Donald Alfred Biffen (13 Jul 1934 - 23 May 2021)

In loving memory of Donald Alfred Biffen "Don" who sadly passed away on the 23rd of May 2021, aged 86 years.

Homily

The great loves in Don’s life were, Margaret his wife, his immediate family, and the wider “clan” He also greatly valued his friends, both church and non-church. We will all miss him greatly.

Looking at the cards we have received they have mentioned Don’s great common sense and wisdom and ability to provide good advice when needed.

Elizabeth remarked that he was quite a surprising person, with very advanced views on animal welfare, Don was a vegetarian for a least 50 years. He hated to kill anything and we all have stories of him re-homing snails and other garden pests to other less sensitive locations – mostly the park! His bird food bills must have been enormous and the garden was a regular supper spot for foxes and badgers.

Stubborn is a word that Kate uses to describe Don, but stubborn in the best way. He never allowed his disability to get in the way of what he wanted to achieve. He played tennis and cricket, had a bike adapted so he could ride it. He missed out on four years of education while in hospital as a child, but this did not stop him successfully completing a challenging apprenticeship. If things had been different he may well have been the first person in the family to go to university.

Matthew remembers Don as an extremely good dental technician with a great reputation.
He worked from the age of 15 only really retiring when he hit 80. He was also passionate about passing on his knowledge to others, successfully seeing 3 people through their apprenticeships and teaching at the local college.
Don held strong views on some issues and was always up for a vigorous but good-humoured debate on the hot topics of the day.

He had a great love of sport, cricket being a particular favourite, but closely followed by boxing. He always said his ideal job would have been cricket correspondent for the Wiltshire Gazette.

Some of you may know that Don went viral on social media when Lucy sent a recording of him bopping along to Michael in the Bathroom from an off-Broadway musical to the star. He also had his fifteen minutes of fame appearing on the Repair Shop with the restoration of a painting.

Like Margaret, Don was immensely proud of their grandchildren, William, Lucy and George. They brought them both much joy and pleasure.