Acknowledgement for James GINN

for my Dad, a very clever man

EULOGY

I will remember dad most for the mechanical skills I gained from him. From the age of 10 I learned to mix concrete by hand, work with wood and work on car engines, for example.

Dad's greatest skills were to do with constructing in wood. I can remember a photo of him as a young boy holding a wooden model of a glider. He did two apprenticeships, one as a carpenter in the building trade and one with wooden aircraft with Percival Aircraft at Luton Airport.

Dad was driven by a desire to use his creative skills to achieve something in life, not on a grand scale, but on a personal level.

He set out to design and build a two seat glider. When it was almost complete he sadly had to hand it over to others to complete, but it did eventually fly successfully.

continued....

EULOGY - continued

Some of his other achievements were: building a sailing dingy which we used to take on holiday.

Reconstructing and improving a wooden racing car for a colleague who had crashed and badly damaged it. It was successfully returned to the track and raced again.

He bought the wreckage of a crashed glider that was severely damaged and an insurance write-off, completely rebuilding it back to an airworthy glider.

In Rhodesia, as it was called then, to which he emigrated in the 1960s, he was commissioned to build a light aircraft from scratch. It flew successfully and was listed as Rhodesia's first commercial aircraft.

One of dad's earliest ambitions was to pilot powered aircraft. At the end of the Second World War, dad applied to join the RAF as a pilot. He started training but was moved onto something else more urgent. However, he did eventually achieve his ambition to fly powered aircraft by gaining his Private Pilot's License.

However, his preference was always to fly gliders. He said what he enjoyed most was getting up in the sky, leaving his cares and worries behind him, and enjoying the peace up there in the sky.

My hope, dad, is that now you have found true peace.

Stephen Ginn, son

THANKSGIVING - BY EDNA GILIKA


There is a native American quote that states 'the day you were born, you cried and
the world rejoiced. Live your life so when you die the world cries and you rejoice'.

On behalf of James Victor Ginn's family and the in-laws; Maswe's family in Botswana and on my own behalf I wish to thank everyone here present for their sympathy. Indeed I am grateful to all those who donated time to help the family in one way or the other during this difficult time.

I would like to honour Reverend Mark Weatley and all of you who have congregated here today by saying, thank you for the service and support to the Ginns.


Thank you all.