A much loved dad and Granddad Terry Taylor, the best dressed man in South Woodford, died from a sudden heart attack on 7th June 2012 aged 80. He was cremated and his ashes were yesterday placed next to his mother’s and sister’s in the Memorial Gardens at the City of London cemetery. On 22nd June we had a tremendous send off for Dad at St Mary’s and it was wonderful to see so many of his friends. We will all miss him because he was so loving, warm and amusing. Terry came to London from quiet rural Cambridgeshire and he never really wanted to go back. He made constant use of the tube to get to the bright lights and best shops. In the 60s Candace and I were quite at home in Carnaby Street, getting kitted out in Take 6 or Lord John where Dad was a regular customer. Dad would buy two singles a week from Fred’s record shop and although opera was his last love his first was the Four Tops, Marvin Gaye and Chairmen of the Board. He would play them in the attic and give us dancing lessons so we could imagine we were at the latest rave up. Derby Road was actually THE centre of swinging London. I remember the muffled beat from the dansette pumping out the Motown hits. Mini skirts, floral shirts, winkle pickers and hipsters; party sevens and sticky carpets and lots of laughter from Dad. A magical time and long lasting friendships. A real feeling of community. In 1975, thanks to the rich source of material that was Dad, I won a school literary competition. I wrote about him, his passion for the past, collecting antiques and his eccentric ways. I wrote of wheeling finials and cast iron urns from demolition sites in my pram and getting dragged around antique shops on summer holidays. Dad didn’t drive so my Grandpa’s car was often heavily laden with objects and roof rack weighed down with heavy sideboards or corner cupboards! And of the disasters we caused as children like sending a sledge down the stairs to
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