William Sant (31 Dec 1934 - 15 Jan 2025)

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WilliamEssex Wildlife Trust

£380.00 + Gift Aid of £75.00
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Location
Southend Crematorium South Chapel Sutton Road Southend on Sea SS2 5PX
Date
14th Feb 2025
Time
3.30pm
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William Palmer Sant (Bill) was born in Moulton, Cheshire in 1934 to Harry and Ethel, and they moved to Winsford when Bill was two years old. He was the youngest of four children. He had an older brother, Wilmot, and two doting sisters, Joyce and Enid, and was affectionately known as “Our Billy”.

He had little interest in school and spent more time entertaining his friends with made up stories. He left school aged 13 to work on a farm, but then began his ‘real’ education, as an avid reader of Just William books and, later, many of the classics.

He joined the Post Office as a telegram boy, aged 15, and graduated to postman at Middlewich Post Office, cycling around 40 miles every day. It was here, aged 20, that he met his future wife. Bill fell for Kath and never looked back. He worked hard to better himself, taking courses, reading educational books and learning new skills. He was promoted to the Post Office counter in Winsford.

In 1959 he and Kath married. In 1960 Bill transferred to the Civil Service and they moved to London for Bill to work as a Customs Officer at Heathrow Airport. It was rare for anyone to leave Winsford at the time and it made the headlines in the local paper!

He took an opportunity to transfer to Chester in the local Customs office and it was in Chester that Bill and Kath’s first two children, Carol and Roger, were born.

In his quest for knowledge, Bill started to read about these new things called computers. He heard that the Civil Service was opening offices in Southend-on-Sea using computers to process Customs and VAT records (back then computers filled large rooms). He took and passed an aptitude test for programming and in 1965 they moved to Southend where Bill became one of the first ever professional computer programmers. It was in Southend that their youngest child, Nick, was born, in the house where they have remained ever since.

Bill excelled at computer programming and gained successive promotions over the years. He remained a Civil Servant in Southend until his retirement in 1992. He was offered an MBE for his services but declined on grounds of principle.

Bill had many interests and hobbies, but his main passion was golf. He played from an early age and became accomplished and very competitive! He won many trophies, but the two he was most proud of were the Basildon & Southend District Golf League individual competition winner (1973) and the Customs & Excise Golf Society Southend Trophy, which he won five times between 1973 and 1990. He continued to play social golf well into his eighties but never lost his competitive edge.

He had a love of classic cars and his pride and joy was a 1958 Austin Westminster, which he maintained, fixed, dismantled and reassembled, and kept going way longer than it should have.

Bill and Kath always enjoyed dancing, from rock-and-roll in their younger years to ballroom dancing in later years, having fun at local tea dances. In retirement, Bill and Kath took up bowls and spent many happy hours at the club (and of course Bill collected several trophies).

Bill became a self-taught expert in foraging wild mushrooms and picked thousands for consumption (mostly without ill-effect!). He was passionate about gardening, wildlife and the natural world. He loved his vegetable patch and enjoyed eating the fruits of his labour. In later life, he had a daily schedule for feeding the birds and animals in the garden. If Bill was running late, the fox and cub would be waiting for him!

Bill was a devoted husband, father and grandfather, and was very proud of the strong and close family he created and nurtured with Kath. He loved spending time with his children when they were growing up and opened his house to their friends. He was delighted to have four grandchildren – Lauren, Abbey, Adam and Hannah – and enjoyed creating imaginative ways to keep them entertained.

We are very grateful that we had the privilege of sharing his long and happy life. He will be forever missed.

I am attending: The Funeral Neither
Win Aldred donated £50 in memory of William

Love Win and Anne

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Prittlewell Bowls Club Prittlewell Bowls Club donated £50 in memory of William

A true gentleman and loyal member of our club. Our thoughts are with Kath and the family at this sad time.

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Gordon Browne donated £50 in memory of William
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Sally and Gerry Holdstock donated £30 in memory of William
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Gerry and Sally Holdstock wrote

Bill has been our long-standing friend for over 43 years. We were members of his daughter Carol’s group of friends calling ourselves “The Wallys” and throughout our youth Bill would welcome us warmly in to his home and good heartedly offer his and Kath’s hospitality as we crowded in his lounge to sit by his roaring fire, laughing about our latest exploits! He was truly a wonderful gentleman. RIP Bill xx

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Sue Gale donated £30 in memory of William
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Fran Bramble wrote

Bill was the best boss I ever had and later a very good friend. RIP

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John Bramble donated in memory of William

A true gentleman and a good friend

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John Bramble wrote

I feel immensely privileged to have been a good friend of Bill for over 30 years. We first met in September 1990 on my appointment to jointly manage a branch of approaching 200 people in HMC&E's Tariff and Statistical Office in Southend. Bill was the other half of the management partnership for such a large branch to function efficiently it was imperative for the managers to get on. And we did from day one. Our working relationship soon developed into a firm and lasting friendship, perhaps helped by a day of heavy snow when we sent the staff home early and manned the phones fortified with a little liquid refreshment! Our friendship soon extended to our wives and, in retirement, we enjoyed umpteen convivial visits to each others houses until Covid sadly intervened. Bill had so many qualities
- he was honest, open, and unafraid to speak out if he had a point he thought worth making even if, on occasion, it might not have been what the powers to be wanted to hear. On top of that he had a warm heart and a great sense of humour. We shared a lot of laughs and not a little liquid refreshment. RIP Bill - a great family man and a true gentleman.

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Peter Parkinson wrote

Lovely obituary

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Peter Parkinson donated £30 in memory of William
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Kevin and Sue Salmons is attending the funeral
Kevin and Sue Salmons donated £20 in memory of William

Neighbours for over 40 years. Couldn't ask for better.

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Michael Parry wrote

To have risen from telegram boy to high positions in the civil service spoke a lot about uncle Bill's determination and ability.His mum(my) gran was always proud of him.

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Chris Wood donated £50 in memory of William

A lovely tribute. Bill did so many interesting things, many of which I didn’t know about, but it was undeniably true that he “opened his house to their friends”.

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Lauren Sant donated £20 in memory of William

Having you as a Grandpa was so much fun! I feel so lucky and my heart feels so full, I love and miss you🤍 And what a great charity! Grandpa’s love of animals is one of the things I remember most about him xx

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Janice Hollister lit a candle