Robert McClemont (18 Apr 1944 - 1 Jun 2022)

Robert was born to Peter & Margaret McClemont on 18th April 1944 in Glasgow, a year before the end of the 2nd world war. It is likely his childhood would have been defined by the food shortages & rationing of the post war era. In 1949 Robert was joined by a baby brother Douglas & the family was complete.

Robert attended Thomson Street School and his brother followed on 5 years later. The singer Lulu was in Douglas’s class. At around 6 years old legend has it he tried to kiss her and promptly received rejection in the form of a slap.

Robert was a keen swimmer & swam for Western Scotland – a skill that would come in handy later in life.
Having left school in his mid-teens Robert completed an apprenticeship in plumbing but thereafter spent the rest of his career working as a prefabrication engineer at a variety of oil refineries around the world.
At the weekends the McClemont family would sail their cruiser on the beautiful Loch Lomond & it was there that Robert met his first wife Alice, with whom he would go on to have 2 daughters; Carol born in 1966 & Elaine just one year later in 1967 but sadly that marriage was not to last.

It was at a party in Dennistoun, Glasgow that Robert & Margaret met. Margaret remembers Robert’s good looks and love soon blossomed.

Work took Robert & Margaret from Grangemouth oil refinery the whole length of the UK to Esso at Fawley on the south coast & they moved to Ashurst on the outskirts of the New Forest in 1969. Never able to sit still, Robert qualified in scuba diving & took up water skiing. It was through the British sub aqua club that Robert & Margaret would meet their good friends Margaret & Richard.

After Fawley, the couple moved to Wales in the early 1970s - a time of social, economic & political unrest with big struggles between the Unions & the Government. But when the workers were on strike Robert, used his initiative & newfound skills to catch crayfish which he would sell to nearby hotels.

In August 1972 Robert & Margaret married in the registry office at Haverfordwest & took the opportunity to honeymoon back in Glasgow to party with their friends. and family.

Still young & adventurous, just one year later, Robert & Margaret moved to New Brunswick in Canada. This was a time of great excitement for Carol & Elaine who flew as ‘unaccompanied minors’ for holidays in Canada. (

You’ll remember, this was in the early 70s when air travel was relatively rare especially for children.)
Robert & Margaret returned to the UK for a while but then Portugal took their fancy and again Carol & Elaine remember with fondness, trips to Portugal as young children.

Not known for doing things by half, on their return to the UK, Robert & his family visited the Boat Show in Southampton & never having sailed before, Robert decided to purchase a 32 foot yacht which was satirically named ‘Scots Mist’’. Thankfully friend Derek was on hand to teach Robert how to skipper his own yacht!
Soon Robert got the bug & bought a racing boat that he named as PUGMAHONE and it was whilst racing that Robert & Margaret would meet lifelong friends Phil & Vicky & Robert gained the nickname ‘You old DAWG’ (spelt DAWG). Together they would race in the Solent, round the IOW, across the channel & down the coast as far as Cornwall.
It wasn’t only diving and sailing that kept Robert out of mischief – Robert was rarely without a dog which he would show, often winning trophies – his favourites, German Shepard dogs, Sheba & Solo. (Robert’s life is making me feel exhausted just talking about it. He certainly ‘kicked the ass out of life.)

Well, over the years, Robert & Margaret’s family would grow & grow, first with the birth of Tasha in 1990, then Christopher, Dan, Sammy & Michael. Robert adored his grandchildren & relished spending time with them. More recently Robert & Margaret became great grandparents to Isla, Oliver, Oscar and Summer.

Now as you all know, Robert was a bit of a prankster. His grandchildren remember with nostalgia, games grandad would play with a matchbox where they would have to contort themselves to pick it off the floor, often falling over in the process and always accompanied by laughter; lots of it.
Such games had started much earlier with Robert insisting that people try to leg wrestle Carol. I wonder if anyone here today ever beat her?
He would put his head round the corner of a room and grab it back with his other hand as if it was someone else.
You can imagine how much this amused his grandchildren.
Other daft pranks would be to say he had been bitten by a dog and as his grandchildren neared to take a look at the wound, he would start barking to make them jump. But by far the craziest joke was to pop a needle in the crook of his arm then close his arm up quickly (harmless)
Robert’s naughtiness was not confined to home. When at a restaurant Robert would get creative with napkins….well at this point I will hand over to Tasha & Dan to demonstrate.

But that is not where it ends. Margaret told me that one evening they went with Margaret & Richard to see a hypnotist Stage show at The Mayflower Theatre. It won’t surprise you that Robert volunteered to get on stage with others. At first the tricks were tame with Robert believing he was a musical conductor but then he was told he had lost his belly button. Imagine Margaret’s surprise later that evening whilst eating at an Indian restaurant, when Robert asked the waiter if he had seen his belly button – I am told this had Richard in fits of laughter.

Robert also played badminton for many, many years and I understand some of his friends from the Locksheath centre are with us today. Tasha will always be grateful to her granddad for inspiring her and getting her into badminton. You may know that she played for Hampshire County and was training with the England squad. Tasha can remember that when grandad would take her to badminton practice or collected her & Dan from school, he would tell them that he had put kangaroo petrol in his car & would bump the car down the road like a kangaroo. I am not sure the children fell for it, but it made the laugh none the less.

Over the years, Robert & Margaret would enjoy many more trips abroad, with Robert always finding a dive shop where possible from a trip to the Scilly Isles with Margaret & Richard to a holiday in Malta as well as holidays to the States & later to Disneyworld & skiing in Europe & cruising the Med. Robert even spent some time working in Saudi Arabia where he also got to dive.

Robert was certainly never backwards in coming forwards, in for a penny, in for a pound and this is the attitude with which he approached skiing – he was the ultimate adrenaline junky; teaching his children to be fearless. Carol can remember that on her first ever skiing trip her dad had her on a black run and skiing through a mogul field. She remembers being off piste staring down a narrow, steep gully claiming she couldn’t do it, with her dad coaxing her down – the first time she ever swore at him as she lost her skis and tumbled down the mountain on her butt.
Another time it was Robert who took a tumble but rather than getting up, he pretended to be sparked out. He was reached first by 2 strangers who tried to help and it was only when his family reached him that he jumped up. I am told the strangers weren’t too impressed!

When on holiday in Cuba, the young Dan learnt a trick from his grandad and Uncle Douglas. If they saw an attractive lady but didn’t want to make it too obvious they would say -em 2 o’clock (I’ll demo this). Tasha remembers Dan then eyeing up a pretty young woman, racing over to her saying – quarter past 12; quarter past 12. She didn’t have a clue what he was talking about.

ut all good things come to an end. The trick in life is to appreciate them whilst they last knowing that sadly, nothing good lasts forever. In 2019 Robert’s health started to deteriorate. It was thought he may have Parkinson’s disease but after a brain scan he was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia.

Robert had been in hospital and was due to be moved to a care home on the 1st June but that night, peacefully in his sleep, Robert took his final breath.