A Tribute to Stanley Hammond: at Accrington on December 23rd, 2021
No tribute will ever be good enough for those that we have known and loved. Each one of you will have your own unique reflections and recollections. There is always more to be said, or that could be said. Stanley Hammond was born Lewisham, London in the years before WW2. Not long after, during the infamous Blitz of the early years of the war, the family home was bombed-out. Like so many children of his generation, Stanley was an evacuee. That same war took many parents for its victims and, tragically, Stanley’s father was killed in action at sea. We can only imagine what it must have been like for young Stanley, Jean, Bob and Irene during those formative years.
It was a strange twist of circumstances that Stanley became an adopted son of the red rose county. He married and had two children, Jeanette and Michael. Stanley was a painter and decorator by trade. As Sylvia recalls, Stanley was always doing up houses – for them and for others. He loved his work and was very good at it. He loved a project. They had shared quite a few homes…but one love.
Stanley and Sylvia first met over the counter of Schofield’s cake shop. Stanley was working on a house just across the road. Every day he would come in “for a meat pie” and eventually he plucked up the courage and asked Sylvia if she would “like to go for a drink”, to which Sylvia replied, “I don’t drink!” Undeterred, Stanley asked her if she might like an orange juice (as if an orange wasn’t a drink anyway!) instead. We know, of course, that Sylvia said “yes!”
Stanley and Sylvia were married in 1985 at the Gospel Mission. In many ways it was a second chance for them. Their joining together was also the blending together of two sets of children – Deborah, Antony and Elisabeth (Sylvia) and Jeanette and Michael (Stanley). Stanley and Sylvia loved one another and, to their credit, they loved all these children and their children too. No small task, I am sure. Sylvia speaks of the love Stanley had for “Hilda May” – her mother, his mother-in-law!
Daniel’s abiding memory of his granddad was of him, either smartly dressed, or wearing those old white work overalls! And, oh yes, the Green Morris Minor Van with the wooden coach-work… filled (simultaneously) with paint-pots and grandchildren, both sets of which bounced around in the back of the vehicle – much to everyone’s delight – though something, we’d have to confess, of a health and safety issue!
Apart from being very well dressed – again typical of men of that generation – Daniel and Sylvia describe Stanley Hammond as a deeply private person. Sometimes the past is hard to talk about. More than that, Stanley was a caring man, at once moral and discerning, but every memory the grandchildren have of him is playful and fun-loving. He loved nothing more than spending time with his grandchildren: who describe poignant memories of Stanley as unguarded; collecting conkers with ‘dodgy knees’; going to the flea market; sweets and pop and gingerbread at the day’s end; playing all manner of sports in the park; simple, lovely things like ‘hide ‘n’ seek’ in the woods… “Spot the Blackpool Tower” from the car – a game granddad always won! Then fish ‘n’ chips in Fleetwood; and those many holidays in Cornwall with Aunty Molly; times with Rex and Doreen. The family he made and took on and became part of was so important to Stanley. Simple, happy, lovely…unforgettable things…
Lancashire adopted Stanley and he adopted Burnley (The Clarets) as his team. He liked a drink on Friday nights with his two friends, Harold and Ivor. I suspect his great love was Sylvia. They were rarely apart; and he was always happy to accompany Sylvia and the Rossendale Ladies Choir wherever they travelled in Britain or Germany. They were really good and Stanley was really proud of her.
He loved the concerts… and one singer in particular!
Stanley was not long known to me; but in him I saw a man of quiet faith. It was Sylvia who brought him to a saving knowledge of the Lord. That is the greatest thing one person can ever do for another. And, apart from everything else that might be said, that is why today is a day to celebrate the life of Stanley Hammond.
And that is why I know they will meet again.
Thank you, Stanley, & God Bless!
By Rev M. M. Faris-Robertson (23/12/21)