Firefighters from Falmouth and Truro provided a guard of honour at the funeral of one of their own who served for 31 years, 17 as station officer.
The funeral of Sidney Oliver from Penryn, who died aged 84 on October 22 after a long illness, took place at Trelawny Chapel, Penmount Crematorium on November 3.
His widow Heather Oliver told the Packet she got in touch with his remaining former colleagues from the Penryn Fire Station following his death, who said they were going to do something to honour him.
“He got back to me and said one of the Falmouth fire engines was coming and would put the lights on,” she said.
“They escorted the coffin down through Penryn and past the old station and then went from there to the crematorium.
“When he got there, a Truro fire engine was out the front with all the men standing by the front of the fire engine.
“It was just amazing there were loads of people there. I knew he would love that and that made me happy. He had a big yellow helmet made out of yellow flowers on the top of the coffin.
“Everything was what I wanted. They just made it so special. Everybody I asked, they all wanted to do something. I was really pleased with what they did.”
She said Sidney was a very good husband, father and grandad. He loved dancing and travelling, with the couple going all round Europe as well as Scotland, which they particularly loved. They were in the Penryn and District Twinning Society for 36 years.
Born in Mabe on April 9, 1938, Sidney’s father was in the Army and during the war and was stationed at Devonport.
His widow Heather tells the story how one night he and his mother were waiting at the picture house when a flying bomb came over and he ran away and they didn’t know where he’d gone. “He was so scared,” she said.
After the war the family moved back to Mabe where Sidney went to school before passing his 11+ and going to Falmouth Grammar School.
After leaving school at 16 he joined builders merchant JC Annear, now Travis Perkins, where he worked all his life in the office until his retirement, even after he retired he went back part time for a while.
Early on he joined the Penryn Fire Brigade as his employer would let him respond to calls at the old station in Commercial Road, which closed in 1991. He did that for 31 years, eventually becoming Station Officer, a post he held for 17 years.
Over that period of time one of the biggest fires he attended was the Crag Hotel at Maenporth. On December 1, 1981 a fire broke out in ‘The Crag’ causing damage to over 80% of the hotel.
The damage caused to the building was irreparable and it ended up being demolished and becoming The Crags apartments on The Maenporth Estate.
Another was a big fire in a Penryn shop near the town hall which burnt down. He could also be out for days on end attending gorse fires.
“He was loved by everybody,” said Heather. “He was a very quiet person, didn’t like confrontations with people. He loved his family, his granddaughters and grandsons and his daughters especially. He was always so calm and quiet with them. He'd sit down and they’d comb his hair, just a lovely man.”
The couple were married for 63 years. They had two daughters Sharon, who lives in Falmouth and Joanne, who lives in Dumfries, Scotland.
They also have two grandsons, Nathan who lives in Liskeard and Philip who lives in Redruth and two granddaughters, Leanne from Falmouth and Shauna who lives in Grampound Road.
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Around 250 people went to the funeral and then on to St Gluvias Cricket Club afterwards.
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