Daniel John Roch

Molleston

ON Saturday August 2, family and friends gathered at Molleston Chapel for the funeral of Dan Roch who was killed in a tragic quad race accident.

Dan was one of three children of Hugh and Annette Roch of Molleston, Narberth.

He was born and raised in Molleston, attending Templeton CP School and Ysgol Dyfryn Taf.

Dan started work at Unit Engineers in Pembroke Dock and continued his studies at Pembrokeshire College on a part-time basis. He then changed employer to Rhyals Engineering in Milford Haven where he continued his family tradition of engineering.

He was just in the process of becoming a qualified tradesman as a welder/plater and his employers stated that ‘he was one of the best apprentices they have ever had’.

A large congregation gathered at the Chapel and during the service, two songs recorded by his cousin Lucy Roch were played (wishing you were somehow here again and Danny Boy), followed by a moving eulogy read by Frances Roch (aunt). The funeral cortege was led back by a number of top quad riders to the family home where interment took place. A celebration of his short, but well packed -life, took place at the Snooty Fox, Martletwy.

Dan worked hard so he could enjoy the ‘big boys toys’, cars, boats, jet skis, motor bikes, kayaks and of course his passion for quad racing. He was an accomplished rider having won numerous championships including the OPRA British Championship aged 14 on a Yamaha Blaster. He moved into the adult quad racing scene and won the ‘B’ championship before moving into the ‘A league’ where he was reaching the front of that group too.

The bearers were Tom Roch, Gareth Morris, Dan Rudd, Mason Ledwood, Dan Jones and Sam Bevan.

The mourners were Hugh and Annette Roch (parents); Tom Roch and Catrin Jones, Charlotte Roch and Elliott Evans (brother, sister and partners); Kyra Pickerskill (girlfriend); Raymond and Sheila Page (grandparents); Frances Roch, Peter Gamble, Helen Page and Marcus Goodwin, plus numerous other relatives. Unable to attend were great grandmother Em Roblin and first cousin Lucy Roch.

There were family flowers only with donations c/o W and MJ Rossiter and Sons to the Wales Air Ambulance Service.

The funeral arrangements were carried out by W and M J Rossiter and Sons of Tenby.

 

Mrs B A Marsh

Kilgetty

MRS Beryl Anorah Marsh of Kingsmoor Close, Kilgetty passed away on August 9 at the age of 85.

Originally from Carew and Kilgetty she trained as a dressmaker, working in George Lord, T P Hughes and George Davies.

After joining Cresselly School as assistant cook she moved to St Florence and Sageston School as cook retiring at 65 years in 1993.

Her interests included sewing, knitting, cookery, flower arranging decoupage, whist, women’s institute, bingo at RAOB Club, Kilgetty, the local Golden Age, but mainly cricket and Carew Cricket Club, a lifelong supporter and fundraiser, becoming club president.

The family left to mourn and principal mourners are Desmond and Pauline (son and daughter-in-law); Marilyn and John (daughter and son-in-law); Doreen (sister); John (brother); Michael and Anita, Stephen and Kayleigh, Richard and Tracy, Andrew and Kerri, Stuart and Helen (grandchildren, wives and partners); James, Ryan, Daniel, Travis, Mollie, Dylan, Cheryl, Rachel, Lucy-Ann, Rhys, Wesley, Kyle, Shauna, Nina, Fayth and Wyatt (great grandchildren) and numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

The service was held at Parc Gwyn and was officiated by the Revd Lorette Hinson.

The bearers were Michael, Stephen and Richard John, Andrew, Stuart and Rhys Thomas.

Donations in lieu of flowers for Diabetes UK can be sent c/o Graham Thomas, 34 Charles Thomas Avenue, Pembroke Dock.

The funeral arrangements were carried out by E C Thomas and son, Llanteg.

 

Mrs E M James

Johnston

MRS Enid James passed away suddenly but peacefully with her devoted husband by her side.

Enid was born in the Vine, Johnston, which she would often look back in great fondess, with her sister Barbara, sister Eileen and brother Spencer.

She then met Ivor and they enjoyed 59 years of marriage.

Enid will be sadly and greatly missed by her devoted daughters Brigitte, Alison and Lisa; sister Barbara, close family friends Amanda, Malcolm, Matthew and Elin, Jane, Alvin and Charlie, David, Joanna and Len.

The principal mourners are Ivor James, Brigitte, Alison, Alan, Lisa and Paul, Simon, Emma, Gemma and Alfie, Apryl, Mary and Aynslie, Charlie and Nia, Joe and Alex, Daniel and Lewis, Georgia and Jack, plus nephews and nieces.

The service was officiated by Rev Victoria Jones at St Peters Church, where Enid had married Ivor all those years ago.

The bearers were Simon Phillips, Aynslie Mason, Charlie Griffiths, Daniel Phillips, Alfie Holmes and Alvin Biggs. The funeral arrangements were carried out by Roy Folland and son, of Haverfordwest.

 

Mrs I M Edwards

 

Llanycefn

IRIS Mary Edwards, beloved wife of John Edwards, died at her riverside home in Llanycefn, North Pembrokeshire on August 8. She was 80 but so very young at heart.

Iris was born on one side of lively Dew Street in Haverfordwest and grew up on the other. She was the youngest daughter of Fred and Rhoda Howells the popular butchers on the street.

The Howells family was an old and well known Haverfordwest institution. Iris’s grandfather, Alderman George Howells, was mayor when the office was vital in the running of the town.

Iris was the last Howells.

The dynasty ended with her death.

She went to Tasker’s School for Girls where she excelled at sport becoming a fine tennis player and a formidable hockey wing.

Her love of sport led her to Nonnington College, Kent where she graduated as a physical education teacher and got her first job in Llandeilo Grammar School, Carmarthen. Later she was appointed deputy head of the department in Farnborough School, Hampshire.

Her quality tennis quickly got her drafted into the team at the famous Royal Airforce Establishment.

A schooldays romance continued to blossom and in 1958 she was married to John Edwards whose career began on the West Wales Guardian in Haverfordwest and was then becoming notable in Fleet Street in its roaring heyday.

Still in her early twenties her life-style change was enormous. Now there were receptions at 10 Downing Street, first nights, cabarets, helicopters to The Derby, private boxes at Royal Ascot important introductions and she accompanied John on many exciting newspaper adventures.

Soon she was boarding a Pan American jet with him on his way to join the New York Bureau of the Daily Mirror at a time when it was the biggest selling newspaper in the world.

The Dew Street girl settled in New York without anxiety and set up a penthouse apartment in Manhattan within a few weeks which was almost in record time.

When the work wasn’t dangerous she often went with her husband on his American assignments. Even as a stranger in a glamorous city she found making friends easy. Just to get to know this new world even better she took a part time job on the linen counter of a huge Park Avenue department store and said it was wonderful fun.

The film star Yul Brynner lived briefly in the next apartment block. They met playing tennis and he taught her the ins and outs of buying inexpensive antiques.

There were few bad times.

The worst having to spend the whole of the terrifying Cuba Missile Crisis alone while around her New York waited to be vapourised.

John was covering the story in Key West, Florida.

Returning to the UK the couple went to live in Englefield Green, Surrey, right on the edge of Windsor Great Park. After walking her pet dogs almost daily through the park Iris was thrilled to return home occasionally and say she had exchanged ‘good mornings’ with The Queen who was riding by on one of her horses, a detective at her side.

John and Iris wanted a Pembrokeshire bolt hole so they bought and renovated a cottage next to the beach in Broad Haven and it became their Palace of Fun. The parties were legendary and may be written about if there is ever a history of the village.

She adored life there, the water skiing, fishing, swimming and all the other boating adventures She was a great party giver but was herself absolute teetotal.

Her car park parties for the England v Wales internationals at Twickenham became a hot ticket. Seeing the fun the provider of a rather dull affair at a nearby car walked over one day and asked her if she would organise his company’s next Twickenham entertainment.

She did.

Life was grand and to be lived all the way.

No one in the group of TV and newspaper people who went regularly to watch the London Welsh rugby matches objected to her being the only woman. They wanted her there.

Eventually John and Iris moved from an overcrowding Broad Haven and the rigours of newspapers to retirement in the peace of a wooded valley in North Pembrokeshire, where all there was for background noise was birdsong, the Eastern Cleddau gurgling around boulders or wind in the trees.

But Iris wasn’t one to fade away. She got heavily involved in church business in Llangollman and Llanglydwen.

Her interests didn’t stop at those small churches. She became a good bridge player on the competitive tables around Haverfordwest and the north county.

In the deep countryside her love of animals became more intense. No creature ever scratched her kitchen door and went away hungry.

Keeping fit was routine.

A scramble to the top of the Preselis was just an afternoon stroll. People trying to keep up thought they were climbing Everest.

When the evils of an unstoppable illness began to overwhelm her no one close to her heard her complain once.

She faced her troubles with great charm and grace. Her dignity shone through the confusion which started to take her over.

But maybe the proudest moment of her life occurred in this period when she was one of the first small group of women to be made a Freeman of Haverfordwest.

She died unexpectedly on a warm, quiet August evening, a wonderful, generous wife and a dear friend to all the people whose lives she had touched and left happier.

Iris’s funeral took place at St. Michael’s, Rudbaxton, Haverfordwest on August 18.

The service was officiated by Cannon Geoffrey Gwyther.

Husband John delivered a eulogy and Geoffrey Williams read a lesson. Her coffin was carried by the nephews who had always been close to her Hugh Whittow, Geoffrey Williams, Nigel Whittow and Alan Williams.

Cremation was at Parc Gwyn, where Hugh Whittow read a poem Iris had written for him and the mourners sang Somewhere Over The Rainbow. Funeral arrangements were by Roy Folland and son, Haverfordwest.