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THE NOTES I WINTER 2020
Announcements Obituaries J W ‘John’ Blake ('40) We belatedly report here the death on 15.11.18 of John Blake at the age of 93. His son M J ‘Matt’ (’89) gave the eulogy at his father’s funeral service which was conducted at John’s request by OD humanist minister, Mark Hayford (‘80). All three were erstwhile pupils of SDC’s Form 1B.
‘At the age of 11 John started school at St Dunstan’s, a place he loved throughout his life, tinged with the regret that the school had been evacuated from Catford to Reigate in 1940. His school friends were friends for life but at 15 he returned to 63 Birchwood and completed his exams at Clerks College, Bromley, later spending two years as a Bank Clerk at the Midland Bank in Brompton Road.
John Warren Blake was the most modest of ODs - never one to push himself forward but always a tireless worker in the OD cause. He earned the gratitude of all ODs for his successful efforts to get an OD Memorial Plaque installed in St George’s Church, Ypres, commemorating our fallen in the two World Wars.
‘In 1943 he joined the RAF and served as a Flying Officer ground staff until the end of the War when he was posted to Paris for a year, and that started the second love affair of his life. He visibly relaxed whenever his feet touched French soil, and he passed the love of France and its culture on to all of us.
We give here an edited version of son, Matt’s fond words, on behalf of the Blake family.
‘Tragedy followed his return in 1947, his mother, Dora, dying of breast cancer something to which I suspect he never truly reconciled himself. His father Jack remarried - to Aunty Freda who we all knew - but things were not the same after the loss of his mother.
‘The family lived at 63 Birchwood Avenue in Beckenham, a house we all came to know so well. My father claimed to have a superhuman memory and remembered being pushed around Beckenham in his pram by his mother, and as a little boy, being taken to the dairy owned by his uncle Reg, to feed the horses – a memory of gentler times. His father, Jack, who we knew as Papa, was a lovely man, doubtless traumatised by surviving two years of WW1, of which he never spoke.
mother Jo was with our father through thick-and-thin throughout their 63 years of marriage. She was a Sergeant in the RAF and in charge at home, whilst our father worked in the bank. ‘Sarah was born in 1959 and I came along in 1962, during which time our father studied at night to gain exam passes that led to his appointments as Assistant Manager and ultimately Manager at the Midland Bank. Indeed, he took his job so seriously that when I was 11 he gave me a bank book to account for my pocket money, but had to accept at that age I was a very poor financial historian. ‘He was never that interested in sport, although he came to love international rugby in later life. However, he did faithfully follow me round to various football, rugby and cricket matches and always ensured I played in freshly polished shining boots.
'Later he found the third and most important love of his life. He was introduced to our mother Jo, who was also in the RAF, by a superior officer who knew them both, Mr Joshua Rosenberg, known to us as 'Uncle Rosie'.
‘We never got to see my football team Chelsea together. The closest was my 12th birthday when, having failed to get tickets for the Chelsea v Palace cup tie, he took me to Fairfield Halls in Croydon to see the wrestling. Though obviously fixed and fake, it was the kind of theatre he regarded as sport, though he was surprised and disappointed to find out Kendo Nagasaki who fought in a mask, was in fact a car mechanic from Stoke and not a Japanese Samurai! In any event, at 4pm every Saturday, the house came to a standstill as he watched the wrestling on TV.
‘Our parents married in 1955 and our
‘He was a constant in our lives but also
