Ken Peacock Friday 21stJune Eulogy Ken Peacock was born 30th May 1932 at Twickenham, he was the only son of Winifred and Herbert Peacock and they lived at Osterley in Middlesex. Dad had a happy childhood and spent much of his time sneaking into the grounds of Osterley Park House with his secret ‘over-the-wall ladder’, doing what boys did during the war namely fishing and hunting bird’s eggs; that was when the Park Keeper Blades couldn’t catch him! If he wasn’t doing that, then he was hunting bits of shrapnel from the doodlebugs or helping to collect money for the production of Spitfires or watching them fly overhead. To a young lad this was an exciting time. Sadly aged 16, his father passed away just shortly after he had taken Dad to Lords for the first time, this gave Dad a love for sport which lasted his whole life. Indeed, he played cricket to a decent standard - opening the bowling for 1st XI Teddington Town and Mike Gatting’s formative team Wycombe House. He was also a passionate follower of Middlesex County Cricket Club and Brentford Football Club. He always enjoyed going to see the ‘Bees’ whether it was with friends, relatives or his family and it is appropriate that the picture on the front of the order of service was taken in October at Brentford v Crawley, this turned out to be his last trip to Brentford, but it was a happy one, resulting in a 2-1 victory for the ‘Bees’. Dad outside of the watchful eye of the doctor seized the opportunity to not only finish his pre-match pint, but that of Robert’s pint too! As Dad’s mother Winifred needed to start to work following the untimely departure of her husband, Dad often spent time on his own, but he was very grateful for the help and support of his cousins Peggy and Audrey who made the home a friendlier place to be and helped with the chores which was even better! Dad was attracted to the life of sales for most of his working life and started out by going to Germany selling bond’s and investments to the American Army based over there before returning home and taking a job as a Salesman selling mining equipment where he loved his company car a rather flash Humber Hawk, after that there was no other route for him and it was sales all the way, a career he really loved. He joined Rocol - an engineering lubricants company in 1962 and during the 28 years Dad spent there as his career flourished, he was lucky enough to have postings in Brazil, Mexico and France setting up the sales divisions in these countries for Rocol. Even after leaving there he kept in touch with many of his work colleagues, who had now become friends. Dad’s final role was working for Media Graphics where he thoroughly enjoyed a new and last sales challenge. Dad’s experience in sales meant that he was a great negotiator, the point of which was not lost on Robert or Stuart, when they came to organise the funeral arrangements, they discovered he had already negotiated himself a discount! Although he enjoyed all his roles during his working life, the most important thing for Dad was his family and he always did everything he could to provide a loving and secure family environment for his wife & and 3 sons who he was enormously proud of. Dad met Mum, his soulmate in 1951, Mum loved Ken’s BSA twin motorcycle and they would whizz away for weekends in Herne Bay while they were courting, they were together in total for 58 very happy years. Having lived in their first house in Hanworth for a few years, they were searching for a larger family home and by taking a wrong turn in Fleet they stumbled upon Carthona Drive. They instantly fell in love with the area and knew they had found the perfect family home. Both our parents said they were lucky to have met and made some wonderful and loyal friends in the neighbourhood. It was an incredibly warm and happy home. Graeme, Stuart and Robert were in admiration of Dad’s ability around the house, whatever was required he seemed to be able to ‘fix-it’ ‘build-it’ ‘saw-it’ or ‘assemble-it’. Dad purchased a static caravan in 1978 which was based at Bracklesham Bay. Lots of happy family holidays were spent there, especially because the caravan was situated next to other family member’s caravans. Inter-family cricket competitions in the field were the order of the day well into the 1980s! This caravan proved very popular with their grandchildren Claudia and Daniel and future daughter-in law’s Louise and Jessica & many happy holidays were spent together down the coast. In Dad’s later years he was regularly active raising money for charity, and had many close friends in Carthona Drive and All Saints Church, as well as close friends he met at the local Computer club, the local Gym, the Matinee Club and the University of the Third Age. He always said he was a lucky man. In 2012, Ken was diagnosed with Lung Cancer but fought this with resolute determination and believed he had wonderful support from the NHS and the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice who provided much needed support during his treatment. After battling through the arduous chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment, he was declared clear of detectable cancer as recently as April. So it was with much family sadness that Dad suddenly passed away from a heart attack at home on the 7th June. Ken was an inspirational and much loved husband, father, grandfather and friend. His loyalty, determination and never say die attitude will serve as his most resonating legacy.