Reporter Chrissy Symmons meets Philip Stanford, whose late father looked after Priorslee church yard for around 10 years, despite being a pensioner.
Eighty two year old Sid Stanford was a well-known character around Priorslee churchyard, pruning and clearing, cutting hedges and grass.
He would get up early in the morning to tend to the area every day before he died on September 16 2009, of thrombosis.
But his memory lives on.
Philip Stanford, Sid’s son, said: “My father and I had the contract for 14 years cutting the grass and the very high conifer hedges. Due to my full-time job, my dad did the job single handed for the last 10 years.
“Not only did he cut the grass and conifer hedges but he also cleared the whole churchyard, including all of the very old graves hidden for many years by large areas of tall nettles and weeds.”
Sid took great pride in the church grounds and would start work daily at 6.45am working until 3.30pm.
“If there was a funeral or wedding, or if it was a particularly hot day, he would arrive even earlier to beat the heat,” said Philip.
“He also tended lots of the graves for relatives who were unable to attend them regularly.
“My dad and his little yellow Suzuki van were a very familiar sight at the church.
“He always said he made many friends and it kept him sane and fit. He worked most days, five days a week, for ten years.”
Sid was born in Noose Lane in Willenhall and lived in a converted railway carriage.
His dad had bought a small piece of land with a pond surrounded by banks and he filled the pond to build a bungalow there.
Sid and his dad would walk around three miles to collect the sand, cement and bricks on a hand cart.
Sid’s mother was a musician who could play the mandolin, guitar, violin and piano.
She played mandolin in a band called The Sid Bailey Band, along with Sid’s dad playing the piano and his uncle Sid Bailey on violin and four other people.
The band would regularly play Darlaston Town hall.
But when Sid was five years old, his mother died and so he went to live with several aunts and uncles, spending only weekends with his dad.
Wife
When Sid turned 14, he began work in Darlaston as an apprentice toolmaker.
Here he met his future wife, Phylis York, who had also lost her mother when she was a child.
In 1945 Sid was called up and joined the Royal Engineers as a motorcycle dispatch rider and was posted overseas.
He travelled by train to Glaz in Austria, on the Chech border, and had to guard Russian POWs in a prison camp.
During this, time Sid volunteered for Bomb Disposal getting an extra one shilling a week in pay.
Sid and Phylis married on November 19, 1949, and in 1968 he moved to Ketley, Telford, to start his own business.
It was called Quality Welding Equipment Repair Services and operated in one of the old Lilleshall Company’s buildings at Priorslee. The business saw him selling, repairing installing welding equipment until he retired in 1992.
In April this year, Sid was diagnosed with bladder cancer and had to give up his job.
Philip said: “He underwent successful surgery at The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
“He was well back on the road to recovery but sadly passed away suddenly in September 2009 of thrombosis.
“The very good state of St Peter’s Church grounds is down to the hard work of my late father Sid Stanford.”
The vicar of St Peter’s Church , the Rev Peter Lawley, said: “He certainly did care for the church yard and he worked very hard. He kept it tidy.”
The church yard is now maintained by community service volunteers.y