SH 1939 - 1943
We have been notified of the sad death of Charles Gardner who passed away on 15th September, aged 97. Our thoughts and best wishes are with his family.
At Wycliffe:
School Prefect
Head of School House
Vice-President of the League
King’s Scout
Sergt. A.T.C.
Librarian
Sport: Rugby 2nd XV (Captain 1942-43)
Member: Literary Society (Treasurer), Operatic, Choir, Cycle Committee, Explorers
If you would like to have your memories of Charles posted on this webpage, please feel free to email them to TWS@wycliffe.co.uk
Eulogy, sent to us by Charles’ nephew, OW Peter Gardner (SH 1956 – 1961):
My Uncle Charles William Fernley Gardner was born on November 16th 1925 in Bristol. He was the youngest of four children of my grandparents Fernley and Dorothy Gardner. They were both from committed Methodist families. My mother Mary was the eldest born in 1914, Peggy next born 1916, and David was third born 1918. So Charles was the youngest by 7 years. All were brought as Methodists with both sides of the family having long connections with Methodism and even an ancestor called Wesley! Most have now ended up in the Church of England. Charles, like the others, grew up in Bristol, with holidays always spent at the Octagon in BS, until the depression of 1929 caused his father’s business to fail.
The family then moved five times in five years, ending up in their permanent home in Epsom in 1935. Mary and Peggy stayed in Bristol as weekly boarders at Clifton High School, spending weekends with their grandparents in Down House. Meanwhile David was boarding at Wycliffe College.
Uncle Charles told me quite a lot about his schooling while I was visiting him in the Care Home. He enjoyed his Prep School in Epsom where he became fluent in French, thanks to a French teacher who spoke to them only in French. At 13 he went to Wycliffe, joining the school in September 1939.
Almost immediately, they were moved out of the school premises, as it was requisitioned by the Air Ministry for the Met Office, which had to leave London. I discovered that the Headmaster had been warned at Christmas 1938, so that preparations could be made in utmost secrecy. St David’s College in Lampeter in mid Wales was chosen as suitable premises for the school. It was a theological college with very few students left at that time, I imagine most of them had been called up.
Charles enjoyed the life in Lampeter, but felt his studies were compromised, as one after another his teachers were called up. He was taught several subjects by non specialists (the wife of one teacher) including Maths and French, two of his best. So when exam time came, Charles felt he had not been able to get the good marks he had hoped for.
However life was fun for the boys with outdoor activities and sports, at which he excelled. He used to look forward to Saturday afternoons, as the boys were all expected to go out for four hours in all weathers, either for a walk or for a bike ride!
In the summers, as the country was short of labour, schools were encouraged by the government to send older children to farms. They were paid a small allowance. Wycliffe had a summer camp for their boys in the Cotswolds near Fairford to help with the harvest. Charles told me he enjoyed it, was well fed, and eventually he and, I think, one other boy were asked to go and stay in the farmhouse of one particular farm, instead of sharing a large barn with all the others, from where they had been deployed to various farms. He spent several weeks in the Cotswolds over two or three years and thought it a great adventure.
When he left school he got a place at Cambridge, but the war intervened and he was called up into the Navy in 1943. He was sent to Malaya then Singapore. He told me how wonderful it had been to meet up with his brother David who was in Singapore at the same time. When they were finally demobbed in 1947, both came back to Bristol. By then our grandparents had finally moved to Tamworth in Stoke Bishop after Grandpa retired. Within a couple of years, all his siblings were living in the same area.
He worked at the family tannery and leather firm John Cox and Co Successors while David worked at Davies and Co. He kept his links with the Navy and joined the Naval Reserve based in Flying Fox on the waterfront near Bristol Cathedral.
Charles met Eivor soon afterwards as she was in England as au pair and had come to his brother David’s house to look after Richard, his second son. They were married in February 1953 with four little bridesmaids (including me) from the family, and two more who were friends of Eivor’s from Sweden. They settled in Westbury on Trym round the corner from our house in Stoke Lane. The Kinnersley family were just down the road and Uncle David and eventually four boys were in Clifton. So we saw a lot of each other and shared parties at Tamworth for Bonfire Night (who was it who chucked the squibs into the drawing room?), huge Christmas lunch parties with a long table for all of us down the hall with a tall tree on the side, birthday parties for both Granny and Grandpa in July (12th and 24th respectively) with raspberries from the garden, and many other occasions including watching the Coronation in 1953 on the small black and white television!
My sister and I used to enjoy going round to play with Lizzie and Caroline when they were quite small, and Charles and Eivor were always very welcoming. Sometimes we used to go and watch him play cricket at Clifton Cricket Club on Saturday afternoons. Auntie Eivor used to help with the teas. On occasion he took my sister and me to BS to join Auntie Eivor, Lizzie and Caroline at the Octagon for Easter. Sorry Vikki, it was before your time.
As I am sure most of you will know, Charles had a great sense of humour, was a terrible tease and at the same time very self effacing, hating to be “such a nuisance”, especially when he was in the Care Home unable to do anything for himself. All his carers liked him as he was polite and gentle with them, unlike some others.
I valued the time I had with him since he moved to Wells, a big bonus for me but hard luck for the others left in BS without him! There we had all enjoyed some wonderful occasions with them both, at Broomleas. There were highlights such as their 6oth wedding anniversary party in the village hall, and his 90th birthday, which I am sure we will all remember. In Wells I was able to visit them both, and, especially after Eivor became ill, I felt of some use. The years since she died have been hard for him but he was unfailingly cheerful and grateful whenever I saw him. I had to remind him that I loved seeing him and was grateful to him for being there!
He was still as sharp as ever right to the end, doing Wordle till two days before he died, peacefully, while I was there.
I felt I was so privileged to be able to spend time with him regularly and talk about the old days.
Charles was much loved by all the family as husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, uncle, great-uncle and great great-uncle.
I feel I owed him so much as part of our happy childhood in such a secure environment. He was the first to call me Katie when he used to babysit for my parents before he was married. He was very special to us all and I feel so blessed to have had extra time with him in the last few years.
I once said to him that he would outlive my mother and get to 100, but he said “I’m not sure I want to.” As he started to decline in the last few months, I realised he would not make it, and I prayed for a peaceful end to his life. I am sure my prayers were answered. May you rest in peace with your beloved Eivor, Uncle Charles, and thank you for being you until the very end.
