George Frank Shaw (19 Jun 1925 - 23 May 2015)

Thankyou all who gave so generously it is much appreciated.

Many thanks to all who gave so generously. It is much appreciated.

This money is from the collection made on the day. Thankyou who gave so generously

Where do I begin.
Mr George Frank Shaw B. E. M.
Serving Brother & Serving Officer within the St John Ambulance. Friend and Mentor

I have had the pleasure of knowing George since joining the St John Ambulance Brigade in 1969, this man has been an inspiration to me and many others during his time in the organisation and long after.
George led a very busy life juggling between bringing up his family Clive, Linda & Ann after his wife passed away very early in his life and his full time job at the G E C and his First Aid family which was most of Rugby & Warwickshire.
George was always training other people in first aid and covering events that needed first aid cover no matter where it was.
Many people here today have gone on from being trained by George to actually becoming a professional in the N H S or other services.
George was proud to say to others in the street I Trained that person many years ago as a cadet and now look at them.
I have been told George joined St John Ambulance in 1940 as a 15 year old after assisting his father after a farming accident in which his father lost a thumb, so George went about his crusade wanting to help other injured people and to eventually teach others to help and save lives.
George reluctantly due to rules and regulations had to compulsory retire from St John Ambulance on his 67th birthday 23 years ago today but still carried on in the St John Fellowship until recently when he could no longer get to the meetings due to mobility caused by his long suffering bad knees.
Some of my memories of George stretch a long way back.
When I joined St John ,it was a Tuesday evening at Regent place in Rugby and I attended for the first night I sat and watched this Loud man training a first aid competition team and at the end of the night George as I now know him came up to me and said “I noticed you looked interested in what was going on would you like to train to be in a team if you pass your first aid exam, but I tell you that you must want to do it and train hard” I accepted the challenge and in years to come was a part of Georges Team that went to the All England Finals in London.
George trained many first aiders and First Aid Teams over the years, not only St John but he trained The Boys Brigade ,Sea Cadets, Army Cadets, Bradbury Boys Club, and many other organisations including Union Carbide at Southam.
His pride and joy was when on numerous occasions teams qualified for the National Finals and as mentioned earlier Himself Qualifying for The Finals.
One memory I have was when going to the National Finals in London as a Cadet it was a very hot day in fact a heat wave and we were walking along the river Thames ,George saw a man selling cans of coke from a bath filled with ice and said to the team “as you have done well in getting here I will treat you all to a cold can of drink” he approached the man and said 5 cans of coke please, when the man told George how much that would be George turned Red and Bellowed Dick Turpin wore a mask you know so we knew he was upset he shouted If I was a couple of steps nearer the Thames I would tip you and your bath of drinks in.
George said to us sorry but I am not paying that price he said I can buy a crate of coke at Bookers for the price of one can that he was charging. There were not many times George raised his voice in anger I am glad to say but this was one of them ,I don’t think the man sold much coke for a few minutes as everybody around heard what was going on.
We went round the corner and there was a pub, George said wait here I will be back in a minute, he went in and asked the landlord if we could sit in the garden and have a Lemonade or Coke, he assured the landlord that we would behave which we did George said I promised you all drink and I never go back on my word.
Another time when I saw the veins in his neck stand out was at the County Quiz at Warwick H Q George was asked for 5 signs or symptoms of shock so he went and gave 5 signs and symptoms then sat down to indicate the end of his answer and the Judge gave 4and a half marks out of a possible 5 marks, George stood up and said Why 4.5 not 5, the judge said you could have said this and that, George said you asked me for 5 signs or symptoms that is what I gave you. The judge said my marks stand. The next Question was given to a Nursing member of an opposing team and she misunderstood the question and gave a totally wrong answer and the judge gave her the maximum 5 marks.
George again stood up and protested as the team captain ,there was a discussion and one of the panel said something to the judge and he said wait a minute let me turn my hearing aid up so I can hear you, well that was like a red rag to a bull, George again stood up and said if I stand up in a dress and give you a wrong answer will you give me 5 points but I do object to the fact that you could not even hear the wrong answer given and give 5 marks.
George was always fair and believed that a good competition or Quiz sharpened your mind and helped you if you were to come across a real life situation, he said it is better to make a mistake at competition level or in practise then you will remember this mistake and not let it affect your judgement if in real life you come across a similar incident.
George was as we know outspoken but was always sure of what was said and how it was said I remember at Coventry speedway at an England V Australia test match John Boulger brought Ray Wilson off on the bend and ended up fighting on the track , George walked up to them and shouted look at the crowd they are enjoying your boxing match more than the racing , get back on the bikes and entertain the crowd by racing which is what you are being paid for, they both looked at him ,looked at the crowd and said you are right let’s get back on our bikes and give the crowd what they have come to see.
Going back to the beginning of my memories with George I remember him saying if you want something you have to earn it and earn it he did, he arranged sponsored walks, sponsored silences which he used to wind certain cadets up by stating to them that he would sponsor them as it would not cost him much as they could not keep quiet for long, of course they proved him wrong but it worked his way as they kept quiet for longer earning more money from the other sponsors.
George and a team of stretcher bearers had a sponsored stretcher carry and went round and round the Town Hall in Rugby until they got dizzy, the early team done a stint then went on to do a duty at Coventry Speedway then came back after the meeting closed and done another stint which earned them a World record with an entry in the Guinness Book of Records in 1975 so he was a World Record Holder. (62 miles in 17.5 Hours)
George was always out on duty whenever he had any spare time earning money to help keep the division going.
He collected newspapers, cardboard and clothing which he cashed in near the railway station, to boost the funds, we were always filling his van up with newspapers and then emptying them in his yard to make room for us to travel to events in the back of his van, there were no seatbelts or seats in the back of the van we just sat in garden chairs and travelled to Speedway ,Stock car, Moto X, Fetes or any other event sometimes it got very cosy in the back of the old blue van travelling to these events ,The police would have a field day if this went on now but we all enjoyed traveling together
George would fund the fuel going round picking us all up and dropping us off after the event.
George was very proud of the fact that he started off the division with £1 in the bank and when he handed the division over there were thousands in the bank and lots of assets and kit, he used to purchase vehicles at auctions and use them until they were no longer fit for purpose.
As Cadets we were sometimes testing and I remember a couple of times when we were at events that George had to get us out of trouble one time was at Stamford hall when we got up early in the morning and decided that the boating lake was ours there was nobody using it at this early hour so we decided to be pirates and generally being a nuisance, George went to the lord of the manor in the morning and gave his apologies on our behalf the lord said don’t worry kids will be kids but George was more concerned about what would have happened had there been an accident after all he was the responsible adult in charge of somebody else’s children.
George retired from active duty at 67 years old but still kept up to date with what was going on at the speedway by me bringing him programmes and talking about the meetings.
George was still active in his garden and his other hobby of stamp collecting, only the other week he asked me to get some runner beans to plant in the garden when I said but you are not mobile at the moment he said no but somebody will plant them for me as they will not grow in the packet, he said a family member would plant them or me he said he could shout through the window where he wanted me to put them.
A little while ago just before George went into hospital I took him to see my allotment and as usual the perfectionist came out in him with the comments of those onions are too close and the cabbage you need room for them to grow, look at that weed there, he spotted one weed amongst a row and said that weed is taking all the goodness from the plant get rid of it.
George was always looking for ways to save expense and time down to using old ice cream tubs for storing seeds and freezing the produce, planting potatoes in buckets on the back patio to save digging and before he went to hospital he used to say while you are sitting here chatting you might as well top & tail these beans or sort some seeds and throw you one of the said ice cream tubs.
When he last came out of hospital he even got Clive to make an irrigation system for his greenhouse using the bags and tubes from his feed system.
George was an avid Aston Villa fan holding a season ticket for many years and also enjoyed his Cricket and was over the moon when we won the ashes but he would have been devastated if he was around a couple of weeks ago when the Villa lost the cup I can imagine what he would have said
I wouldn’t pay them in washers I would sack the lot of them.

So until we meet again I salute you
Mr George Shaw.

Thank you for all you have done you were one on the best
Thanks

George always had a joke to tell and was a great friend to many, the stories he told me about my granddad when George was apprentice to him and all the help he gave me when I was a member of Rugby British Rail St John. George and I had a long standing joke about a pair of socks he was going to leave me in his will (even though they had been darned a few times). That was George. Good night mate.