Memories of Cyril Lord
SIR: I was saddened by the story of Cyrilawn (March issue). I got to know Cyril Lord in the 1950s when he bought the house next door to my parents in Donaghadee, County Down. I think the sixth communication my father had from him, through his solicitor, was about the daisies on our lawn. Cyril had not only bought the house, then the vacant block next door and finally the bungalow adjoining it; he had acquired the greenkeeper from the local golf club, which did not endear him to the members. But Cyril’s very large lawn was perfect!
My father took on Cyril as a challenge and we got to know him quite well. I remember Cyril taking my late brother and myself in about 1956-7 to see his new purpose-built factory in Donaghadee. We were favourably impressed that he seemed to know everything about the textile business. He took us all around the building, including onto the roof. He was a major employer in that area, of about 200 men at that factory.
He had a speedboat based in the harbour at Donaghadee, about two miles from his house. So he had a jetty built opposite his house for access for his guests. My grandmother accepted a ride in the boat, when she was about eighty.
We did not really get to know his first wife, Bessie, but met their three children. Sadly, they were divorced. He seemed to get on with my parents because, looking back at my late wife’s wedding present list in 1961, I note that the generous gifts from ‘Shirley and Cyril Lord’ were an antique silver sugar castor and fish servers. In our first (third-floor) flat we had about four square yards of Cyril Lord carpet (all we could afford!).
The last time that we met Cyril was in the early 1970s when he phoned the hospital where I was working in Melbourne. He invited my wife and me out for dinner, which we enjoyed. For some reason, I thought that he had come from South America. His friend with him was not his third wife. But he had shipped in his old Bentley for the trip. Jeremy Macafee, Stoneygate, Leicester