Colin and Iwere at school together from a young age. I remember that he wrote many stories about haggises much as Prince Charles did at a later stage. He was always a quiet, modest person with a love of the countryside and the sea.
We were both only sons of naval officers which gave us an early comradeship and of course Colin very sensibly married the daughter of a naval officer. Perhaps the similarity ended there in that Caroline came from a large family.
When asked by a friend what do you do at weekends, Colin replied “I entertain my wife’s friends and relations”, just as described in Winnie the Pooh’s expedition to the North Pole.
First came Christopher Robin and Rabbit, then Piglet and Pooh, then Kanga with Roo in her pocket, and Owl, then Eeyore, and at the end in a long line, all rabbits friends and relations.
“I didn’t ask them” explained Rabbit carelessly, “They just came. They always do”.
Colin never grumbled much about this extended family, and even quite enjoyed claiming heonce had 17 peoples belongings stored in his roof, believing that it helped prevent the roof from blowing away.
Colin regularly raced his treasured highly polished wooden Enterprise dinghy at Frensham Pond under the eagle eyes of his highly professional children, Katrina and Roger, of whose sailing success Colin was justly proud.
He thoroughly enjoyed playing his £4 10 shilling cello bought for him in the 1950s whilst being taught by a Scottish violinist. He played in the Haslemere Orchestra for over 30 years, and despite the family groans at his practising (even the dog would leave the room on occasions) he would always ensure that his Cello was freshly polished, along with his shoes, and the removal of dog hair from his Dinner Jacket before each of the concerts to make him feel more the part, even if he mostly played in the back row.
He loved rock climbing, and more latterly hill walking, particularly in the Lake District, and enjoyed many holidays there. He preferred the challenge of climbing the higher peaks, but learned to downsize and become more patient whilst waiting for Caroline to catch-up, dish out a piece of Kendal Mint cake,before disappearing on ahead again with the dog in tow, giving her no time to catch her breath.
Colin was a highly practical engineer,
designing and building a breakwater, also a temporary floating rubber tyre one in the early 80’s that is still inexistence.
He oversaw the piling for the new container berths at Southampton,enlarged various marinas in the UK and numerous dredging jobs. He was also responsible for the land reclamation at Portsmouth where the IBM headquarters now stands.
Colin was a very good man who loved his family and was a dear friend to me and I am sure to many of us here. We will all miss him and I feel sure that he was delighted to know that William and Oliver had been born, carrying on the Gilbert name.