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Reply | GEORGE GRISTWOOD RIP
at 07:31 1 Jan 2025
First of all I would like to wish all the loftforwords family a very happy, healthy , peaceful and prosperous new year. I wanted to post an edited version of my dad’s obituary that I read at his funeral at the beginning of December. Today will be quite an emotional day for me and all of us who have lost family members and friends in the last year as the club remembers those fans. I have to say the Club have been brilliant- Andy Evans and Paul Morrisey - to name just two. The funeral cortège went past the ground and all the staff were lined up outside where we stopped. I am so proud of our Club- Thank you. England Fans also had a representative at the funeral and England will be doing something for dad in March.
Trying to fit dad's life and what he meant to me and my family into a few minutes will be impossible- but here goes.
Dad was a proud man. He was proud of his country and his heritage. Born in 1930 in Notting Dale- the poor part- not Notting Hill- he was always very specific about that. Dad's family moved to Greenford in 1932. He never left. One of the first families to move into the new estates being built all over Greenford. His dad bought a house in the Parish of St George’s - Sudbury. He was this church's longest continuous parishioner- 92 of the 96 years this church has been in existence. Dad, along with his brother Bill, had great memories growing up in this area in the 1930's. One of them was standing on Horsenden Hill watching the Crystal Palace burn down in 1936. On Sunday 3rd September 1939, dad and Bill were in this church when war was declared. An air raid siren went off straight away. Their dad, who was at home at the time, quickly grabbed two gas masks and legged it to the church afraid of an air attack. Luckily it was a false alarm. Many bombs did fall in this area during the war. Dad and Bill used to stand up Horsenden Hill watching the dogfights, doing Brian Hanrahan impressions-'they counted them all out, they counted them all back again.' Dad had a great sense of pride of where he was from and loved recounting these stories.
Dad took great pride in his work. An excellent plumber. Multi-skilled who could turn his hand to anything. A perfectionist and precisionist. I would often hear him mutter 'an 1/8th of an inch' when he was working on something. Amongst many jobs his proudest was being involved in the building of Northwick Park Hospital where he was Foreman. To listen to Dad it was like he had built it himself. In later years when he had hospital appointments and operations there he would tell anyone and everyone who was within hearing range- 'I fitted those toilets, sinks, radiators etc.'. As I work around London I realise that I am now also pointing out things that my Dad worked on. For example the toilets at Putney Vale Crematorium were fitted by Dad over 70 years ago- and they still work! The apple didn't fall far from the tree! It was at Northwick Park where he met John, a northern Irishman, who would become his best friend. John wanted to go to Arsenal as they had a strong Irish contingent there but Dad said he would only let him work on Saturday mornings if he went to QPR with him in the afternoon. John became a QPR fan- sorry John!
Dad was a proud Labour man all his life. He never wavered. He was very active in his younger days. He was once arrested at a CND demonstration. He told the story that when he went to court Vanessa Redgrave, who had also been arrested for the same offence, was up before him. Finding her guilty the judge ordered that she pay a £5 fine. Her lawyer argued successfully that she should be able to pay it over 6 months. Dad followed her into the dock. Guilty- £10 fine to be paid immediately. Solidarity brothers/sisters. Solidarity George.
A proud Trades Union man all his life, becoming Treasurer, which came naturally to him as he was a great mathematician, and membership secretary for all the plumbers in West London. Bizarrely one of the plumbers he signed up in the late 50's was a young Irish plumber who'd come to London to seek work. In those days Plumbing was a closed shop and you had to be in a union. Dad was one of the first people that this young Irish man had met in England. This man later became my father in law- Patrick Stan O'Connor. Small world!
Dad was proud of his Catholic faith. Deeply religious. A true believer. He attended Mass every week- either here or the Visitation. In his later years he went to confession every week- 'oh not you again, Denis?!' The Priest would be heard to say. Dad was an honest and generous man. He was also generous with his time. As kids we joked that we were the last house in our road to get central heating in the 70's as dad was too busy fitting everyone else's in his spare time- and probably not charging!
As you all know, Dad loved his Football and he was proud of his two football teams- QPR and England- more of this in a moment. What you may not know is that Dad loved all sport. An ardent cricket fan- follower of Middlesex and England. He loved going to Lords taking me and Clive as kids. Dad told a story of when he went to see the Victory Test against Australia in 1945. One of the Aussie batsmen got out for a duck and dad shouted something uncomplimentary. 'No worries mate'- the Aussie replied 'I'll get a Century in the next innings'. Well of course he did. You'd have thought dad might have learned a lesson here but he never did- he was always very vocal! Dad was a very good sprinter when he was younger. He was Middlesex schoolboys champion in the 100 yards. An uncompromising footballer. No contact lenses in those days so he had to play with his glasses on- not ideal when heading one of those heavy balls. Woe betide anyone that made fun of him for wearing glasses. They didn’t say it twice. A great lover of cards. He taught us all the games- especially cribbage. It was a common sight at Rangers away games to see my Dad and John tucked up in the corner playing crib. He must have been very lucky in love though because John always seemed to beat him! An excellent darts player. He once qualified for the News of the World competition at Wembley. He ended up running the Black Horse Darts Team for years winning numerous trophies. I remember Dad once coming to my local pub with my mates when I was at College. He reeled off 100 after 100 with a sprinkling of 180’s and first dart double finishes. My mates were so impressed. He attended Speedway at Wembley supporting the Lions- dads first date with mum was at Speedway. He also regularly went to watch Ice Hockey at the Empire Pool- again they were called the Lions. Mum tells a story that at one half time they asked people to come and join them on the ice. Dad was a bit slow getting on so joined the end of the line. They all linked arms and started to go round in circles-in no time at all dad was flying around the outside hanging on for dear life- a la Frank Spencer. I think he did a whoopsie after this. Dad also attended every day at Wembley in the 1948 Olympics. One day he thought he'd seen Great Britain win a gold medal in the 4x100- our only Athletics Gold. When he returned the next day to watch the medal ceremony, he couldn't believe his ears when the band struck up the Stars and Stripes. The Americans, who had been disqualified had been reinstated due to photographic evidence. The first time it had ever been used. Pesky VAR!
It was obviously following England where Dad mostly attended Wembley. He went for ten different decades. Every War time International; various Cup Finals, including the 1953 Matthews Final- 'should have been called the Mortenson final' my Dad would say ' as he scored the Hat trick'. Dad could be quite contraire. When Hungary beat England 6-3 in the same year. He said Hungary weren't that good 'They only had 6 shots on goal and they all went in!' according to Dad. Attending every England game in 1966- he's the only person I ever knew who thought that the ball went in at the top. Thank goodness we didn’t have VAR then! He travelled all over Europe watching England. In 1976 he was on an England Supporters Special train from London going to Glasgow to see England against Scotland- sadly the train was packed with Scottish fans who drunk the train dry by Watford meaning no drink for him. I went with Dad to watch England V Germany in Turin for the World Cup Semi Final in 1990. We stayed on a campsite that was attacked by Italian fans. The Italian police tear gassed the English. Tear gassed and Gazza's tears all in the space of 24 hours. Dad's last away game following England at the age of 86 was in 2016 in Marseille against Russia. He was tear gassed again this time by the French police when the Russians attacked England fans. Lucky George eh? Dad was given an award at an England game for being the oldest regular going England fan. Olly Murs gave him a shirt- he didn't have a clue who he was. 'Played right back for England' I told him. 'Was he any good?' he replied.
Following England was only surpassed by following Rangers. 1000's of games over ten different decades. In 1967 the day of our greatest triumph; he stood up the wrong end- not just because he was amongst the West Brom fans but because all 5 goals - including our 3- were up the other end. Dad went to Wolves in 1976. Not to see Rangers but to see Liverpool. I'm sure you know the script. Liverpool lose and Rangers win the League. He went with a colleague who had put money on Rangers at the start of the season to win the League. He stood to win a lot of money as he had got them at good odds. 'If Rangers win the League- don't worry about having to go to work for the rest of the week' his colleague said. Dad was at work the next day! Anything to do with Rangers he was there. He won the LSAs Supporter of the Year in 2015. I would suggest that when he died no one had seen more Rangers games or been to Wembley as many times as Dad. In the last few years Dad had become a celebrity in his own right. He appeared on BBC Television and Radio. He was also interviewed by the National Newspapers. When I used to go to England games with him, people would literally just want to have photos with him, talk to him, shake his hand or even just touch him. He had become living history.
Most of all Dad was proud of his family. A true family man. He would do anything for any of us. He was always there for us. He rejoiced in our success. Married for over 70 years to his true love- Mum- 3 telegrams from the one King and two Queens to prove it. I idolised my Dad. I could always depend on him. He saw my first match at Wood End School in 1974 and my last match at Rangers nearly 40 years later. In between there were hundreds of other matches and various sporting events. I had a great relationship with my Dad and saw him nearly every week of my life. He was my shadow. My hero who I looked up to. Well we'll all be looking up to you now. Until we meet again. I'm really going to miss you.
Rest In Peace Dad. |
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Reply | GEORGE GRISTWOOD RIP
at 16:38 4 Dec 2024
Dear Everyone, hope you don’t mind but I thought I’d just bump this thread up again as it is my dad’s funeral tomorrow. Also that I’d like to post my obituary to Dad after the funeral tomorrow just so that people might get a better understanding of him. I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kind words so far, they have been very comforting to me and my family. We are trying to make tomorrow a celebration of his life- with not too many tears. Please see my previous post about how to watch the stream from the crematorium if you would like to. Thanks to all those who might be attending. RIP Dad. |
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Reply | GEORGE GRISTWOOD RIP
at 16:09 22 Nov 2024
Dear Loftforwords family,
I just wanted to let you know that my dad’s funeral will be on Thursday December 5th. If anyone wanted to attend any part of it. The funeral cortège will go past the ground (South Africa Road) at approximately 10.00-10.15 am- pausing for a brief moment . It will then head on to St George’s RC Church, 970 Harrow Road, HA 0 2QE where there will be a full service starting at 11.00. After this we will go to Breakspear Crematorium , Breakspear Road, HA4 7SJ for the committal which starts at 1.15 pm. The wake will be held at The Green Man, Dagmar Avenue, Wembley, HA9 8DF where people can share more stories and memories of our wonderful dad. My brother, sister and myself will be saying the eulogy at the church. A couple of his grandchildren will be speaking at the crematorium along with Mel- who knew my dad for pretty much his whole life.
There will be a webcast at the crematorium that people can watch online if you want but not one at the church. The webcast at the crematorium can be used by visiting: https://watch.obitus.com username is: kadu2594. Password: 563507
There is a short obituary and photo in tomorrow’s programme against Stoke.
If I may- I hope to post a longer obituary about my dad after the funeral.
Many thanks
You Rs! |
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Reply | GEORGE GRISTWOOD RIP
at 11:53 19 Oct 2024
Dear All,
First of all I would like to say that I am a very, very long time reader of this forum. I probably spend far too long on this site reading every text, sharing in all your ups and downs over the years. It has kept me sane in an otherwise insane world - and Club. This is my first post ever- Cheddar of course- I’ve put off posting in the past as once the dam breaks I’ll probably spend even more time on this site.
George Gristwood is my father. The reason I’m on this site. I want to thank everyone for your very kind words at this sad time. I have many things that I would like to share with you about my father later if I may be a bit self indulgent. I can’t do this at the moment as unbelievably my eldest brother- George’s son- died unexpectedly last week as well.
Suffice to say that my dad had been going to Rangers for ten different decades. He followed Rangers everywhere- first team, reserves, youth team. You name it he was there. I actually checked and he has 2,973 loyalty points. Not bad! As Mel has already mentioned he was awarded LSA Supporter of the Year in 2015- something he was so proud of. He always went to the matches with his Irish mate, John Shaw, and his brother Bill. He was also a massive England Fan- travelling all over Europe. He even got an award from the FA for being their oldest regular England Fan. It was a shirt presented to him by a Olly Murs- although he didn’t have a clue who he was!
I’ll be there today and I will tie a scarf around his seat and no doubt shed a tear for my lovely dad.
May he Rest In Peace- of course it might help if we get three points today! |
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