‘John thought the new bridge was marvellous’
Tributes as man who helped build Silver Jubilee Bridge dies just hours after new Gateway opens
AN accomplished builder from Runcorn who helped build the Silver Jubilee Bridge as well as large portions of the New Town passed away just hours after finding out the Mersey Gateway bridge had opened.
John Turner, 87, died peacefully at Halton Haven in the early hours of Saturday, October 14, as motorists enjoyed the first day of crossings on the structure, whose progress he had followed avidly during construction.
The Mersey Gateway had opened to traffic at 12.01am.
An accomplished an experienced builder, John learned his trade as a crane operator while serving in the Royal Engineers during his eight years service in the Royal Engineers.
He continued in the same role after entering civilian life, hitting a rich vein of work as the construction of Runcorn New Town hit full stride in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
As well as working on the SJB, he also took part in building expressways, the town’s industrial estates and at ICI.
John’s wife Frances said that any journey further afield was also likely to bring the memories flooding back as John spotted structures he had built.
Like many residents, the Palacefields couple moved to Runcorn from Liverpool in 1970 and never looked back.
Despite not fulfilling his hope of traversing the Mersey Gateway himself, his wife Frances said he was pleased to have heard news of its opening.
Frances said: “He was so looking forward to going over as well.
“We used to go down quite often and drive and find places to look at it and follow it on the Mersey Gateway website and all the photos, he followed that all the time.”
She said she could not tell if he had hung on for the bridge to open before passing away, adding: “I don’t know, it was just strange.
“He wasn’t well and hadn’t been well – we knew it was inevitable.
“We had been hoping that somehow that if he had been a bit better we would have had him out and over.
“As it was getting nearer and nearer we would drive as near as possible without going over it and he thought it was a marvellous piece of engineering.”
John’s funeral took place at Our Lady’s Catholic Church on Lapwing Grove at on November 3.