G. H. DAWSON

Well-known local solicitor Mr Geoffrey Henry Dawson (93), of The Cottages, Tippings Lane, Farnsfield, was cremated at Mansfield after a service at the crematorium chapel which was full with family and friends.
Born at Mansfield and educated at the town's King Edward School and Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School for Boys, Mr Dawson then studied at Gibson & Weldon (the forerunner of College of Law), London, after which he was articled to Walter Gamble for the sum of 100 guineas. He passed his exams and was admitted as a solicitor on the last occasion before the Second World War.
Mr Dawson joined the Army at the outbreak of the Second World War and served as an officer in the Robin Hood Regiment, serving for a considerable time in the Artillery on anti-aircraft duty on the South Coast. He claimed to have shot down at least one German plane personally. He also served for a time in Belfast.
At the end of the war he was involved in repatriation duties in Italy and did not leave the Army until 1947 when Col James Vallance, who had already returned to work, apparently had to plead to get him out of the Army.
He married his first wife, Dorie Copeland, in 1952, with whom they had a son, Charles.
Mr Dawson was a partner at Harrop White, Vallance & Dawson, where he was served by long-serving loyal staff and partners.
A Freemason in Broxtowe Lodge, he became Worshipful Master in 1956. He was a member of Mansfield Rotary Club from 1950, serving as president in 1964/65 and retired from the club in 1997.
A member of Nottinghamshire Cricket Club since the war years, Mr Dawson was also deputy chairman of Mansfield Hospital Management committee for many years, serving under the then chairman, Mr J. B. Jenkins.
For many years he was a communion steward at Nottingham Road Methodist Church, Mansfield, and, for some years, was a governor for the town's Queen Elizabeth's schools and a member of the Old Elizabethan Society, frequently berating the decline and fall of his old school.
Widowed in 1978, he changed his retirement plans and worked on for a few years, gradually becoming part-time consultant with the firm and finally retiring eight or nine years ago.
He married Celia in 1980, living first at Woodthorpe and more recently at Farnsfield, celebrating their silver wedding anniversary a few years ago.
In retirement Mr Dawson enjoyed watching cricket, both at Nottingham's Trent Bridge and on the television and he was upset to see Mansfield Town Football Club lose league status, having remembered all too well the struggle they had to gain it in the early 1930s.
Mr Dawson, who died at Highfields Nursing Home, Edingley, leaves his wife, Mrs Celia Dawson, son Charles and his three grandchildren, Victoria, Geoffrey and Henry.
Mourners were Mrs M. C. Dawson, Mr C. G. Dawson, Mrs S. A. Dawson, Mrs G. de Havilland, Dr V. M. Moore, Mr D. Moore, Mr G. Dawson, Miss S. Srinivasan, Mr H. C. Dawson, Mr T. de Havilland, Miss J. Lewell, Mrs S. Lee, Mrs R. Williams, Mr and Mrs R. Mottram, Mrs J. Pearce, Mr and Mrs N. Shepperson; Mr R. E. Whitehead (representing Mr T. Acton); Mr R. Webster (representing Webster family); Mr J. W. Adams (representing Broxtowe Lodge); Mr M. K. Shaw (representing Mr D. Fisher and Broxtowe Lodge); Mr and Mrs W. E. Wright (representing Mr R. Boaler and Mr M. Hillman), Mrs J. Hill; Mr R. Whiting (representing Mr and Mrs D. Tate), Mrs A. S. Carter, Mrs M. Statham, Miss S. Statham; Mr R. Windsor (representing Robert and Laura Windsor); Mrs A. Windsor (representing Eric and Liz Windsor), Mr B. Edwards, Mr G. Slack, Mr M. Fuller, Mr B. Payne, Mr and Mrs G. Pearson; Mr D. Wilson (representing Mrs R. Wilson and Mr R. K. Wilson); Mrs G. Redman (representing Michael Nixon, Mr and Mrs T. H. Farr, Mrs D. M. Chappell and Mr J. Windsor), Mr and Mrs G. Thorman; Mrs D. Whiteley (representing Mr J. Whiteley), Miss C. Passant, Mr and Mrs G. Bartlett; Miss M. King (representing Mrs A. Taylor and Mrs G. Douglas); Mrs A. Priestman (representing Mrs P. Magness), Mr T. Lander, Ms T. Mason, Mrs R. Green, Mr and Mrs J. Binch, Mr and Mrs G. Stafford, Mr and Mrs E. Tunstall, Mr and Mrs J. Almond, Mrs M. Gray; Mrs A. Bunting (representing Mr and Mrs A. G. Bunting and Mrs E. Coupland), Mr M. H. Brackenbury, Mrs D. Coupland, Mr J. R. Coupland; Mr and Mrs C. Clarkson (representing Susan Eastgate), Mrs J. Buck, Mr G. Buck, Mrs A. Sewell, Mrs N. Oxnard, Mrs M. Swift, Mrs A. Binch, Mr and Mrs J. Sankey; Rev P. Hill (representing Methodist Circuit), Mrs S. Spurry, Mr and Mrs J. A. Ward, Mr M. Ward; Mrs D. Davies (representing Dr Davies); Mrs A. Lockett (representing Dove family), Mr R. Stocks; Mr P. Doherty (representing Mansfield Building Society); Mr C. Vallance (representing Sue Warren (nee Vallance) and Margaret Plews (nee Vallance); the Rev D. Fudger (representing St Peter's Church); Mr and Mrs M. B. Hawley (representing Mr and Mrs N. H. Deakin), Mr A. J. Campin.
Donations received in lieu of flowers are for the British Heart Foundation.
The service was conducted by the Rev J. Pulman, and arrangements were by G. A. Townroe & Son.