His commitment to Rotary went very deep and it is hard to imagine the
Club without his generous input. He threw himself into its affairs with
enthusiasm and energy.
We were very much aware that he was born and bred in Northern Ireland.
He would hardly let us forget it. He really wanted to follow his
father’s profession as a gardener but instead chose engineering where he
made his mark, travelling widely in Europe and India before setting up
his own business in 1984. He was a member of the Bradford Textile
Society Council and was its Chairman in 1981.
Derek was very much a family man. He married Marlene in 1963 and their
son Andrew came on the scene a couple of years later. He was clearly a
devoted husband and father, and 108 Bagley Lane was a ‘home’ not just a
house, where we were always made to feel welcome.
He was passionately fond of gardening and the garden was always a
showpiece. Another great interest was his music He was an accomplished
guitarist and brought joy to many people through his gifted playing.
Brilliant with youngsters, he ran a Club for 8-12 year olds for a
quarter of a century.
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We each have our own
memories of Derek but we would all agree that he was a very
‘alive’ person, brimming over with vitality. You knew he was
around. He came across as a happy, integrated, cheerful
optimistic man who related easily to people. “A lovely chap”,
someone called him. One of the things that sticks most clearly
in the mind was his mammoth sense of humour. He was a comic but
not a fool. He saw life as something of a joke and had the
happy knack of seeing the funny side of things. His fund of
stories is legendary - many of them centred around Murphy’s Law. |
He died on the same day as Bob Hope to whom we owe those special
words “Thanks for the Memory”. As a Club we re-echo those words and
with them we send our warmest thoughts to Marlene and Andrew as they
start to ‘pick up the threads’.
