John William Wilkins (Jack) aged 2yrs 8mths

Dad during the war

Dad, Pam (me) & John 1954 on cross channel ferry

Dad with his horse chestnut tree in 2003

Jack Wilkins 1915-2004

John William Wilkins known as Jackie as a little boy and Jack for the rest of his life. He was born at 119 Stanhope St, St. Pancras, London and moved to Bourton on the Water when he was about 3 or 4.

 When he was a little boy he planted a conker in his garden, it is now a magnificent horse chestnut tree which the new owners treasure.When we took dad down to see it in 2003 the owners gave him a poem they had written about Dads tree.

Dad went to the local village school, after leaving he worked in Gilberts the grocers and was very active in the CEM a Christian movement putting on plays and concerts to raise money for the local hospital, (he said it was a good way of currying favour with the nurses) In the 1930's he cycled to South Wales with a friend and fell in love with the place, he stayed at the house of Tommy Farrs' brother, Tommy Farr was a very famous boxer of the time. On dads return he wrote articles for the local paper and gave talks on the beauty of Wales.

When war broke out he joined the army as an anti aircraft gunner, but flying was his first love, eventually he transferred to the glider pilot regiment. In 1945 he was training in Scotland and met my mother Jean Mackenzie, they married on special licence in 1945 and Dad was sent to Kenya. After the war they set up home in Battersea, Dad worked for a group of newspapers as an advertising salesman and motoring correspondent.We moved to Chessington, Surrey in about 1952, then Thames Ditton in 1961, Dad and Mum lived in Surbiton after that moving to Bognor Regis 2000.

Holidays from the very early fifties were spent on the continent, camping, usually ending up near Venice. Dad was quite an entrepreneur and usually found a product to bring back to England to sell. he had so any ideas and developed them into reality placing adverts for readers offers in newspapers, cool boxes, bonsai kits even grow your own mushrooms on toilet rolls! Dad was such a kind  and generous man, he would always give some money to the "Gentlemen of the Road", I remember going to London  with him and we would regularly have a gentleman of the road join us for a cup of tea and a cheese roll. It was only later in his life that he told me that he used to go to London a help do the nightly soup runs for the needy, he empathised with them and has even slept in doorways and always tried to help. At the age of 67 he climbed up  Snowden staying in youth hostels, he was never happier than when he was with younger people, in his mind he was forever 20. When he was 80 he went up in a Tiger Moth plane, the instructor was  a young lady in her 20's dad had not flown since the war but she was very impressed, he flew the plane and landed it, he said that all the years in between just dropped away.

 Dad loved his family he had 3 grandchildren, in 2002 Jean died , dad found in hard to cope, his memory was not too good, but in 2004 his great granddaughter was born, he always managed to make her chuckle and it really brightened him up, sadly 3 months after she was born dad passed away.

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