Readers may be interested to know a little more about a local character who lived in Chipperfield for many years and died recently. Geoffrey Whiter, recently of Nunfield, was born in Woolwich in 1922. As a younger man he was nice-looking, lively and good company. He served in the army during the second World War as a rifleman, but had to return from France due to shrapnel wounds. After the war he worked in the print trade as a guillotine operator, was a staunch union man and champion for the underdog – there wasn’t much he didn’t have an opinion about! He drove a series of three-wheelers, bikes and scooters on his motorbike licence. One day, extremely high winds blew him in his Reliant Robin into a ditch, so he had some heavy metal plates bolted to the floor to prevent this happening again.
He never married and, following his mother’s death in 1974, became increasingly reclusive, although he very much enjoyed the company of his Jack Russell terriers that he obtained from a rescue centre. Geoff was a private person and he led people to believe he had no family, but he had an older brother who died in 1994 and two nieces who he was always reminding that he was their only ‘blood’ uncle! He resisted any attempts by his family to visit him and, without a phone, preferred to keep in touch by letter and cards. These were eagerly anticipated by his nieces as they always contained an interesting story or newspaper cutting of local ‘happenings’!
Unfortunately his need for privacy resulted in a lonely death, having suffered a heart attack, but not being discovered for many weeks. We all choose the way we live, but this was a sad ending for a colourful character for whom his surviving family have a warm affection. Thanks go to the local constabulary and particularly PC Heley for his kindness, and to Reverend Stevens for his sympathetic understanding.
Gillian Davies (niece)