Remembering John

Dad meeting kittens

Posy shared these pictures with me a while ago of Dad meeting her kittens. I’ve been meaning to share them for ages.

Thank you all for making Dad’s memorial service a wonderful event

I delayed but deeply felt thanks to all who attended (or wanted to) Dad’s memorial service. It meant a lot to me to hear other people’s impressions and experiences of my dad. I loved meeting so many family and long-time friends of my parents, with whom we were able to reconnect. I know some made […]

Some of Dad’s earlier work

Thanks to my mum for these images.

Photo of dad and I

This was sent to me by a friend, but I don’t currently record where or when this was taken. Long enough ago that my beard still had colour. I’ve been sent a bunch of other pictures and videos, which I promise to upload soon.

A selection of images of the art from Dad’s flat

There’s no alt text yet. I’m just chucking these up here for you all to see.

The celebration of John’s life is 16th of March

We will be holding a celebration of John’s life is 16th of March at half past two at New Life Family Church in Margate. If you are likely to attend, can you please make yourself known to the immediate family in advance so we know how many people to organise for. The photo here was […]

A celebration of John’s life

We are currently planning a celebration of Dad’s life. My sister, Esther, is planning catering while I’m looking after the order of service. Get in touch if you have something you would like to share or say during the service.

Feeding the chickens

I believe this was one of dad’s earlier works. I’m fairly sure I found the photo this was based on, but I do not know where the artwork itself ended up.

As promised, more pictures of John when he was very young

I was sent some descriptions and explination with each of these photos. Descriptions These photos were kindly shared with me by Auntie Jennifer.

John and his siblings

This photo was sent in by one of John’s sisters, my Auntie Jennifer. (There are more where this lovely one came from).

Dad and I being being slightly silly one Christmas

This picture is when dad meet Hattie Hayridge

It was taken at Sci-fi By The Sea where dad and I went one Father’s Day. Hattie played Holly in Red Dwarf. Dad loved meeting her and talked about it for ages after.

We’re at the latter stages of emptying dad’s flat

No date for the funeral yet, so keep watching. We are now closer to planning a day. *Update: I meant date honestly.

John and Tom

Dad often spoke about his friend and mentor Tom but it was not until I had to start going through his things that I witnessed the full flavour of the quirky relationship. It may have been something of a running joke that Tom sent dad letters with increasingly eccentric titles. Such as these. They seem […]

Sketching from imagination

John had a rich inner life filled with sci-fi ideas that he enjoyed sketching. Here are just a few images from his colelction of imaganitive ideas.

John’s walls were filled with his art

Despite the multitude of art in his home, this is but a tiny fraction of the paintings he created in his life.

Humility comes before honour

John often meditated on things by writing. This is an example of his many writings where he reflects on the need to be humble before your dreams can come to pass. Humility was something of a watchword for him. John spent his life endeavouring to grow in humility even though he sometimes found that challenging. […]

John’s Art

This is a sampling of John’s art. You might like to look at his tribute to a master painter. We will be sharing more images as we photograph them. (And in some cases find which folder I put photos I took before).

Pooing, pooing, pooing

Those who met my dad will recognise the very John humour with which he saw the world. I found this entry in one of his diaries that typified the kind of thing he unrepentantly found hysterical.

A tribute to a master

In his quest to perfect his art, dad studied the masters of impressionism. This is his tribute to Vincent van Gogh’s sunflower pictures.

Dad’s cat

Dad adopted a small mischievous kitten. She liked to drink the water dad cleaned his paintbrushes in. Shadow eventually moved in with an older cat.