Mrs D E Pocock

Pennar

MRS Diane Elizabeth Pocock of Oak Road, Pennar passed away on September 16 at her home. She was 79.

Originally from Pennar and after leaving school Diane started employment at Woolworths, then onto work at David Steel Factory. After getting married, Diane travelled to Germany, Singapore and Malaysia with Danny, whom she met whilst he was stationed in Pembroke Dock.

Her main interests were reading, watching TV especially the tennis, skiing and darts.

She was predeceased by her husband Danny Pocock in 1988.

The family left to mourn are Alison and Stuart, Andrea and Gordon (daughters and son-in-laws); Jamie and Sophie, Mathew and Louise, Daniel and Sophie (grandsons and wives); Courtney, Lilly, Oliver, Rose-May, Seren and Olivia (great grandchildren); George Pocock (brother-in-law); nephews and nieces; Elaine and Billy Edwards (cousin).

The service was held at Parc Gwyn, on Friday September 28. It was officiated Rev Elizabeth Squires and the bearers were Jamie, Mathew and Daniel Heeps, Mark Edwards, Peter Jennings and Alan Mathias.

Donations for Macmillan Cancer Support are c/o E C Thomas and Son, Funeral Directors, Zoar Chapel Funeral Home, Llanteg, who also carried out the funeral arrangements.

Dr W T George

MB. BS. MRCS. LRCP. D.Obst RCOG. AFOM. Cert GAM.

Milford Haven

Born September 18 1940. Died April 12018 aged 77.

DR William (Bill) Thomas George’s funeral took place at Ties Cross Tabernacle on April 14 and was officiated by Margaret Price – former colleague of Dr George’s from Barlow House surgery, Hamilton Terrace, Milford Haven.

Both the chapel and adjoining school rooms were occupied to capacity by family and friends, former colleagues and patients paying their respects. Brothers Michael and Richard George and Julian and Dominic Mitchell accompanied the coffin. The Griffon Choir sang God Shall Wipe Away All Tears by Carl Jenkins with readings delivered by Dr George’s brother Mr David George (OBE) and eldest son Mr Michael George. The eulogy was given by Mr Richard George and Mr Julian Mitchell. An interment followed at Tiers Cross cemetery. Generous donations in lieu of flowers were kindly offered in support of the Tabernacle.

Born in Hill Street, Haverfordwest, Dr George was schooled locally in Haverfordwest before attending Mill Hill boarding school in North West London. Securing a place at St Bartholomew’s (Barts) Hospital he pursued what was to become a lifelong interest in science and in 1964, as his father (Dr William Frederick Thomas George of Glenover, Haverfordwest) before him, qualified as a doctor, aged 23.

Specialising first in Neurosurgery and then Obstetrics, he was one of very few doctors to pursue qualification as both a surgeon and physician - normally two quite separate career paths due to the necessary years of study and practical experience necessary for qualification. This endeavour required a unique dedication to his profession that was to characterise much of his working life from that point forward.

Dr George took medical house officer and registrar positions at St Bartholomew’s hospital in London, the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading and the Norfolk and Norwich hospital, Norwich before marrying in 1965 and starting a family. Returning to Pembrokeshire in 1966, he became a partner in the three man general practice at Hamilton Terrace Surgery (later becoming Barlow House Medical Centre when he became senior partner). Initially, home in Milford Haven was a flat in Howarth Close but with a growing family he moved to The Rath where he was to live for the remainder of his life.

Local industry provided the practice with new opportunities and Dr George qualified as an approved medical examiner for the Health and Safety Executive, obtained his certificate in General Aviation Medicine at RAF Farnborough and trained with the Royal Navy in underwater medicine. With these additional qualifications he secured an number of contracts on behalf of the practice with shipping and oil companies, Consolidated Beryllium and ITT, providing occupational health services both on-shore, and offshore in the Celtic sea.

As well as his commitments to his local patients, Dr George was on-call to fly out to the Celtic Sea exploration rigs, assist seaman working on the oil tankers or care for staff at the refineries. With his growing experience and reputation he was instrumental in working with the senior managers to improve the Health and Safety and sick-pay allowances for process workers across the county and beyond. One of his more controversial approaches was to dismiss ‘light duties’, a practice which he viewed as risking the lives of not just individual process workers but also those with whom they worked. He quietly took great pride in the zero rate of serious injury/deaths during Catalytic Cracker construction at the then Amoco refinery at Waterston when the industry statistics had, somewhat grimly, suggested at least five.

He loved Pembrokeshire and its people, often reflecting on how privileged he was to live here. He also believed deeply in the public service ethos of the National Health Service, successfully campaigning alongside many others for the building of Withybush Hospital as well as the expansion of healthcare facilities in the county. Within the last few years Dr George was to be seen with many other protesting outside the Welsh Assembly Government at the plans to reduce Withybush’s services. Even into retirement he remained a persuasive advocate of clinical policy being decided by clinicians rather than administrators.

; this on the basis that they would do so in the best interests of patients unfettered by political influence.

Concerned that amateur scuba divers were being placed at risk following the closure of local recompression chamber facilities, he took the unprecedented step of commissioning his own in the garage of the old family home at Glenover. Having obtained the relevant safety certificates, it was instrumental in saving the lives of several divers with decompression sickness, victims of carbon monoxide poisoning and serving as a training facility for those interested in hyperbaric medicine.

Those who worked with Dr George recognised that he found medicine both rewarding and equally, demanding. The science of medicine fascinated him and he recognised that looking after people was not just about treatment but support, guidance and reassurance – skills borne of experience rather than taught. He also placed great value on thorough clinical examination and symptom observation - a skill he felt was in decline in preference of time consuming and expensive laboratory and diagnostic testing. To this end, he hosted medical students from many of the UK teaching hospitals (and the USA) to pass on the techniques he had honed through his own experience. Whilst privately quite a shy man, he was adept in leadership, outwardly showing confidence and purpose whilst his quietly considered, empathetic and pragmatic approach was appreciated by many of his patients.

Education and science was also a passion and promoted his interest in science, explaining the principles of astrodynamics, particle physics and cosmology to anyone prepared to listen. Aside of his professional life he enjoyed his membership of Round Table, 41 club, Rotary and in retirement, the Griffon Choir. Having seen at first hand the devastating effects of Polio in the 50s and 60’s he devoted considerable efforts to promoting support for “Polio Now”, an international effort to eradicate Polio globally.

Regarding his own mortality he maintained light-hearted attitude, seeing death as an inescapable and entirely natural conclusion to life. Philosophically he said “It’ll either be a great adventure or a return to nothingness. Either way, there’s nothing to fear”.

An obituary offers only a short opportunity to pay tribute to a rich life. Doctor, father, partner, carer, confidante, advisor, friend. For the people of Pembrokeshire, Dr George looked after those who flew amongst the clouds, dived the dark waters and all of the rest of us in between.

Dr George leaves partner Rosey and her sons, Julian and Dominic, children Michael, Richard and Caroline and grandchildren Edward, India, Grace, William, Sofia, David, Amelia, Dylan and Aidan.

Mrs J Lawrence

Pembroke

February 25 1940 – October 21 2018

JOSIE was born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire where her family settled after leaving the South Wales valleys in the 1930’s in search of work in the furniture industry.

The only daughter of Nora and Fredrick Robinson, her father was killed in the Second World War.

Aunties and uncles formed an extended family and together with her mum helped to ensure Josie had a loving and supportive upbringing. She met her husband Pete at a youth club dance and they were married in 1959 when Josie was nineteen and Pete twenty years old.

After a short career in nursing and with a young family, they moved to Pembroke in 1973 after visiting friends who lived locally. Over forty five years their family grew from the three boys Clive, Mark and Barry to include wives, seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren of whom Josie was incredibly proud.

Indeed, family was the centre of Josie’s life and she was never happier than when the house was filled with children. In the early years it was friends of the boys and her welcoming nature meant that St Davids Road was often filled with energy and laughter. Grandchildren and great grandchildren would be regular visitors to see “Gu” to share stories, seek her wise counsel and plunder her garden and greenhouse.

Josie amassed a wide group of friends, especially through her interest in flower arranging from which she took a great deal of pleasure, winning many prizes at shows and competitions in Pembrokeshire and beyond.

Together with Pete she would also come to share a longstanding passion for dogs and they spent many happy times competing with them at obedience and breed competitions across the UK.

Josie had a real love of life and would recall happy stories of family, travel, flowers and dogs. In her retirement she and Pete travelled widely including visits to New Zealand. It was on one of these trips that she fulfilled an ambition to visit Graceland the home of her musical hero Elvis. But she was happiest at home in her beloved Pembrokeshire.

The hundreds of people who attended her funeral and the number of cards and messages received by the family were testament to the high regard and respect in which Josie was held.

Josie was laid to rest at St Mary’s Church at Nash, a place which held happy memories of coffee and cake and flower festivals.

Mr T S Khan

Haverfordwest

Mr Tariq Khan, 60, passed away peacefully in the early hours of Saturday October 13 after a six-year battle with prostate cancer.

Tariq, originally from Pakistan, moved to Haverfordwest with his wife, Adila, and eldest daughter, Hiba, in 1991. He worked at Withybush hospital as an Orthopaedic Surgeon for 26 years, proudly serving the community throughout. It is a testament to his work ethic and commitment to his patients that he continued to operate throughout his fight with cancer, right up to July 2018.

Tariq's passion for surgery and patient care was passed on to Hiba, and he was proud to see her follow in his footsteps to become a surgeon in London.

Tariq had many talents outside of his work, including running and painting. He was an excellent runner and completed several marathons including the London Marathon twice.

This fitness bug was passed on to both Hiba and Sahar, with Sahar completing two Ironman Wales races in 2017 and 2018. Both plan to continue to run marathons in his memory.

He was also a terrific artist with a particular talent for watercolour painting. Many of his works of art were shared with family and close friends as gifts.

Perhaps Tariq's greatest skill however was in the kitchen, where he delighted in treating friends and family to his many culinary creations. He took great pleasure in bringing people together and serving them traditional curries, as well as his renowned chocolate éclairs. Tariq was the life and soul of parties and went out of his way to make everyone smile.

Tariq will be deeply missed by his adoring daughters Hiba and Sahar and wife Adila, as well as all of his friends, colleagues and patients.

A small family funeral was held on October 15. A memorial service will be held at Wolfscastle Country Hotel on Thursday October 25 at 7pm for friends of Tariq who wish to pay their respects.

Donations for Prostate Cancer UK will be taken at the memorial service.

Mr L T Harper

Templeton

MR LUKE Thomas Harper of Larkspur Close, Templeton passed away on July 1. He was 22.

As a native of Templeton, Luke was interested in music, particularly rap. Luke was very caring for young and old people alike, he also enjoyed cooking.

The family left to mourn are Nicola (mum); Andrew (step-dad); Jason (dad); Fiona and Trevor (grandparents); Betty and David (grandparents); aunties Joanne, Paula, Ceri, Michelle, Sophie, Tania, Stefan and their families.

The funeral service was held at Parc Gwyn Crematorium, and it was officiated by Rev Huw George. The bearers were Jason, Vincent, Ben, Alex, Trevor and Reecy.

Donations to MIND c/o E.C. Thomas & Son, Funeral Directors, Zoar Chapel Funeral Home, Llanteg, Narberth, who also carried out the funeral arrangements.