David Griffin

FORMER merchant navy man turned Devizes travel agent David Griffin has died aged 84.

Mr Griffin was born in Windsor in 1931 and joined the merchant navy aged just 16.

He travelled the world and told his family his favourite destination was Singapore.

Poor eyesight led to him having to leave the navy and so in 1952 he went to Africa and joined the Mercantile Company Ltd as a cargo shipping assistant at the harbour of Dar es Salaam.

It was there he met his future wife Helen who was a nurse at Tanga hospital. They married in 1958 and had two children Stuart and Deborah. They returned to England in 1962 where he joined the travel agency Thorntons in Bristol.

He later moved to Devizes and joined Hunting Lambert and rose to the position of manager. His work led him to his involvement with the chamber of commerce and in 1980 he became president of the Wessex Chamber.

After Hunting Lambert changed its name to AT Mays he stayed with the travel agency until his retirement aged 65. However, he missed the social side in his work and became a tour guide at Longleat House.

As his wife's health deteriorated he gave up his guiding role to became her full-time carer. He was an active member of a military model club where he won several awards for his displays at the shows.

His daughter Debbie Sims said: "In his last few weeks he went to Hillworth Park with his great grand daughter and these were some of his best days. He was so impressed with the renovation of the park and was always proud of being a Devizes person. He was diagnosed with cancer in July 2015 from there he made the most of everyday."

Before his death on January 19 he spent a short while in Avonmead nursing home. Mrs Sims said: "His family would like to thank all the staff at Avonmead and Dorothy House for the special care and support during this difficult time."

His funeral will be held at St George's Church, Semington, on February 5 at 2.30pm.