Bob James

[wattie]

I am sad to report the death of Bob James of Evesham , Bob was the driving force behind Ashdown camp and hosted Wartime in the vale . I have no details of funeral arrangements at this time

 

John Watt

[David B.]

I am sad to report the death of Bob James of Evesham , Bob was the driving force behind Ashdown camp and hosted Wartime in the vale . I have no details of funeral arrangements at this time

 

John Watt

 

John,

Thanks for this very sad notification. Please post any news you get.

 

Just like you and many others I have many good memories of Bob going back getting on for forty years. I was sad I couldn't get to see him at the last Stoneleigh where I gather he had taken a turn for the worse. The last time I saw him was perhaps late last year when he seemed in quite good form,still buying spares for another project and odds and sods for the camp,he often called in for tea on his way home.

 

Bob had a great sense of humour and was always ready to have a chat and a grumble and to swap opinions on everything and everyone. The sad loss of Shirley hit him hard but he did seem to be getting on better and still threw himself into the next vehicle and the next Nissen Hut and its contents even after the onset of his illness.

 

As I said,many good laughs,the shared struggles of running a small business and the passion for vehicles all endeared him to me.

 

I shall always remember him on the Normandy trips,whether carting the Stuart about,the DUKW at sea at Arromanches,recovering the 969 Wrecker from a Dutch yard and driving it back through the night,the "beach" at Stoneleigh,all with the trademark fag in the corner of his mouth.

 

My best shared experience with Bob was a film job four or five years ago,the BBC Land Girls series.

 

I took the Ambulance and Bob his OY. Normally I would bow to Bob's experience on vehicle and mechanical matters but I thought I knew better when it came to negotiating film hire rates and extras/drivers payments and so I made the deal for both of us.

It was the earliest start and latest finish,all inflicted on us by the supposedly cash strapped BBC but the twist in the tail was that instead of lounging around all day in our RAF uniforms Bob and I were cast as stretcher bearers in a scene following an air raid involving casualty evacuation.

Our height discrepancy of about a foot was the first handicap for the endless take after take but our fifteen stone weight passenger made things worse.

The action called for our casualty to be picked up off the floor,carried through an awkward passage, across the floor of the ward and held in mid air while he transferred from stretcher to bed. In other words very hard work indeed.

 

Our man was a genuine single amputee supplied by a specialist agency and I am sitting here now with a tearful smile on my face remembering Bob and I going round looking liking a pantomime horse trying to find a double amputee who might just be a bit lighter.

 

Bob,I shall miss you loads !

 

David Belcher.

Edited February 26, 2016 by David B.

[wattie]

Bobs Funeral will take place on March 16th at 1200

 

St Peter, Bengeworth Church : Port Street, Evesham, Worcestershire, WR11 3NB

 

Afterwards at Bengeworth Club, 18 Coronation St, Evesham. WR11 3DA.

 

Dress olive drab or bright shirts.