Kenneth 'Ken' Brian Haynes (18 Apr 1936 - 9 Dec 2021)

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Ken lived a full and rich life and was loved by so many.

He was born at Rochford Hospital on 18 April 1936. His sisters May and Rose and brothers Jim and Aleck made a busy house. The Family lived in Eastwood just off the A127.

Ken went to Eastwood school, after finishing school he started working at Bata’s shoe factory. He was always a hard worker and was working at the Kursaal when he met Pam whom he later married at St Lawrence Church, Eastwood in 1961.

In the early days of marriage, they lived in Westcliff until eventually being able to buy their first property, a bungalow, in Flemming Crescent. Ken being the friendly, helpful man that he was soon made many friends in the road and was quick to offer a helping hand and become a much loved and ‘turned to’ neighbour. He was over the moon when his daughter Deborah followed by son Bryan were born. He was so proud of his children and worked hard to give them the best possible life.

When the children were young, they moved across the road to a house that he then stayed in for the rest of his life. He studied hard and attended college in Baldock where he qualified to be a carpenter in 1964. Ken worked with his next door neighbour George Fletcher for many years on large civil engineering schemes to house building. Finally Ken joined Ramos as a Carpenter and Site Manager where for many years he was a trusted and respected member of the team. Whilst his speciality was roofing, he would put his hand to anything and had many a story to tell. As the years went by, he went from the least experienced to the font of all knowledge and was turned to by many for advice both at work and personally. He made many close friends whom he stayed in contact with for many years.

He was a hard worker and whilst holding down a full-time job he also had his other ‘side-lines’. One of the most memorable was the ‘T-Shirt’ shop along Southend Seafront called Sparkles. Despite working so hard he always had time for hobbies, he enjoyed sailing and there was always the story told by Bryan and Deb where a squall blew in and Bryan was lost overboard whilst Ken was under the sail, there were a couple of worrying hours before it was known that Bryan was well, dry and enjoying a hot chocolate as he had been plucked from the water by a Neighbour – of course this was well before the days of mobile phones! He of course would also be found having a sneaky pint in The Leigh Sailing Club when Bryan was at Scouts. Then there were his birds (the feathered type!! 😊). He loved to keep and breed both Finches and Canaries although the Finches were always his favourite, he shared this hobby with his brother Jim and would show his birds and has a rosette or two at home that he was proud of. Even after his days of bird breeding were over the aviary was to be seen before eventually being taken down many years later. Kens also kept a barn owl and Toya was for many years perched in his living room and would surprise unsuspecting visitors.

Ken loved his dogs too, Tigi was their first and would ‘guard’ the children when they were young and then Gemma, they were both so faithful to him. When his children, Deborah first with Josie and then with Izzi and then Bryan with Jess had dogs of their own Ken loved being around them and in his later months loved it when they visited him. He even grew to love Chloe, Pam’s cat and she would curl up on his lap when he visited Bryan.

He was an immensely proud father when he walked Deborah down the aisle in 1989. Deb gave birth to Ken’s first Granddaughter Alexandra and then his first Grandson Harry. Deb and family settled in Derby. Ken would be known, many a time, to get on a train with very full toolboxes to help change and renovate their home. In the weeks that he would spend with them he built solid and much cherished relationships with his Grandchildren. Bryan followed in his dads’ footsteps, not as a Carpenter but as a trainee Quantity Surveyor. As Bryan became more experienced in his knowledge Ken would enjoy healthy debates as to ‘the best way of doing things’ – of course Ken’s way was always the best way! He was over the moon when Bryan finally married. He loved it as his family grew when his Granddaughter Madi, followed by Grandson Max and finally Granddaughter Meghann were born. He was endless help to Bryan when renovating his family home, from being on site every morning to ensure the right tradesmen were doing the right jobs at the right time, to ensuring that every aspect of the carpentry was done to perfection to welcoming Bryan, Sally and Madi into his home for six months whilst all the renovation work was done. Even letting Madi have the biggest’ first’ birthday party ever at his home.

As his children moved out and created lives for themselves, he took the opportunity to travel. He was never afraid to travel on his own because he made friends wherever he went. Traveling to Australia and Canada twice (once with his Grandson Harry – a holiday he would often talk about), to China, Poland, Morocco, Belgium and many more. He made some good friends on these trips, meeting some once a month in London for a beer, others visiting him. He also enjoyed walking, often going to all sorts of places with the club he belonged to.

In his later years he enjoyed attending the Travel Club – if he couldn’t travel himself, he wanted to hear about other people’s adventures. He would always be found with a Sudoku book in his pocket or on his iPad. He did his best to try and ‘get along’ with technology but many a phone call was made to try and figure out how to do something often with his getting quite cross and threatening to throw the item out of the window. When technology was on his side, he loved being able to call, via video, friends and relatives that were overseas – being able to see them whilst chatting.

There is so much to say about our dad, his love for all sports especially snooker, for his wonderful Chelsea football club, a game of cards/dominos, to a jig saw puzzle. He loved his garden, giving away apples from his tree whether you wanted them or not, he would often turn up with a bunch of sweet peas and a great big smile on his face saying, ‘you need to pick them for more to grow’. His garden was always colourful from the flower beds, hanging baskets and tubs full of flowers of some sort or another. He even loved his washing line…. There was nothing like giving the washing a good blow through in the wind.

Dad loved his beer but was known more for a drop (or 2) of Whiskey – often with coke but not if it was a good ‘un. He loved his food, was known to go to the end of the road to get his fish and chips and he made us all jealous when he told us he was going to Jenny’s for liver and bacon.

He fiercely believed in being neighbourly, being a family man, protecting those around him and he was known to not shy away from conflict and to stick up for what he believed in.

Lastly it would just be wrong if we didn’t mention his bike, it was part of who he was. He didn’t drive (although may have done some of that in his younger days 😊) so his bike was his only transport. He would often be seen cycling along with numerous shopping bags hanging from the handlebars or pieces of carpentry equipment half carried half tied on to the bike. He would be found miles away – where he might have just ‘popped' to places like Shoeburyness or Thundersley. He was still riding his bike well in to his 80’s although in the later years he was a bit wobbly!

The last 2 years of his life were not kind, having a cancerous tumour removed from his face 3 times, 3 lots of radiotherapy with numerous visits to Broomfield & Southend Hospitals. He fought it hard for quite a few years until sadly he lost the battle. He died peacefully with both Bryan and Deborah by his side.

All his life, right up to the last year he would be a great Dad, Grandad, Uncle, neighbour, offering love, support, help and advice whenever he could. He was loved and appreciated by all those that were lucky enough to have him cross their path.