My father John Melville Bagshaw, was born in Birmingham on the 24th Of April 1933 to his parents Arthur and Lilly.
They lived in Sycamore Road, Erdington, Birmingham with Johns younger sister Jean.
Near to where they lived in Chelmsley Wood was John and Jeans Grandma Barnes who lived to the great age of 101. 
John grew up during World War 2and his father was conscripted in the army to serve in Germany and later in Africa, while his mother worked part time to support the family. At the age of 7, John caught Diptheria and while being treated in Little Bromwich hospital, a bomb destroy a hospital wing next to where John was being treated.
John spent much of his childhood looking after his sister Jean. It was a tough time for the family with the war on and the threat of bombs which were landing close by. Again John had a near miss when a bomb landed close to the family home and hit the local laundrette as they thought it was being used to manufacture arms.
John attended King Edward VI technical college as a student. As an energetic young man he enjoyed his motorcycle, and with his cigarette in his mouth would race my uncle Jim (Jeans future husband) to play in the local snooker hall at work in Aston. Jim told me “John would race so fast that you could bearly light a cigarette paper between the bike and the road as he sped around bends”. John was such a fit young man and would regularly cycle the 400 mile round trip to see his aunt and take holidays to Bognor Regis. 
John left technical college and served his national service at RAF Cardington Bedfordshire. My brother Mark, is proudly wearing 2729309 John Bagshaw’s RAF jacket today in his memory. 
He married his first wife Shirley in 1961. They rented their first home near to Johns parents, before buying their brand new home in Longstaff Croft Lichfield in 1963 for £1800 where he lived for the rest of his life.
In 1966, they had me as their first child, and in 1970 had their second child Mark.
John had a passion for ballroom dancing and joined Lorna Dixon dance school with Shirley. At the age of 4, they encouraged me to take up dancing and my dad would work many hours to support my lessons and competitions all around the country, including world championships at the Royal Albert Hall and the Blackpool Tower Ballroom and an appearance on Pebble Mill at one. Thank you dad for your dedication and support which you also gave me when I ran many London Marathons. 
John worked hard all of his life. He started work at GEC Witton in Birmingham before becoming an engineer at Radiation Ascot, Aston. Following redundancy, he moved to TI in Belper Derbyshire, before moving back to GEC in Stone Staffordshire. John was also a LIttlewoods pools collector for nearly 40 years and was a well known gentlemen around many estates in Lichfield. His hard work continued at home and he loved gardening and decorating his home. Twice while painting the fascias at his home, he fell from the top of his ladders....and how he survived we will never know, but he said it was his parachute training in the RAF that saved him. 
Sadly in 1976, John and Shirley divorced and John was left to bring me up alone, while Mark lived with his mother. Although my father didn’t see Mark for a few weeks, he would save piles of 10p pieces to give to Mark as pocket money when he visited later, every Saturday.
Despite the difficult times, John would still put his family first taking us to Butlins and Blackpool every year and to the Farnborough airshow. He would take us conker picking and train spotting. As well as this he would travel to Birmingham twice a week to visit his parents and take them to bingo. 
Johns passion for aircraft and railways was later passed onto his sons. He also loved West Bromwich Albion football club. 
In 1985 Mark brought John a ticket for them to go and watch his team play Marks team Liverpool. John never mentioned the score, as West Brom were thrashed 5-0 at home. It was the last time he saw them live, although he still followed the teams results.
In the early 1990s, John found love again when met Claire.
In 1994 they married at Lichfield’s registry office. John adored Claire and always put her first in everything they did together.
Claire has 3 children, Paula, Geoff and David and 6 grandchildren Ben, Hannah, Shaun, Jack, Matthew and Lewis as well as 3 great grandchilren who were a big part of both their lives. John loved his friends and family.
In 1999 his only grandchild Chloe was born.
Claire and John enjoyed a full and active life together, filled with numerous holidays around the world and had a large circle of friends from the many clubs that they were in. 
They would often surprise each other with such trips as a flight on concord and a hot air ballon ride. They even went on a light aircraft piloted by my younger brother Mark and flew over their home in Lichfield for an ariel  view, as well as a  narrow boat holiday. He was 78  at the time but still steered the barge and worked the locks. John even climbed to the roof of Lichfield cathedral.
During retirement they traveled to Australia 3 times to see Claire’s son David, and on one occasion on a 9 week holiday there spent 4 weeks camping under the stars and even climbed Ayres Rock and The Sydney harbour bridge.
John and Claire loved doing their holidays so much that one year they went abroad 5 times!
They traveled all over the world China, Singapore, Thailand, Mexico, Kuala Lumper, New Zealand, Croatia, Norway, and Switzerland as well as long winter breaks to Benalmadena in Spain, and Tunisia. 
They would also take many coach holidays in Europe including their particular favourites of Lake Como and Lake Garda. Sadly during their last trip to Lake Como, John was taken ill on the long journey home and suffered 3 heart attacks last winter. That was to be their last holiday together. 
Following surgery where John had 3 stents fitted, lockdown allowed John to try and relax and recover. We all helped support John and Claire by doing their gardening and shopping but John being John wouldn’t stay still for long, and one day while I was cutting his lawn, I found him behind the shed painting it.
On the cover of today’s eulogy, John is pictured look so smart and proud after giving away Nicola, who became my wife this summer. He took the place of her father who sadly passed away in April. 
John lived life to the full. He loved ballroom dancing and later took up line dancing as well as tenpin bowling and his weekly Whist Drive. He loved meals out with Claire and the family and afternoon teas, as well as going to his local pub to watch local “loud” live bands.
John was such a happy, positive, polite well dressed man. He was extremely punctual and taught me and my brother right from wrong.
Despite the illness he had in his later years, he never complained and kept his dignity, but as much as he loved his family, friends and holidays, Claire was the love of his life. They literally lived life to the full together.
Finally, John loved certain music including Dame Shirley Bassey, Susan Boyle, Winnie Attwell, and Vera Lynn who also passed away this year. John loved her song “ we’ll meet again “ and hopefully we’ll meet again some day.
We all loved and miss you so much. 
Thank you for the many memories and being the best dad and husband you could have been.