NEXT ISSUE SERVICE DEALER BUSINESS QUARTERLY Magazine Summer 2013 published July 2013
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TRADE SAYS FAREWELL TO PETER ROCHFORD Emotional send off for leading industry figure
More than 500 people - and the number could have been nearer 600 or 700 - packed The Church of St Luke and and St Teresa in Wincanton yesterday to say goodbye to Peter Rochford.
There was hardly a seat to be had in the church on a sweltering day an hour before the service was due to start at 3.00pm - thereafter they stood in the aisles, packed six deep at the back, crowded the choir stalls at the rear of the church and took any vantage point to be present at a Thanksgiving Service to celebrate the life of Peter Rochford.
Before his death, Peter had made it plain that he didn't want a traditional funeral, so a private cremation had taken place early in the week for family only. The guests at this Service had been urged to wear bright clothes (not a hardship on a day when the thermometer tipped over 30C) - and it was clear that this was an event that had been planned by Peter with his usual efficiency.
The Service was lead by the splendid Father Louis Beasley-Suffolk, who greeted guests in the porch, kept those sitting and standing entertained before the Service with a stream of aircraft-style announcements - and who charmingly mixed religion and humantity with asides such as 'Now we come to the God-slot in the proceedings".
The Service was uplifting and a tribute to someone who had really made a difference - both in the local community and in his business life.
There was laughter, tears and applause as we heard a message of support from John and Jenson Button, from the trustees of the Wincanton Sports Ground Trust, from Kim Macfie on behalf of the grasscare industry, from a close friend Peter Price, and lastly from Kerry and Mark Rochford who spoke movingly of their Dad.
Everywhere you looked there were familiar faces, dealers from far and wide, rivals in business such as Derek and Simon Belcher, Peter Chaloner and Jim McGlinchey and others such as Tony Whitburn and Keith Bromige of Tecnamotor and Ian Jerrard formerly of Hayter now running a business in Majorca who had flown across for the day.
Peter Price probably summed up the man himself in Peter's own favourite saying, "Good ol' boy, salt of the earth'.
