The nicest man,
FAMILY MEANT EVERYTHING TO LIVERPOOL FC FAN JOHN, BOTH HIS OWN AND THE FAMILY OF PEOPLE WHO WORKED IN HIS PUBS ACROSS THE COUNTRY
ON a sunny Wednesday in midSeptember, John Mcclements got to fulfil the dream of many proud fathers – walking his daughter Ashleigh down the aisle.
The small family wedding might not have been what Ashleigh, 32, and her husband Chris had initially planned, but the intimate service was held at Holy Trinity Church in the Staffordshire town of Eccleshall, that John and his wife Linda, 59, called home.
This was followed by a gathering in the garden of her parents’ home – it was a really happy day, one that meant the absolute world to John and all of the family.
In fact, Ashleigh and Chris’s wedding was a bright spot of happiness amid a hugely difficult two months after John was unexpectedly diagnosed with terminal metastatic cancer at the end of August.
“John had experienced no symptoms at all,” says Linda, mum to Ashleigh, and also Simon, 38. “He’d had some joint stiffness, but we thought it might be a sign of arthritis. He had some scans done at Cannock Chase Hospital, and a week later we were told he had two months left.
“We were shocked to the core. But John was always a really positive person, and he was convinced that after treatment he’d be fine.
“What he was absolutely sure about was that he wanted to walk
Ashleigh down the aisle, so she got a special licence and 11 days later the wedding took place. John was so happy that he’d got to do that important job.”
Two things that carried John throughout his life were a love of his work, and his family. Born into a close family in Liverpool, one of six,
John studied building construction at the University of Liverpool, and had plans to work as a building estimator, before dropping out of his degree course to care for his mother Mary when she herself was diagnosed with cancer.
After losing her at the age of just 54, John went to work for his brother Jim, who was running a pub in Eccleshall – and it was here he met and fell in love with Linda.
“John actually knew my mum Barbara before me,” Linda recalls fondly. “They used to chat, and she’d told me she’d introduce me to him, as she knew I’d get on well with him.
HIT IT OFF
“At the time I was working as a senior carer at a nursing unit, and would meet a friend in the pub car park to get a lift before my shifts. That was how I first met John and mum was right, we hit it off from the start.
“He’d just lost his mother, and I’d also recently lost my dad Dennis, also at the age of 54. We were brought together by our shared loss,
as well as by how much we had in common.
“We were both aquarians, and had very similar personalities and outlooks on life. John was really sociable like me, and we always worked on the basis that being nice is infectious. If you are kind and treat people well, that comes back to you.”
Early in their marriage, John and Linda went on a hospitality course together in Bristol, where they learned everything from how to successfully manage staff to chef skills, and both loved every minute.
It kicked off a joint career together, running pubs and inns across the UK, over three decades, culminating in running the famous Lyme Regis pub, The Cobb Arms, for 20 years, before retiring and moving back to Staffordshire in 2017.
“We ran pubs all over, in Rugby, Cheshire, Bristol and several in Dorset,” Linda says. “Simon and his
partner Hayley, and Ashleigh and Chris, all still live in Dorset.” Simon is a fisherman working out of Lyme Bay, and Ashleigh is a lawyer, and also owns one of the ice cream shops in town.
“When we started in the pub trade you had to have the proper training under your belt. It was long hours, and hard work, but we both thrived on it. “We had some wonderful staff, many who remained good friends, and we prided ourselves on being good bosses. Since John has passed away, we’ve been overwhelmed with cards and letters from all over the world, from as far afield as Australia and New Zealand, telling us how much he meant to them.
“I had one letter from a lady called Rachel, who worked for us in Dorset. She wrote that John was one of the best people she’d ever had the pleasure of knowing, that he’d been like a second father to her, and that she hoped he knew how much he was loved.”
John was also devoted to his grandchildren Mason, Archie and Miles. Archie is train mad and gave his granddad two of his Thomas trains to make him better. John was buried with them in his pocket.
HOSPICE
After Ashleigh’s wedding John deteriorated very quickly and was moved into Katharine House Hospice in Stafford. Linda was able to stay with him there, and helped to care for him. Ashleigh and Simon were able to visit and also help with his care.
“We held John’s funeral in the same church where Ashleigh married,” Linda says. “We played The Carnival Is Over by The Seekers, and You’ll Never Walk Alone, as John was a huge Liverpool FC fan.
“The last few months feel like a blur, and I still can’t believe he is gone. We’ll all miss his sense of humour, he was a really funny guy and such good company.
“I’m so grateful to have shared the years we had with him.”
We had some wonderful staff, many who remained good friends, and we prided ourselves on being good bosses Linda, John’s wife