Vernon's funeral yesterday (16th March) at Port Talbot was attended by very many of his Clubmans pals. Chris Hart and Richard Mallock were two of the pallbearers, alongside Vernon's bike club members. Making a special effort to be there were Ray Mallock, who was flying to Brazil the following morning, and Richard Groombridge who had only just returned from Australia the day before. Jamie Champkin brought with him a chequered flag wreath on behalf of the Clubmans Register.
Vernon's eldest brother, Mel, gave a fantastic eulogy and the final hymn was emotionally sung in Welsh with typical beautiful voices raising the Chapel's roof. We said our farewells to Vernon to the strains of "The Chain".
At the post funeral gathering, next to the local beach, there was much reminiscing to the backdrop of a DVD playing of Vernon's Clubmans racing exploits.
The amazing Colin and Paul Jackson supplied Vernon's wife Daphne, brother Mel, and daughters Caroline and Andrea with the DVD and photos of Vernon because, such was Vernon's lack of ego, he had very few photos of himself racing. Colin, who produced the DVD from his late father's, Cyril, film and video archive, together with his own DVD footage, spent countless hours producing a wonderful memory for the family. If anyone would like a copy please let me know.
