Donald Nicholson (Passed away 11 Aug 2024)

In loving memory of Arthur Nicholson who sadly passed away on 11th August 2024

Everyone who knew our lovely dad would have known what a wonderful, caring, funny and driven man he was. He knew what he wanted, and he would do his very best to make sure that he got it.

Dad came from very humble beginnings, he grew up as part of a large family being one of 10 siblings, at one point all 12 of the family living in a two-bedroom house, boys in one bedroom and girls in the other. We remember a story he used to tell us, which made us realise how challenging life must have been. The building was in a poor state of repair, during winter if the wind happened to blow from one particular direction during a snowstorm snow would blow under the roof tiles and settle on the boys bed. The end wall of the bedroom would have water running down the inside during periods of heavy rain. Another ever present annoyance was the rats that would noisily scuttle across the bedroom floor during the night, the boys had a remedy for this, one would man the light switch whilst the others all brandished a club each, they were hampered in their efforts by the poor condition of the wiring and a faulty light switch, each time the man on the switch flicked on the lights the bulb would flicker on then off, a short delay followed before finally the bulb lit up illuminating the room, unfortunately this delay often allowed the rat time to escape, dad did not quantify the boys success rate but assured me they got better at managing the dodgy light switch which increased their success rate significantly. 😊

Dad loved Northumberland, walking on the fells with his brothers and following the local hunt at every opportunity was one of his favourite pastimes. He was a determined man, wanting to do better himself in life and after starting at the local quarry, where many of his brothers and his father already worked, he took an apprenticeship, initially as a carpenter and then progressing to apprentice engineer at the quarry. His determination would soon lead him onto bigger challenges and better jobs and with the need to move to obtain a better job he would soon leave his beloved Haltwhistle.
But before that, he would be in hot pursuit of our lovely mum, Mavis. They met in Haltwhistle as young teenagers and became good friends and dancing partners however, he soon had to leave to undertake his National Service, much of his time being stationed in Egypt, a time he would talk of fondly.

Dad spent two years in National Service and during their time apart, Mavis had become engaged to someone else! But, this did not put dad off, on his return from Egypt, he met her in the high street in Haltwhistle, began to court her and had soon whisked her off her feet, they become ‘an item’, getting married soon after.
Once married, they rented rooms together in Haltwhistle and then bought their first house, for which they paid the extortionate sum of £400! In 1960 Andrew came along, with Joanne following in 1962. They lived a very happy life together with brothers and sister, nephews and nieces all living close by however, dad was ambitious and after completing his engineering apprenticeship and becoming experienced in his trade, he decided to leave Haltwhistle and take a job with good prospects in South Africa! Thankfully, both he and mum decided that it was not the place for them and returned to the UK soon after.

Dad quickly rose through the ranks and was a sought-after specialist within his field, being head hunted on several occasions. He was a hard worker and very driven, taking on many management roles and becoming a Technical Engineering Director before he retired at the sprightly young age of 57.
For their retirement mum and dad had fun and travel in mind 😊 and my goodness did they achieve that, travelling to Australia about 12 times to see his sister June and staying for weeks on end just enjoying life – perfect. He had also travelled extensively with work and really enjoyed experiencing new places.
Dad had a large group of friends and family and he and mum spent their time between Norfolk and Northumberland, socialising often (getting drunk often 😊) and just enjoying life – how wonderful, we are so very pleased they just took their life and made the very best of it.
Although Dad was part of a large family, he leaves now just two of his remaining siblings, his ‘baby’ brother Raymond, now living in Newcastle and his younger sister June, who lives in Australia.
Dad was much loved by his wife Mavis and their son Andrew, his wife Jackie, daughter Joanne and husband David and three wonderful grandchildren Daniel, Rhys and Matthew. He was blessed with 4 adorable great grandchildren Oscar, Darcey, Amber and Zeke and he loved and enjoyed their company so very much.
We were a close family, with mum and dad finally settling in the same village as Joanne and, as well as travelling they spent time caring for grandchildren and joining us all on special family holidays.

He was a loving and caring husband, dad, grandfather, always with a smile on his face, always laughing and usually cracking the most awful jokes 😊, constantly there to give us advice, guidance and support. We feel so privileged that we had him as our father and that we were able to care for him to the end.
We love you dad, your love, patience, understanding and humour will live inside us forever. The gifts you have given us are more precious than anything and every day without you will be hard. You will be forever in our hearts, God bless you dad and sleep soundly.