I met Jeff in June 1970 where we worked together as part of a team of six in the Passenger Department of British Rail at Euston.
Jeff was lodging in Horsham with, if memory serves, an aunt so he had become a London commuter.
We enjoyed working together and the social life it generated within the railway ‘family’. We formed a lasting friendship that continued after Jeff decided to enter a new career with Thwaites Brewery. This was most probably precipitated by he having met his future wife Elaine. She lived in a pub, The New Inn, in Darwen run by her parents Cliff and Joyce Leaver. The pull of Lancashire proved far greater than the pull of London!
Fortunately, we did not lose touch. Indeed, such was our friendship, I was very privileged to attend Jeff and Elaine’s wedding along with another of the Euston gang, Chris Lloyd. Although we lived some 200 miles apart, from time to time, I along with Chris would visit Jeff and Elaine in Darwen and, in doing so, I learnt some useful bar skills thanks to Elaine’s dad Cliff.
Periodic phone calls kept us in touch but in June 2023, I together with my wife Caroline, Chris and his wife met up with Jeff and Elaine to celebrate their Golden Wedding anniversary.
All these years later, I am gravely saddened by the passing of such an old friend who was a knowledgeable railwayman, a willing and dedicated colleague, a doting husband, father and grandfather.
I will always have the memory of our days together at Euston when, if the telephone rang, everyone would call out “Phone Booth” followed by cackling laughter all to Jeff’s long suffering pained amusement!
John Wilber
John Wilber
01/10/2026
