WONDERFUL TRIBUTE AT FUNERAL OF TEDDINGTON BUSINESSMAN AND COMMUNITY SUPPORTER
The funeral took place today of local businessman Clive Blackmore, a familiar, well-loved and respected figure in the local business community, at the St Mary with St Alban Church in Teddington.
The tribute below was written and read by his wife, Rita. He passed away on February 9.
Hello everyone,
I’d like to thank you all for being here today to honour Clive’s life and to share memories of the many ways in which he enriched our lives. And he certainly did that!!
Clive was born on 12th July 1953 in West Middlesex Hospital and spent his early years with his parents and older brother, David, living in a flat above a business, Vet for Life.
David sadly can’t be with us today following a stroke he had some years ago. The family then moved to Elmfield Avenue, Teddington, where he grew up and went to school, with his younger sister Ann and brother Andrew.
After Collis Primary School he went on to Broom Road Boys School where his sense of humour first started to get him into trouble! He was always the comedian, even as a boy, and every time his school report came out, he used to delay taking it home to his dad for as long as possible!
The family had an electrical shop in Teddington High Street (now Obon Sushi & Grill) and offices in Vicarage Road where Clive learned his trade from repairing TV’s etc to going out on site with his dad. Projects varied from rewiring pubs to partitioning offices and they eventually purchased units in Station Road where they got involved with making batteries and sending them back to France.
Clive also worked part-time as a DJ, both here and abroad in Lloret when the family had a place there. He always did love the dancefloor!!
During the 70’s Clive married Karen and had two beautiful daughters, Sue and Kate. He was a very proud Grandad to Olivia, Abigail, Riley and Maximus who all gave him so much pleasure. He so loved playing with them, making jokes, being naughty with a squidgy pretend poo ……. the children particularly enjoyed his love of jokes about farts …. so much so that Olivia has requested she be given his fart book!!!
Alongside being an electrical contractor, Clive has always been very involved in the local community – helping to put up the Christmas trees and the big tree on the green opposite Station Road, and, during early years, at the summer fayre by the church. He truly was Teddington born and bred.
He loved to collect postcards of Teddington; this was a life-long hobby of his. I shall miss all the visits to card fairs, rummaging through stalls looking for an elusive photo of the Teddington open swimming pool before they put a roof over it.
We never did find it.
Clive also did so much for charity; he joined the Scout Association initially as a boy Scout, then as a Venture Scout, before becoming a member of the Round Table where he involved himself in local fund raising. He then progressed to the Round Table Masons, which he threw himself into and spent the remainder of his life enjoying being a part of. He would be so proud to know that this Spring he will be posthumously awarded for his personal contribution.
We met somewhat late in life in 2004 at a time when life wasn’t particularly good for either of us – my one biggest regret is that we didn’t meet sooner. We first met through mutual friends – he made me laugh so much, taking on an Indian accent at inappropriate moments during dinner! We had a couple of dates and he then asked if I would like to be his Lady! When I said yes, I had no idea at all of what I was letting myself in for!
On our 4th date Clive invited me to the bi-annual grand gala with the Masons, to which I was late to arrive for (not like me at all!!) By this time Clive was Master of the Lodge which meant we were the last to go in, clapped in by everyone else! He admitted to me later that he tried to ply me with champagne to loosen me up!
During the first 15 years of our marriage when Clive was healthier, we enjoyed many overseas holidays together, visiting Egypt, Australia, Iceland and Singapore.
Our most memorable (for all the wrong reasons!) was our cruise to the Caribbean in 2022 when I caught COVID and we were stuck on board ship in a small, claustrophobic cabin for nearly 14 days with no fresh air and only each other’s company to pass the time – Clive had the opportunity to return home but insisted he wouldn’t leave without me – I repaid the favour by giving him COVID too!!!
Clive loved to tell jokes and wind people up, often tongue in cheek and often very close to the mark, and had a wonderfully dry sense of humour. But beneath the comic was an intrinsically honest man, a true gentleman who was deeply family orientated. He was generous to a fault, would go out of his way to help anyone he could and I loved him dearly.
He was my dopamine, always with a twinkle in his eye. We bounced off each other, my ying to his yang. He made me laugh so much, we were so happy together. Over recent years, as his health slowly deteriorated, he made me so proud with his tenacity to keep going, forever hopeful that he was going to get better, never complaining ….
Thank you for being you, Clive.
Thank you for enriching so many of our lives.
Thank you, and God bless you.
You will be so missed.
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