roy and Sheila Rumsey, who were defeated by poor health and the journey.
We know that we are in their thoughts and they are in ours.
Thank you too, to all the friends and neighbours that have come to Mum’s side in recent days with offers of help. In times like these, the spirit of community and good neighbourliness is tested to the full and you have all passed with flying colours.
May I also recognise Fred Olson Cruises who provided fabulous support to Mum on board ship in the difficult days after Dad died and invaluable guidance to Ian and me as we came to terms with what had happened and had to make arrangements to bring Dad home while stuck on opposite sides of the world.
While we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for seeking to comfort us in our sadness today, Mum, Ian and I really want you to join us in our thanks and commemoration of a life that was lived to the full and enjoyed.
We can be sure that Dad did everything that he wanted to do and achieved all that he wanted to achieve.
As a boy and a young man he had enough scrapes and adventures to fill a book, but it was in his adult life that all of us here today knew him.
Outside of his home and his family, he was defined and fulfilled by the voluntary and public work that he did. Dad loved to be involved and at the heart of things, doing what he could to make a difference and change things for the better, whether it was for individuals or for the community as a whole.
Like all of us, he had his frailties and Dad’s weakness was that he was a worrier.
The two people that worried him most were undoubtedly Ian and me – constantly as boys and still occasionally as men.
He worried when I left a perfectly good job to set up the business: he worried when Ian decided to leave the UK and start a new life for his family and himself in Australia.
But he needn’t have worried, because he brought us both up to be strong, independent and capable of making those decisions… and that’s the best job any father can do.
He loved to travel, he loved his clothes, he loved his books and films and, of course he loved his family. We know he loved all of these things and he had them in plenty, so we aren’t here to mourn a life cut short, but to celebrate a life that was complete.
In the search for a reading, I looked at the usual suspects like Shakespeare, Tennyson and Keats, but they’re a miserable bunch when it comes to dying, so instead, I’ve chosen something by comedienne, Joyce Grenfell.
As Dad goes to join Joyce, and all the other comedians that made him roar with laughter in front of the television when I was a boy, I think he would have wanted to say something like this:
"If I should go before the rest of you,
Break not a flower, nor inscribe a stone,
Nor, when I’m gone, speak in a Sunday voice,
But be the usual selves that I have known.
Weep if you must:
Parting is hell,
But life was good,
So...sing as well!”
On behalf of Mum, Ian and myself, I would like to say thank you to you all for coming along and sharing today with us. Some of you have made long journeys, others have had to make special arrangements and we are very grateful to you for doing that.
There are some people that would have loved to have been here, but couldn’t be. I am thinking in particular of Dad’s brother Colin, who is in Florida, and life-long friends Roy and Sheila Rumsey, who were defeated by poor health and the journey.
We know that we are in their thoughts and they are in ours.
Thank you too, to all the friends and neighbours that have come to Mum’s side in recent days with offers of help. In times like these, the spirit of community and good neighbourliness is tested to the full and you have all passed with flying colours.
May I also recognise Fred Olson Cruises who provided fabulous support to Mum on board ship in the difficult days after Dad died and invaluable guidance to Ian and me as we came to terms with what had happened and had to make arrangements to bring Dad home while stuck on opposite sides of the world.
While we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for seeking to comfort us in our sadness today, Mum, Ian and I really want you to join us in our thanks and commemoration of a life that was lived to the full and enjoyed.
We can be sure that Dad did everything that he wanted to do and achieved all that he wanted to achieve.
As a boy and a young man he had enough scrapes and adventures to fill a book, but it was in his adult life that all of us here today knew him.
Outside of his home and his family, he was defined and fulfilled by the voluntary and public work that he did. Dad loved to be involved and at the heart of things, doing what he could to make a difference and change things for the better, whether it was for individuals or for the community as a whole.
Like all of us, he had his frailties and Dad’s weakness was that he was a worrier.
The two people that worried him most were undoubtedly Ian and me – constantly as boys and still occasionally as men.
He worried when I left a perfectly good job to set up the business: he worried when Ian decided to leave the UK and start a new life for his family and himself in Australia.
But he needn’t have worried, because he brought us both up to be strong, independent and capable of making those decisions… and that’s the best job any father can do.
He loved to travel, he loved his clothes, he loved his books and films and, of course he loved his family. We know he loved all of these things and he had them in plenty, so we aren’t here to mourn a life cut short, but to celebrate a life that was complete.
In the search for a reading, I looked at the usual suspects like Shakespeare, Tennyson and Keats, but they’re a miserable bunch when it comes to dying, so instead, I’ve chosen something by comedienne, Joyce Grenfell.
As Dad goes to join Joyce, and all the other comedians that made him roar with laughter in front of the television when I was a boy, I think he would have wanted to say something like this:
"If I should go before the rest of you,
Break not a flower, nor inscribe a stone,
Nor, when I’m gone, speak in a Sunday voice,
But be the usual selves that I have known.
Weep if you must:
Parting is hell,
But life was good,
So...sing as well!”
Sunday 23 May 2010
Obituary
Former Councillor, Magistrate and Ashford resident for 45 years, Anthony ‘Tony’ Edwards died suddenly while on a cruise holiday with his wife, Anne.
Remembered for his unstinting voluntary work, generous nature and immaculate dress sense, he will be greatly missed as a husband, father, grandfather, brother and colleague by the many people that knew and loved him.
Born in London in 1934, Tony spent his early years in Greenwich sheltering from the Blitz. He often recounted tales of nights spent in the Anderson shelter, with his beloved copy of 'Coral Island' for comfort, listening as the Luftwaffe scored direct hits on the buildings and houses close by.
After the war he did his National Service in Catterick before training as a dental technician and then taking work as a travel courier, accompanying tourists on train journeys to Spain.
Tony met Anne, his wife of 47 years, in Spain and came back to settle temporarily in Whitstable, before moving to Ashford in 1964 where he worked as a dental technician for Joe Kemp Roberts on the High Street.
His father, Bill, was part of the team that opened the original Rimmel factory on Carlton Road and it was in 1968 that Tony joined his father at Rimmel and stayed for 25 years.
Tony's real passion and contribution though was in civic life and voluntary work.
His first taste of volunteering came in the early 1970’s when he trained and worked as a councillor for the National Marriage Guidance Council, now 'Relate'.
Enjoying the rewards of giving something back to the community, he stood as a Liberal councillor in his home ward of Kennington Lees in 1978 and won the safe Conservative seat by a good margin on the strength of his local residency and tireless campaigning.
Tony held the seat until he decided to stand down in 1987.
While on the Council he sat on a number of committees and was influential in many of the key decisions of the time.
In 1980, Tony was invited to become a magistrate and was elected to the Ashford & Tenterden bench on 23 April 1981, becoming a Chairman of the Youth court in 1986 and Deputy Chairman of the Adult court in 1993.
Running alongside his work as a magistrate, he was Chairman of the Board of Visitors at Aldington Prison between 1987 and 1992 and was also a Governor of The Towers and Downs View schools in Kennington.
On retiring from Rimmel in 1994, Tony became a lay member of the Pensions Appeals Tribunal, travelling up and down the country to hear appeals from injured ex-serviceman.
In all aspects of his public life he is remembered fondly for his good humour and the pragmatic approach that he took to the issues and cases that were placed before him.
Overlooked for, and never seeking, any official honours for his contribution to the community, he took great pride in his invitations to two Royal Garden Parties at the Palace.
Plagued for many years by tinnitus and deteriorating hearing, he retired from the Bench and his work for the Pensions Appeals Tribunal in 2004.
Tony spent his final years living quietly in Kennington with Anne, fighting increasing frailty brought on by a heart attack in 2007.
Despite his failing strength, he never lost his sharp sense of style. Rarely seen out of a suit, with a perfect Windsor knot in his tie and shoes polished to a mirror, he always took great pride in his appearance and it is fitting, therefore, that in the last picture of him, he is dressed in black-tie for a dinner on board ship only a few days before he died.
He is survived by his wife Anne, brother Colin, now resident in Florida, and two sons, Neil, who lives in Sussex, and Ian, who is now living in Australia.
A funeral will be held at Charing Crematorium on Tuesday 1st June at 11.20. Anybody that knew Tony and would like to pay their respects is welcome.
Remembered for his unstinting voluntary work, generous nature and immaculate dress sense, he will be greatly missed as a husband, father, grandfather, brother and colleague by the many people that knew and loved him.
Born in London in 1934, Tony spent his early years in Greenwich sheltering from the Blitz. He often recounted tales of nights spent in the Anderson shelter, with his beloved copy of 'Coral Island' for comfort, listening as the Luftwaffe scored direct hits on the buildings and houses close by.
After the war he did his National Service in Catterick before training as a dental technician and then taking work as a travel courier, accompanying tourists on train journeys to Spain.
Tony met Anne, his wife of 47 years, in Spain and came back to settle temporarily in Whitstable, before moving to Ashford in 1964 where he worked as a dental technician for Joe Kemp Roberts on the High Street.
His father, Bill, was part of the team that opened the original Rimmel factory on Carlton Road and it was in 1968 that Tony joined his father at Rimmel and stayed for 25 years.
Tony's real passion and contribution though was in civic life and voluntary work.
His first taste of volunteering came in the early 1970’s when he trained and worked as a councillor for the National Marriage Guidance Council, now 'Relate'.
Enjoying the rewards of giving something back to the community, he stood as a Liberal councillor in his home ward of Kennington Lees in 1978 and won the safe Conservative seat by a good margin on the strength of his local residency and tireless campaigning.
Tony held the seat until he decided to stand down in 1987.
While on the Council he sat on a number of committees and was influential in many of the key decisions of the time.
In 1980, Tony was invited to become a magistrate and was elected to the Ashford & Tenterden bench on 23 April 1981, becoming a Chairman of the Youth court in 1986 and Deputy Chairman of the Adult court in 1993.
Running alongside his work as a magistrate, he was Chairman of the Board of Visitors at Aldington Prison between 1987 and 1992 and was also a Governor of The Towers and Downs View schools in Kennington.
On retiring from Rimmel in 1994, Tony became a lay member of the Pensions Appeals Tribunal, travelling up and down the country to hear appeals from injured ex-serviceman.
In all aspects of his public life he is remembered fondly for his good humour and the pragmatic approach that he took to the issues and cases that were placed before him.
Overlooked for, and never seeking, any official honours for his contribution to the community, he took great pride in his invitations to two Royal Garden Parties at the Palace.
Plagued for many years by tinnitus and deteriorating hearing, he retired from the Bench and his work for the Pensions Appeals Tribunal in 2004.
Tony spent his final years living quietly in Kennington with Anne, fighting increasing frailty brought on by a heart attack in 2007.
Despite his failing strength, he never lost his sharp sense of style. Rarely seen out of a suit, with a perfect Windsor knot in his tie and shoes polished to a mirror, he always took great pride in his appearance and it is fitting, therefore, that in the last picture of him, he is dressed in black-tie for a dinner on board ship only a few days before he died.
He is survived by his wife Anne, brother Colin, now resident in Florida, and two sons, Neil, who lives in Sussex, and Ian, who is now living in Australia.
A funeral will be held at Charing Crematorium on Tuesday 1st June at 11.20. Anybody that knew Tony and would like to pay their respects is welcome.
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