Farewell to a great friend

As with many others in Ashford, we were sad to hear of the death of Richard Filmer. He had been a member of the Ashford Archaeological and Historical Society for many years and often gave us the benefit of one of his talks.

It was early this year that a member asked if we could have him once more as he [Richard] was ill. I contacted him and suggested May.

He replied: “No, Marion, I may not be here then.” How right he was. Our kind March speaker agreed to swop his month and Richard came to us on March 20. The Quaker Meeting House was full and he gave a wonderful talk on ‘Old Ashford.’ It was a truly memorable evening and I am thankful for the memory and that we were able to give him such a good send-off. Marion Pont, honorary secretary, Ashford Archaeological and Historical Society

Mr Filmer was always a pleasure to talk to.

My first memories of him were when he first began working at Scott Kendon & Ronald Pearce as a very young man.

I had gone with two of my aunts who had dealings with them and what stuck in my memory was his efficiency and knowledge for one so young.

Throughout the years I had seen Mr Filmer around and he always remembered me and said ‘hello’ and had a brief chat. A true treasure of Ashford. The late Richard Filmer Ann Collins

I have known Richard since, it feels, time began. We were in the same class at the grammar school, I was 10, Richard was just 11, we did much together and were often in big trouble for our escapades!

I recall him being proud of the fact that he was the only manager with no computer, he had no email address nor the knowledge to use the system.

He always signed himself Richard C. I did, and still do use Richard J.

Just one of the things that we did together.

We went on cycle rides as far as Canterbury and Rye or bus rides out to Folkestone, Canterbury, etc, visiting the Cathedral and Westgate Tower marvelling at where they hung people for stealing a loaf of bread.

The alternative being transportation to Australia. We would joke about that.

As I write this I am remembering more and more

I was very saddened to read of the death of Richard Filmer.

I first met him when I came to Ashford in March 1964 as a young man to open a new branch office for Finn-Kelcey and Ashenden (surveyors and estate agents).

He, and indeed the firm he worked for, were very helpful to me as a ‘new boy’ in Ashford.

I moved office to Maidstone in 1982 and lost touch with him. However, I used to meet him in the street and talk about the market and what was happening after I was able to retire early and once more used Ashford as my main town.

A true gentleman in every sense of the word and much respected by all who met him or did business with him.

The world needs more like him but, unfortunately, too often they leave us earlier than they might be expected to, like Tom Pelham and Paul Hardisty who also died too early. Richard Finlinson Pluckley

I had know Richard for over 25 years and as we had many interests in common, our meetings were always happy and interesting,

On many occasions Richard visited our home in Hamstreet to show me some of the rare and wonderful tools and instruments that he collected everything had a story and history.

He will be sadly missed by my wife and myself. There are not enough people in our lives like Richard. We were lucky to have known him. Andrew & Grace MacBean