William "Bill" Edward Hughes (30 May 1946 - 12 Aug 2019)

STILL MISS YOU EVERY DAY, SINCE YOU LEFT XXX

4 years have gone past and I still miss you every day xxx

STILL MISS YOU SO VERY MUCH. WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER XXX

Hey Will. A year ago since you left us. Miss you. XXX

In memory of a lovely man who will always be fondly remembered by us.

In memory of a lovely and kind man who is so fondly remembered by both of us.
Rest in Peace Bill.

In memory of a lovely and kind man, it was a privilege to have known him, rest in peace Bill.

Still miss you so much. Will love you forever

In memory of Bill, a warm and generous man, whom we remember very fondly. Linda & Mike Humphreys (Thursday badminton.)

In memory of a good friend, a golf partner and a valued member of our wine group. You will be greatly missed by both of us.

With our condolences

Thank you for all the great memories that our families share. So sad but wonderful to have enjoyed so many good times with you.

A great work colleague who I am glad I knew.

Thank you for donations given yesterday in Bill's memory/
£300.00 was collected in cash, plus over £100.00 in cheques and coins . Your support and love was very appreciated by myself and my family

Our dad, (or as most of you knew him as ‘Bill’ ) was born William Edward Hughes to Vera & Edward on May 30th 1946 in Hainault where he lived with his sister Doreen, and his younger brother George.

Dad attended Fairlop secondary boys school where he did very well.
 
After leaving school, he joined Unilever in 1962 in their accounts department. On the 19th December 1966, a 17 year old Margaret walked in to his office and the rest is history.
After 3 years of dating, they married in 1970 and moved to Bearstead in Kent where they met new neighbours Bob and Corina who became their lifelong ‘card-playing’ friends and travel companions for many years. Together, the four of them played hundreds of their ‘ready, steady, go’ card games over the years and I’m delighted to say that Dad won their final card game played very recently - nice one Dad!

In 1973, Dad finished his accounts exams and qualified as a certified accountant. This had been no easy feat due to baby daughter number 1 (me!) arriving just as he was taking his final exams.
 
I was born in June 1973 and daughter number 2, Nicola was born in 1976.
Family complete, we then moved to Hockley in 1978 and having found wonderful neighbours and friends, mum and dad never left Hampstead Gardens.
 
Dad moved job to Fleetway Printers and then got a job at Vencel Resil where he became company accountant and then company secretary. 
 
During his time in Hockley, Dad enjoyed a very successful time playing badminton, golf and squash, making many friends along the way.
 
He became a founder member of Rotary of Rayleigh Mill and has enjoyed a fulfilling time working for the club, including the concerts in Priory Park and becoming President.

In later years, Mum & Dad, (Bill and Margaret) became members of the Hockley U3A and joined various groups, including golf, photography and of course, wine-
tasting groups!

In 2002, dad became grandad to his first grandson Jack and soon Sam followed in 2005.

Dad joined S S Peter and Paul and was due to be confirmed on 15th November 2011 but his 3rd grandson, Adam, was born that evening and Dad was finally confirmed at a later date.
 
After a wonderful holiday in Cuba in 2018, Dad came home to the news that he had bladder cancer.  After a monumental battle he finally succumbed on 12th August this year.   He will be truly truly missed.

Our dad was a magnificent man, a loving and loyal husband, a devoted father & grandfather and a true friend to many.

His kindness and generosity will be remembered by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.

Dad was always telling Nicola and I how very proud he was of us, despite us probably causing all his grey hair along the years!
He was also immensely proud of his 3 wonderful grandsons, Jack, Sam and Adam and grateful to be able to share his passion for his other great love- football, more specifically, West Ham. As the boys grew older, dad would share stories about West Ham and he showed great interest and enthusiasm in the boys' own journeys with football, always on the sidelines, whatever the weather to support them and enjoying discussions about each match, going into fine details of the game.

Jack would call dad after every match to discuss the result; the phone call usually taking a lot longer after West Ham lost (which was most weeks!!) due to jack ranting - I don’t think dad usually got a word in edgeways! This is something I know Jack will miss but I expect he will still call mum to continue the tradition so you’d better brush up on your football knowledge mum!!

The arrival of dad’s third grandson, Adam, born nearly 8 years ago, was to be the start of another name. Not just grandad but Bumpy.

We probably never told dad enough just how very proud we were of him. He was our rock, our sounding board for the voice of reason, not to mention our painter, decorator & gardener - you name it, he did it for his girls.
He gave us so many wonderful childhood memories including fantastic family holidays; from caravaning in France to the numerous holidays with The Scott’s to Ibiza, Kos, Rhodes, Tenerife & America to name but a few.
There are just too many memories to mention but on reflection, the holiday memory which stands out for me was when we were driving to Las Vegas in 1989 ???? through the very long and hot Nevada desert...signs everywhere warning drivers that there were no ‘gas stations’ for a considerable distance. The tension in the car mounted as the petrol gauge soon pointed to empty and we literally ran out of fuel in the middle of the desert!! After a few choice words exchanged between mum and dad and Nicola & I keeping quiet in the back busy writing about this faux pas in my diary, a passing vehicle fortunately stopped and I remember poor dad having to syphon petrol out using some rubber tubing.

We were extremely fortunate to have all visited Florida together just 2 years ago which would sadly be our final family vacation - but oh! What a holiday! Dad went on all the upside down rollercoasters and water slides...Memories we will treasure forever.

Dad really was such a good, kind & caring man and we feel so very lucky and honoured that he was ‘our’ dad and we know mum feels so very fortunate to have spent the last 50 years with her best friend by her side.
We can't imagine him not being on the end of the phone, to ask our silly questions about what he thinks could have gone wrong with our cars, or how to complete our tax returns, or what plants to buy for our gardens.
He always knew when we needed him - whenever he answered the phone to one of us, 9 times out of 10, he would say hello and then say 'I'll just put mum on' and we'd say no dad, its you i want to talk to. He knew then that we either wanted something fixing, we wanted some money for something or we needed a lift somewhere!(?) And he never moaned - he was always there for us- whatever we needed or wanted he just did it - unconditional love.
We've both had our moments of testing that, one of us more than the other but he came through every single time.
He always put us first. Even in his last few weeks, he seemed more concerned about Nicola’s broken foot or whether the diy job he did at my house was still ok. He never complained once and was even apologetic for being ill.
We want to say thank you dad, for being the most incredible dad we could have ever wanted and for making sure we knew we were loved every day of our lives.