Dad was born
in the Six Ringers pub here in
Felmersham
on 28th August 1943
Definitely Felmersham born and
bred!
He was the
youngest of four children, to George and Ivy
Hulatt, who
were the publicans. Dad went to Felmersham Village School, which is
opposite the church,
now a beautiful home.
In 1959, at the age of 16, he left school and got an apprenticeship at
Unilever in Sharnbrook as an electrician that lasted for five years.
During this time, he had
to go to Port Sunlight in Liverpool for training.
The village boy in the big smoke!
Four years
later, he completed
a day release course from Unilever at Mander College, Bedford in City
& Guilds Electrical Installation work.
In
1962, now aged 19, met Mum over the canteen counter at Unilever,
where Mum worked as the cook - they say a way to a man’s heart is
through his stomach!
They
courted “for three years” with Dad taking Mum out and about on
his Matchless motorbike, picking her up from Queens Park in Bedford. To
this day we’re not sure how his teddy boy quiff held firm in the
wind!
Dad
married Mum on the 18th
September 1965, in this very church.
In
1967 family life started with the arrival of Donna. Two years later
Susan made her appearance, six more years passed before the twins,
Deborah and I were born ‘Finally,
a BOY’!
Now a family of six, in a
two up two down cottage in Pavenham Road. Mum and Dad moved into
Marriotts Close in 1978. This is where they both created the
family home, that we still love and cherish today.
Dad loved
everything about village life, and was very
active all his life –
- Ringing the
church bells on Sundays and at weddings
- Being a
Parish Councillor then becoming an Independent Borough
Councillor
- Playing in
the pub skittles and darts team.
- Playing for
the village cricket team as batsman and wicket keeper
until the knees gave in, I managed to play a few games with Dad before
he turned to
umpiring.
- He was part
of the allotment committee and community, he loved his
allotment!
- He helped
build the village bonfires and light the village fireworks
for many years around the back of the old Plough pub next to the church
and in the
playing fields.
- He
participated with the Pinchmill Players amateur dramatics, onstage
and backstage, helping with the lighting and electrical work for the
shows.
- He also
helped
keep the landlords of the village pubs in business,
enjoying a pint, or two, “Be very
silly not too!” one of Dads phrases.
For many, many
years Dad delivered the Sunday papers to the whole village. He was
probably one of the world’s oldest paperboys. He inherited the round
from his parents, getting up at 5am every Sunday morning to sort all
the papers out,
before delivering them around the village with his sister Joyce and his
close friend Nuvver!
And of course, our Mum. We all got to help out through the years,
getting pushed back home when
all had been delivered in the “company vehicle” – a wooden truck with
pram wheels,
made by my Grandad - Dad's Dad
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In retirement, Dad took on a small Sunday paper round
for those who
still wanted papers, he simply loved getting up early and walking
around the village.
For over 20 years, both Mum and Dad organised the Poppy Collection and
participated in the Remembrance Service at the War Memorial in the
village. Dad would
do the roll call of all the fallen soldiers from Felmersham and
Radwell, for which he took
great pride in.
In 1998 Dad took early retirement at the age of 56,
after 40 years’
service to Unilever, but he didn’t sit still long, soon taking on the
role of the local
Independent Borough Councillor for four years, with local villages' best
interests at heart.
After being busy with work and family life, it was time
to enjoy some
lovely cruising holidays, together with Mum, to some far-flung places,
but he always liked to come
back home.
He also developed his passion for his allotment – his
2nd home,
growing fruit and vegetables in abundance for us all to enjoy. He
learnt from others gone by, but
also passed his allotment wisdom to his fellow allotmenteer friends.
Also in 1998, Dad became a proud Grandad for the first
time to Joseph.
Two years later, on the same day, Harry came along. After a further
three years his first
grand daughter Alexi was born. In 2012 when I married my wife Julie,
Chris and Abi joined
the team giving Mum and Dad five grandchildren in total. He loved
spending time with them all, fishing, gardening, playing
games, Dad sharing his paper round money with them and taking the
grandchildren away on wet
caravan holidays. He was a very well loved grandad!
Dad was always the “go to” man to friends in the
village who needed help with anything, from fixing lawnmowers, kettles,
hoovers, you name it. There was always
a line up in his abeyance tray to fix. This was also true for us “Dad
will fix it” and
when it was fixed, he would say with the cheeky grin “You’ll miss me when I am gone!”.
When visiting, as soon as we would pull up on the
drive, he would say,
“lift the bonnet up” He’d then fill the water bottle, top up the oil, a
good squirt of WD40
and a shammy leather over the car, leaving it looking cared for, then
he would say with a
cheeky grin “You’ll miss me when I am gone!”. When we were
ready to go home, Mum will say “Have you got your phones?”
and Dad would call out from his armchair “Mind those speed cameras!”.
Dad had many friends in the village and beyond, many of
them here
today, some he’s now with again. He was a dear husband, father,
grandfather, who was always
there for the family no matter what. Dad and Mum were happily married for 58 years
with love abound, a perfect example to all of us.
In the last few months of Dad's illness, the care and
support both Dad
and us as a family received from the Palliative Care Hub, we will be
forever thankful for.
Dad, you will be sadly missed by everyone, but most of all by us, so to
answer your phrase Dad, “Yes, we will all miss you terribly
now you are gone! You will forever
be in our hearts. We Love you!
Eulogy by Martin Hulatt at Geoff's funeral in St Mary's Church
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