The funeral took place recently of Gary Ian Sanderson, of Leachway, Tenby, who passed away at home on September 17. He was 52.

A native of Southampton, Gary was an accountant at Ashmole and Co, Haverfordwest, since the year 2000.

Prior to this, Gary worked as a taxi driver, at Lydstep Haven alongside his father, after being medically discharged from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in 1986.

Gary’s interests centered around his love for his family, walking with his wife Tracy and their dog Lexie, watching and following his football team Leeds United, playing snooker or pool, quiet weekends in front of the TV and his playstation.

He leaves to mourn his wife Tracy Sanderson; son Liam; daughter-in-law Lisa; granddaughter Olivia; daughter Ashleen and partner Jamie (and Hunter the dog); father Ian Sanderson; sisters Cathy and Caroline; brothers-in-law Andy and Alex; niece Laura; nephew Lewis; Uncle Tom, Anne Keane and family too numerous to mention.

The funeral service, conducted by Mr. Mike Ashbridge, took place on Friday, September 28, at Parc Gwyn Crematorium, Narberth.

Bearers were Liam (son), Danny James and Dale Elms (best friends), Andy Bryant (brother-in-law), Wiffy Newell and Wayne Warlow (friends).

Donations were made to Cancer Research Wales c/o E.C. Thomas and Son, Funeral Directors.

MR. W. JAMES

TENBY

The funeral service took place at Parc Gwyn Crematorium, Narberth on Monday, September 24 of Mr. William ‘Bill’ James, of Tenby.

He was aged 85 and passed away on September 12 at Withybush Hospital.

The service was conducted by Rev John Morgan and the bearers were Graham, Michael, Gwyn, Griff, Tosh and Mally.

Bill was born in Amroth, on 8th May 1933, the son of Bertie and Ada James. He was the younger of two children with Bill’s sibling John, now having passed away. Bill was born at Woodside, Amroth where he lived until he was 2 years old.

The family then moved to The Mill, also in Amroth and the home that Bill spoke of with great fondness.

The Mill was a small holding in an idyllic setting on the edge of woodland, overlooking the beach. Sitting around for family meals he would often reminisce, recalling helping his Dad to collect the potatoes, herd the cows and many happy hour spent fishing for supper.

Bearing in mind that this was war time, Bill said he and his family were not affected by rationing as there was always plenty of fresh produce to be had from the small holding - fish from the sea and rabbit from the woods!

He particularly enjoyed it when families came to stay at The Mill as there was room for a few small caravans. One family in particular were The Browns. They would come for the whole summer as Mr Brown was a teacher in London.

The Browns would ‘adopt’ Bill for the summer taking him out on day trips in their car. These times were exciting for Bill as his only mode of transport was by foot!

Bill was a keen footballer in his youth and would often be found in Amroth Castle grounds kicking a ball. Roscoe Howells, a local man, could see potential in the village for a football team. He gave up hours of his time coaching the team and driving them to neighbouring villages for matches. Bill always spoke highly of Roscoe and was eternally grateful for his commitment to the youngsters of Amroth.

Leaving Amroth School as a teenager, Bill served his apprenticeship as a carpenter in Tenby, a trade he loved. He would proudly say, ‘there was not a single day of my working life that I did not want to go to work!’ Not many of us can echo those words.

Upon completion of his apprenticeship Bill went to RAF St Mawgan, Newquay, Cornwall, to serve National Service.

It was on one of his visits back home in December 1954 that he met his wife to be Val at a New Year’s Eve dance in the De Valence, Tenby. Upon his return to Newquay the two of them kept in contact by letter and remained friends.

In November of 1959, Val and Bill were engaged and after a short engagement were married in St Mary’s Church Tenby on February 27th 1960.

Their marriage was blessed with two children; Chris and Jill and five grandchildren; Lisa, Jack, Tom, Lowri and Griff, all of whom he was extremely proud.

He was also blessed with a great grandson, Stan, who in the last 12 months gave Bill hours of pleasure. Bill had all the patience in the world with children.

He would walk for hours along the coastal path with Chris and Jill telling them tales and stories along the way. Jill’s friends often speak of the fun birthday parties in Ivydene because ‘Uncle Bill’ as he was affectionately known would be there to entertain! His niece Cathryn recalls sitting on Uncle Bill’s lap in his car while driving along Pendine beach. All exciting times to treasure. When his grandchildren came along he was thrilled. He devoted hours of his time to them.

One of Lowri and Griff’s favourite outings was to Castle Hill where there was a magic wishing well! You could ask the wishing well for anything. It started off with sweets, ‘Starburst’ to be exact. ‘You ask what colour sweet you want,’ Pappy would say and low and behold the correct colour sweet would drop from the hole in the bottom of the wishing well. Pure magic when you’re 5!

However, there was one occasion when Lowri asked the wishing well for a diamond bracelet...Pappy thinking quickly popped a couple of pound coins down the tube, saying the wishing well had run out of bracelets but here was some money so you could go and buy one yourself! While Jack and Tom would spend hours with him in the cellar at Lexden, carving, chiselling and sawing to make swords and aeroplanes!

A story Lisa recalls is being in the living room of Lexden with Nanny around Christmas time. Pappy was working on the roof. “Ho Ho Ho!” came booming down the chimney. “Is that Lisa James? I hear you have been a very good girl, what would you like for Christmas?”

The conversation continued for some time with Lisa in total awe. All truly magical memories.

As mentioned earlier, Bill loved every minute of his time spent working. His work took him to various places around Pembrokeshire and beyond. One contract on which he spent many months, was building the chalets at Freshwater East.

As Val often worked a Saturday, Bill would take Chris and Jill with him to work. He would task them with sorting nails and screws etc, a job they felt extremely important! At midday tools would go down and it would be off for a well earned beer or four!

The watering hole was known as ‘The Ladies House’ (Freshwater Inn) was where all the men would go. One sunny Saturday afternoon, Chris and Jill were playing football in the beer garden. Chris kicked the ball into the nettles growing at the bottom of the garden and told Jill to run and get it!

Being so much younger than him and keen to please she did as she was told and ran into the nettles. Bill couldn’t believe what he was seeing, Val would go nuts!! Luckily Jill escaped without a single sting!

After both children had left home, Lexden seemed empty. It was at this time that Dylan came along. Bill’s best friend. Bill could now continue with his passion of walking the coastal paths and woodlands with company.

Dylan would sit on the door step of Lexden every evening at 5.30 knowing that Bill would be home from work....no more sneaky pints on the way home from work now! As Dylan’s health deteriorated he was no longer able to walk the distances that he previously could. Walks were often confined to the South Beach.

However, locals and returning holiday makers would often see Bill carrying Dylan home over his shoulder as Dylan became less mobile. After Dylan’s days Bill said he didn’t want another dog as the dog would probably out live him.

Now we know this would not have been the case. However, instead he walked dogs for other elderly people in the town, bearing in mind he was nearly 80 himself!

Bill had some truly wonderful friends. Other than being with his family he loved nothing more than a few pints and a game of dominoes or cards with them. Wednesday evenings and Saturday lunch times were spent in their company, enjoying friendly banter and camaraderie.

When Bill could no longer go out, Graham used to come to Lexden to have a bottle of beer and a chat and when Bill moved to Park House, Graham continued his weekly visits...just minus the bottle of beer!

For this Chris and Jill are eternally grateful. Thank you Graham.

Bill will be remembered with great fondness and will be dearly missed by all who knew him.

There were family flowers only with donations in memory of Bill made payable to Arthritis Research UK c/o Funeral Directors Messrs W and M J Rossiter & Sons Ltd The Old Rectory, The Norton, Tenby, who conducted the funeral arrangements.