Mr William Blackman
1908 - 1982
Slindon lost one of its most loved and respected parishioners with the death of William Blackman on Sat the 18th of December. There must be very few living in the village who can remember Slindon without him.
Bill was a real countryman in every sense of the word. He spent his whole working life in agriculture, mostly in positions of responsibility. Starting work at Church farm Binsted, he later moved to Gumber Farm where he spent the war years. After the war, he moved with his family to Meadsway and for 25 years worked at Woodlands Farm.
Bill lived and worked in the best traditions of Sussex farm workers. He was a master of many of the traditional skills and learned new skills very readily. Although he never appeared to hurry he got through more work than most. He had a very ready sense of humour and was always ready to pass on to others the benefits of his knowledge and experience. This was especially valuable during the war years when many of those working under him were Land Army Girls. After his retirement ‘ in 1974, he took on a number of ‘odd jobs’ and soon became as busy as ever. He remained so until a few minutes before being sent to hospital two months ago.
After his family and his work Bill’s greatest love was football. He instigated the foundation of the Slindon Football Club and worked harder than anyone to start it and keep it going through good times and bad.
At the time of his death he was the longest serving member of the Parish Council where his clear thinking and down to earth approach earned him the respect of his fellow council members. He will be greatly missed in Slindon for his kindly help to so many people, for his work in the Parish Council and the Football Club and not least for himself.
Slindon Fire Brigade WW2 Bill is third from left in the back row (Pictures courtesy of Robin Upton)