Our wonderful father, Malcolm, passed away peacefully early morning, with the sun rising and birds singing, he fought through to 19th July, 5 years to the day our mum died and we hope their spirits are joined together again and they are dancing in the stars.
He lived an amazing life, born in the back streets of Leeds, his mother died when he was 5, left school at 15, trained to be a carpenter, got married and then left Britain to live in Africa for 6 years. He returned and built a prosperous carpentry and property business, brought up 4 children, raised huge amounts of money through Rotary for great causes, walked every blade of grass in the Yorkshire Dales, backpacked around the world in his sixties and was still building pine tables in his late seventies.
He was unique – strong willed with strong opinions, determined and fiercely independent, a direct and blunt Yorkshire man who didn’t suffer fools gladly. He was happy to take the paths less trodden and explore new horizons. Underneath a sometimes gruff exterior he was incredibly loving and kind.
He was always a rock and point of reference for us, he will be sadly missed, but we hope he’s now smiling in the skies. Love you dad x
Jay, Matt and Lucy