Remembering John Palmer
So sorry to hear of John's death and that I missed his last convening of the Discussion Group when I was away. His wry humor and "oh I give up!" in the face of occasional outbursts of anarchy managed to keep some sense of order in Ruth's and Freda's sitting rooms on our monthly Thursday afternoons. We will miss him.
Juliet Taylor
My first memory of John was in the 1990’s when he was Lovedean’s Parish Councillor. Walking the dogs on Catherington Down I discovered bushes with destructive webs of moths and contacted John who came and looked at them with me and knew who to contact, despite saying he knew nothing about moths or bushes! As his wife Brenda was involved with W.I. as I was, we became friendly and later when I became Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Merchistoun, John was a font of information on that committee. One memory is of a Summer Fete at which he was the master of ceremonies and I was asked to give out all the prizes to the lucky winners, John resplendent in his White Panama Hat and jesting remarks on the microphone. When Jean Reynolds and I wanted to start Horndean U3A John was one of the first to say he would run a group, and this became his Discussion Group which so many of us over the years enjoyed as a place where we could let off steam and our arguments and comments would offend no one. I am not a political person, but John’s persuasive manner even had me counting numbers in elections on behalf of his chosen Party. A great loss to all who knew him and the Horndean he loved, represented and supported in various roles for so many years.
Marion Wade.