Obituary: Hayling Island Naval Club president, John Lynch, dies aged 88

John Lynch, who has died at the age of 88

Born in Bletchley, Milton Keynes on February 3, 1929, John Lynch died on Sunday, December 10.

He served in the Royal Navy as a young man, before leaving in 1954 to marry Daphne, his wife of 63 years.

The pair met during his time in service in Portsmouth.

After they married, the couple moved to London where John secured employment with Liverpool Victoria in Bloomsbury Square.

They bought a property in Welling, Kent, where their two daughters Penny and Wendy were born, and established a family home.

But John missed being near the sea, so they relocated to Waterlooville, before moving to Hayling Island in 1965.

John spent many years working in the fire protection industry, eventually starting his own successful business, Uni-Guard Fire Protection.

Friends say his favourite pastime was sailing, as he progressed from captaining a small dinghy to a 32ft cruiser, spending many happy hours on the Solent and beyond.

At the age of 70, John gave this hobby up when he retired.

Instead, he took up golf – which he grew to love and still played before he died.

Alongside Daphne, he enjoyed long service of the Hayling Island Naval Association, eventually becoming its president on March 19, 2015.

Here, he made many friends, who say he ‘loved singing’ and was ‘always the life and soul of the party’. They say he will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him.

John’s funeral will take place at 2pm on Wednesday, January 3, 2018, at St Mary’s Church in Church Road on Hayling Island.

The service – a medal-friendly naval funeral, with a bugler and standard-bearer – will be followed by a burial in the churchyard.

A wake will take place at the Newtown House Hotel in Manor Road.