Obituary of Geoffrey Clifford Taylor
21st April 1942 – 14th September 2021
 
 
Geoffrey Clifford Taylor was born on 21st April 1942 at Nether Edge Hospital, Sheffield.  The first-born child to Clifford and Ellen Taylor, followed by his brother Roger two years later.  As a wartime baby, he was lucky to be born as his mum fortunately survived a bombing raid whilst pregnant.  She was luckily sat at the rear of the air raid shelter with her parents when a 5 tonne land mine landed at the end of the street, the blast from the impact alone blew the door off and killed 3 people.
 
Geoffrey attended Woodthorpe School as a Junior and then a Senior.  He passed his exams for Central Technical School and left at 16 years old with a school diploma pass.  Geoffrey had many mischievous moments as a boy like the time he broke the bathroom window when throwing a slipper at Roger. He got a hiding for throwing it, and Roger got it for ducking!  Then there was the time the boys set the net curtains on fire with the Christmas Tree candles and put them out with a bottle of milk.
 
They had a tough childhood passing many an hour playing football on the local tip or building dens with their mates. Geoff and Roger often went fishing at weekends with their Dad. He also bought them boxing gloves and taught them how to fight.  This was a useful skill growing up in fairly rough neighbourhoods of Woodthorpe and the Manor Estate in Sheffield.  Geoff was always big for his age so in his own words he said “I’d flatten most of the bullies!”.
 
Geoff wasn’t so fortunate with his health though in his youth.  He had pneumonia as a baby, he suffered with 2 perforated ear drums through senior school, travelling alone on the bus to hospital for ear, nose and throat treatment during school time and Saturdays, six days a week. He often spoke of the time the hospital doctors gave him the wrong dose of steroid treatment and he went temporarily blind for two weeks and he was rescued by his favourite teacher Miss Coates.
 
Geoff and his friends were climbing trees on one adventure to shed the fruit to make some money, and he stood on a rotten branch and plunged to the ground.  The branch stabbed through his leg resulting in another hospital trip!  He also got knocked down by a speeding Rolls Royce but lived to tell the tale again.  Geoff definitely was a battler as he sadly caught pneumonia again aged 15 after a soaking wet Derbyshire camping trip with his cousins Ernie and Bryan and had to come home early. The pneumonia developed into a heart and nerve condition called ‘rheumatic correa’ which made him very poorly.  This as well as the distress of his fathers death led him to spending a year in hospital and convalescing at home with complete rest, being looked after by his adored ‘Gram’ Ada Renshaw when his mum was working.  He always said his Gram was the most wonderful cook (unlike his own mum and her legendary see-through gravy).  Geoff lost his hair at this time from alopecia but this definitely gave him a thick skin which he kept his entire life through. 
 
Geoff was quite the entrepreneur in his youth – he had many jobs to help his mum make ends meet after his Dad died and to help fund his cycling hobby.  He saved up and bought himself a road racing bike which he had many adventures cycling and camping in Derbyshire and even cycled all the way to Cornwall. His many jobs included serving and fetching shopping for old people from the Mobile Greengrocer, sorting and delivering newspapers and scrumping fruit from private orchards to sell door to door. Very mischievously Geoff, Roger and their friends would pinch the empty bottles from the back yard of Barnards Sweet Shop and then sell them back for ‘threepence’each to then buy sweets and go to Manor Top Cinema.
 
At age 17, in 1959, Geoff started his indentured training on an Apprenticeship at English Steel Corporation at Tinsley Sheffield. He first started in the electric workshop rewinding armatures as he had to be sat down in a quiet atmosphere whilst he was still recovering.  Then after one year Geoff moved on to the Technical Drawing Office but he could not stand the men that worked in that department, so he then moved on to an engineering workshop based in Grimesthorpe.  There he worked on all forms of transport from locomotives, cranes, lorries, cars, fork lift trucks and all civil equipment. Whilst there he resumed schooling and had to go back to night school and study hard in the evenings after work, there he passed Engineering City and Guilds Full Technical Certificate at Granville College.
 
By age 21 Geoff had progressed at work to running the Repairs Section and had his own apprentices to train.  He started playing football for the work team but his fitness let him down as it was quite competitive. His support for his beloved Sheffield Wednesday became more passionate watching his team at home games.  Geoff always said that his brother Roger supported the weaker side, the Blades and often talked about the 1979 Boxing Day Massacre where the Owls thrashed the Blades. Until his final day he still checked their results, watched their games on TV and was most upset this last season when the Owls were relegated to League One. 
 
In his twenties Geoff had many great memories of seeing his favourite band The Beatles who he saw 7 times and stopped going when he said it was impossible to hear them over the silly screaming women.  He often spoke about his nights out in Sheffield dancing, boozing and chatting up women with his fellow English Steel Apprentices usually ending the night with a super hot ‘Tindaloo’ curry with an audience watching them.  
 
Geoff left English Steel to work on the lorries for MAN Engineering but didn’t enjoy working away from home all the time, he moved to another engineering company before settling at Tinsley Wire as a Shift Engineer and worked his way up to being an Invigilator of all the Apprentices, often travelling to London for training.
 
Geoff first attempted marriage at 25 but it didn’t last for long. He spent his thirties having fun and travelling abroad when he could, he often told his children about seeing the Acropolis in Athens and how much he loved history. 
 
The next chapter of Geoff’s life really began the day he decided to go on a blind date with Patricia on Halloween Night 1978. It was love at first sight, they talked for that long the restaurant had cleared up all around them and the staff had to ask them to leave so they could go home!  Geoffrey said the luckiest day of his life was when he met and fell in love with Patricia and her beautiful smile came into his life.
 
What a whirlwind romance they had, they were engaged two months later in December, married by February and spent their honeymoon in Majorca but nearly missed the flight out as they didn’t recognise the call for “Mr and Mrs Taylor” to board the plane.  Their first home together was at Deepcar, Sheffield.  Geoff’s beloved mum Ellen was overjoyed they met and especially the fact that he wasn’t using her house as a hotel anymore LOL.  Later that year in September their first child Claire was born.  Geoff decided to change direction career wise and leave engineering to join his brother Roger working at Prudential as an Insurance Man.  Tricia supported him with this drastic change of career even though they had little baby Claire at home.  Less than two years later in June 1981 Alison was born followed by David a very speedy 11 months later in May 1982, Geoff and Tricia were delighted to welcome a son to complete their family.  With three children under 2.5 years old they really had their hands full, especially being older parents. 
 
To complicate their life further, Geoff decided to move the family to Lincolnshire for what he said was the ‘gold coast’ for insurance sales and for better schooling opportunities for the children.  Geoff lodged firstly in Horncastle until Tricia and the children moved over to a Static Caravan at Roughton Moor whilst they built their dream home in Low Toynton Close in Horncastle.  This was a very stressful six months but worth all the blood, sweat and tears when they moved into ‘Claidavalis’ in November 1984.  They named the house after the 3 children, which caused a lot of confusion for the postman!  Geoff and Tricia were very sad to leave Sheffield and their families and friends, so often spent most weekends back and forth to Sheffield and many family came up to Lincolnshire to stay regularly too.
 
As the children grew up, Geoff spent most of his free time taking the children to their sports and clubs. Geoff didn’t have much free time as one of the downsides to being a successful Insurance Man was evening house calls. Because of the long hours and the little family time, Geoff made a point of taking the children and Tricia on lots of special family holidays all over the UK “caravanning”. Geoff was often banished to sleep in a tent because of his loud snoring!  His terrible reversing skills probably caused many a laugh for fellow campers. In their retired years Geoff and Tricia enjoyed coaching holidays, sixties weekends at Warners and cruising the world.
 
His love for learning about everything past or present continued his whole life either reading books, newspapers or watching documentaries.  You never needed to watch the news yourself as Geoff would give you a daily run down, he bought the Daily Mail every day for years, but finally did decide it was a Daily Moan and ever the Yorkshire Man he wasn’t   wasting his money anymore.  Geoff could read a thick book in a day and often did, he kept the library and charity shop staff very busy.  Geoff also had a great passion for jigsaws, sudoku and crosswords - his thirst for knowledge never stopped even into his late seventies.  Geoff was an incredibly intelligent man, a walking encyclopaedia - the children fear they’ll never win another pub quiz again now!
 
After nearly ten years with the Prudential, Geoff went for a promotion to Midland bank as Sales Manager in 1988 which saw him cover the whole of Lincolnshire.  He was an amazing salesman – it has often been described that Geoff could sell ice to the eskimos.  In 1992 he was the third top salesmen in England and won a luxury trip to Paris for him and Tricia.  The children were very jealous their parents were the first visitors to Eurodisney.  Geoff took a weekend job selling new houses at weekends for Hugh Bourns to make ends meet during the crazy high interest rates of the early 1990s.
 
Sadly Geoff was made redundant from his bank job in 1996 at HSBC which was not an easy time for Geoffrey in his mid 50s with three young children to support and a mortgage to pay.  This was a very difficult time for the whole family. But hard working as always Geoff took up a job taxi driving and began his passion of collecting antiques (or junk as Tricia and the kids used to say) and sold these at antique shops and car boots. Geoff also had a habit of turning up at home with new cars or “bangers” as Tricia would say, he had a succession of cars he fondly called “Betsy 1, 2, 3, 4…”
 
Geoff and Tricia had many pets over the years. One day Geoff took pity on some taxi customers and brought home an elderly springer spaniel called Sprocket, much to Tricia’s annoyance, but they both fell in love with the old boy.
 
Geoff decided to retire from taxi driving in his early 60s but kept on his beloved antiques more as a hobby.  He also cared for his adored wife Tricia as her ill health deteriorated and like his father he developed heart problems and needed a stent when he was 65.   He was also diagnosed with diabetes and hypertension in his late 60s and began going to the gym to help loose some weight and get a break from caring for Tricia.
 
Geoff and Tricia’s first grandchild, Kaitlyn, was born in 2006 and they helped look after her until she started school whilst Alison worked and she brought much happiness and love into their retired years. Jacob followed in 2010, Ethan in 2015 and Chloe in 2016.  Geoff also dearly loved Lee’s daughters Ebony and Demeah very much and shared many happy holidays with all their grandchildren.
 
Geoff and Tricia enjoyed going to a singing club and also to Memory Matters, a friendship group where Geoff has been Chairman for many years. They made some fantastic friends at both these groups and it brought much happiness to Geoff’s life over the last 4 years without Tricia in his life.  Geoff always said the saddest day of his life was when Tricia died in September 2017 - they truly were always in love and never went to bed on an argument.
 
Geoff spent many hours in retirement watching his beloved sports, particularly Rugby, Golf and Cricket.  He also resumed his Stamp Collection and joined the Lincoln Stamp Club.  He also joined Horncastle U3A and spent many hours in his adored garden to pass his time.
 
Geoff was a very wise and kind man who could always see the sense in any problem and bring a smile to everyone he met.  Throughout his entire life Geoff was always a very funny man with a dry sense of humour. Being a typical Yorkshire man he would call people ‘love’, this he has passed on to his children. He would often end a conversation saying ‘be good’…
 
Geoffrey has been a caring, loving Dad to his 3 children; and has been a wonderful Grandad. He was a very devoted husband to Tricia during their 38 years of marriage, they were true soulmates.
 
Geoff was well known for falling asleep anywhere and could snore for England. So Geoffrey…sleep well this final time. The world has lost a very special man but you’ll stay in our hearts and memories forever. Till we meet again.
 
BE GOOD