John “Jack” Forbes Sheppard was born on 28th October 1933 in Peckham, South East London to mother, Winifred and father, Stanley. He had two elder sisters, Jean and Marie.
At the outbreak of war in 1939, the whole family moved to Godstone in Surrey into a very large house – a former hotel. The house was leased for 10 years by the firm Stanley was employed by. The Corner House, as it was called, had 10 very large rooms upstairs and 8 rooms downstairs. It had an enormous garden surrounding the property with an orchard of apple, pear and plum trees. Naturally, as a young boy, Jack was in his element with trees to climb and plenty of hiding places for war games.
Even more exciting times came when the army authorities requisitioned the whole of the ground floor. Various regiments came to do their final training before heading for the coast to board ships awaiting to take them to fight for King and country overseas. Tanks and guns would rumble past the house on most days and Spitfires and Hurricanes from nearby Kenley and Biggin Hill aerodromes would be buzzing in the skies above.
Jack recalled he and Cousin Donald collected apples from the orchard and threw them to the American soldiers passing by in their tanks and trucks. The boys were showered with chocolates in return.
When the Blitz started in earnest, Jack could see the red glow in the skies over London from his bedroom window – the bombs falling just 20 miles away. He recalled the unique sound of the “Doodle Bugs” as they headed towards London – usually being pursued by RAF fighters desperate to shoot them down before they delivered their payload.
Jack began to collect the cap badges and buttons of all the different regiments that had spent time in the big house. One morning, keen to add to his growing collection, Jack asked one of the soldiers for a badge and or a button as a memento. “Look around … help yourself to whatever you want” Jack was delighted to hear and so he duly set to work with his trusty pair of scissors, removing buttons and badges from all the various tunics he could find. Sure enough, all Hell broke loose shortly after when the extent of Jack’s “handiwork” was discovered by one of the officers! Jack’s mum, his aunt and both sisters spent the next few hours repairing the damage.
His collection took pride of place in his lounge nearly eighty years later – Jack’s tribute to all those who took part in the war, and especially to those who did not return home to their loved ones. He also amassed a collection of 45 complete sets of 1930’s cigarette cards and numerous die cast model cars.
At the age of 11, Jack arrived at Caterham Valley Secondary School where he greatly enjoyed his days and excelled at mathematics. He also discovered that he had a talent for many different sports including gymnastics, athletics, cricket, football, tennis, table tennis, badminton, volleyball, baseball, billiards and snooker.
Jack played football and cricket for his school team and for Caterham and District Schools was 100 yard and 4×4 relay sprint champion for three consecutive years.
At the age of 13, Jack passed his exams for further education at Redhill Technical College. He joined the college football team and was soon picking up medals as league champions and cup winners.
At 14, Jack joined Godstone Cricket Club and was the only teenager in the team. In his first season he was top of the batting averages and was presented with a “Len Hutton” cricket bat by the club – a gift he treasured up until his death.
Jack was asked to rustle up some young footballers to enter a youth team in the Redhill and District Football League. Jack signed up colleagues from Caterham and Redhill and was selected as captain. In their first season they were runners up in both the league and the cup.
In one match everyone on Jack’s team was up for a corner in a rather muddy penalty box. As the ball came over, the opposition goalkeeper dashed out and attempted to punch the ball clear but instead collided with one of Jack’s teammates. Hearing “my eye, my eye …” Jack and his colleagues quickly started hunting in the mud for their mate Reg’s glass eye. The goalkeeper naturally had no idea at all that a member of the opposition had a glass eye and fainted, thinking he’d punched the player’s eye out!
At the age of 16 it was time to start work and Jack passed exams to join Westminster Bank at their head office in the City of London. His long commute from Godstone to work in the City was about to change; the 10-year lease on the big house had expired and the whole family returned to London to live in a Victorian house in Brockley, South East London, just an 8 minute train ride from London Bridge station.
In 1952, the next stage in Jack’s life began … two years compulsory national service in the Royal Air Force. After eight weeks of “square bashing” in Melksham, Jack was posted, first, to RAF 90 Group at Medmenham and then, in June 1953, to the RAF Signals Unit at the now world-famous Bletchley Park.
In March 1954, Jack was demobbed and he returned to Westminster Bank and, of course, to the sports club to continue playing football and cricket. By the 1957 season, Jack’s cricketing skills were firing on all cylinders with him scoring over 1000 runs and taking 60 wickets with his medium pace bowling.
One particular Saturday, Jack was at the Westminster Bank sports ground expecting to play cricket but a sudden cloud burst waterlogged the pitches and all games were abandoned. Jack was about to go home when a teammate, Bill, called over to him. He wanted to introduce Jack to a colleague from the Westminster Bank, Putney Branch who played hockey for the ladies’ team and had come along to watch Bill play cricket. She was very impressed to finally meet ‘the‘ Jack Sheppard, the fine cricketer she had heard everyone talking about at the bank.
Her name was Heather Burridge and Jack fell in love with her at first sight. She had the most beautiful face, a lovely smile and a delightful personality Jack recalled. They decided to go into the sports club to have afternoon tea. They then played some table tennis before heading off together towards the railway station. Jack saw her safely onto the train to Luton, where she lived, before going home to Brockley. Heather appeared to like Jack’s company and she joined him at most of his remaining cricket matches.
It proved more difficult to meet during the football and hockey season because the two were often played at different venues. They therefore arranged to meet after their matches at either Waterloo or London Bridge stations and would find a nearby corner house for a bite to eat.
Jack was astonished to discover that Heather was only 16 – she being such a confident person – and assumed that she was at least 20. He was pleased too that it didn’t seem to bother her that he was some 8 years older, at 24. Soon after, Jack was invited to meet Heather’s parents, her brother and her sister. The age gap between the two of them bothered Jack tremendously but, it seems, he was the only one – the Burridges thought nothing of it and made him feel very welcome.
After many subsequent visits to Heather’s parents’ house, Jack asked her Dad’s permission for them to get married. He said “yes” but he also wanted Heather to wait until she was 19 years of age. Jack was happy to wait.
They were engaged in 1959 and married on 15th October 1960 at St. Mary’s Parish Church, Luton. They honeymooned in the New Forest, at the Balmer Lawn Hotel, Brockenhurst.
They set up home buying a 1930’s semi-detached house in Staines, Middlesex. Jack recalled the house needed repainting from top to bottom and one day Heather offered to help him with the painting. After a few days, Jack finished sanding all the window frames and set about sanding some doors while Heather began to paint the window frames. She had seen Jack scraping the old paint back with a knife and a scraper so knew it would be fine if she “went over the edges a bit” and on to the glass. What she had forgotten was that the glass was patterned on one side and poor Jack spent days and days after removing the specks of paint embedded into the pattered glass. Heather always maintained afterwards that her actions were part of a master plan as she was never asked to help with the decorating ever again!
As Heather was only 19 when they married, they both agreed it would be nice to have a few years together on their own without the responsibility of having children. They did have “Nobby” though, a beautiful white cat who would often follow Heather to the local pub where she worked a few hours a week for some extra cash.
In 1963, Jack was approached by the captain of Hatch End Cricket Club asking if he would play as a guest player in a few Sunday games. Jack agreed as it did not stop his commitment to play for the bank on Saturdays. Jack played 5 matches on consecutive Sundays scoring 277 runs (55 not out, 58 not out, 44 bowled out, 61 not out and 59 not out). Being out only once gave him a rather nice batting average of 277. As such, the captain used to refer to Jack as his secret weapon.
In 1964, Heather left Westminster Bank and joined British European Airways (later to merge with British Overseas Airways Corporation to form British Airways). This move gave Heather and Jack the opportunity of foreign travel by way of Heather’s travel concessions. Later in the same year, after 13 years’ service, Jack decided to leave Westminster Bank – also for BEA.
In 1966, Jack and Heather moved to Frimley, Surrey, and their differing shift pattens often meant passing each other in opposite directions on the A30. Jack would see Heather’s Mini in the distance and pass his car “in a flash”, his presence seemly unnoticed by her.
In 1968, Jack applied to become an Aircraft Dispatcher for the Contract Handling Unit at BEA responsible for foreign airlines’ flights. It was one of the most sought-after jobs at Heathrow with it being such an interesting and enjoyable position. Jack was delighted to get the job and welcomed the promotion.
In the same year Heather left BEA as she was pregnant. In the July Clive was born and Rob followed not long after in March 1972.
Over the subsequent years the family enjoyed many holidays together around the British Isles; first camping under canvas, then caravanning and later boating on the river Thames in their 27-ft cabin cruiser, Grenadine. The boat had previously belonged to Heather’s parents during their time in Suffolk, but once they returned to South Devon Jack and Heather took it over and it was moored on the Thames at Shepperton. Many happy holidays and weekends were spent on the river with Rob soon becoming the master at guiding the boat safely through the locks.
Taking advantage of Jack’s flight concessions, the family also enjoyed trips further afield to Majorca, South Africa, the United States and Canada.
In 1990, following several years of back problems, Heather persuaded Jack to take an early retirement on medical grounds. Jack reluctantly agreed and left British Airways having completed 24 years’ service. Six years later Jack persuaded Heather to join him in retirement and she agreed.
In 2008, Heather arranged for them to have a 3-week holiday cruise to the Caribbean with Cunard on the Queen Victoria. They thoroughly enjoyed spending Christmas and New Year in Barbados and, even Jack had to admit, it was the holiday of a lifetime.
In October 2010, Heather and Jack celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The family treated them to several days at Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot. It was a delightful experience living the life of luxury. It was also a much-needed distraction from Heather’s illness.
Jack took the greatest care of Heather at home for more than 3 years before she was admitted to a hospice in Farnham. He continued to visit every day without exception until she died on 10th October 2013, just 5 days before their 53rd wedding anniversary.
Life was never easy for Jack without his beloved Heather by his side but, in time, he learned to cope and filled his days the best he could – often pottering around in the garden for hours on end.
Jack passed away after a fall at home on 19th April 2020 at the ripe old age of 86. He will be dearly missed by so many people – family, friends and neighbours alike. Clive and Rob consider themselves extremely fortunate to have been loved, encouraged, supported and nurtured by such an exceptional, kind-hearted Dad.
Rest in peace, dear Jack,
forever in our hearts.
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