Text of Eulogy written by Adrian Toole and delivered by Adrian and Mark Toole at the Memorial service for their Father Peter Alexander Toole on Saturday 10 February 2001 at Welwyn Garden City.
Introduction
I’m Proud to have this opportunity to tell you about my father.
He has died after a long and trying illness which he bore with patience and good humour.
Knowing that few of you will be aware of all aspects of his life, I would like to sketch out my Father’s many achievements and enthusiasms.
His whole working life was spent in the public service. He never lost sight of his objectives. He stood for high moral standards, respect for the law, efficient government and accountability.
His energies were put into the duties of (amongst others):
- Altar server
- School prefect
- Our Lady of Dolours Social Club
- Finchley Borough Council
- Fire Watch during the early years of the war
- Home Guard
- Royal Engineers
- Finchley Borough council
- Hampshire County council
- WGC Development Corporation
- Hertfordshire County Council
- Department of Transport
- Civil Service College
- Institute of Professional Civil Servants
- Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners Association
- Welwyn Garden City Society
- St Albans College of Building
- Neighbourhood Engineers
- Welwyn Hatfield Environmental Forum
- Amnesty International
- And the Roman Catholic Church
Not least of his achievements of course were his dedication to my mother Roisin, to myself and to my three brothers, Mark Simon and James. We would not be the men we are today without his example.
Early Life
My Father was not loquacious about his early life in Hendon, he had his favourite anecdotes and with persistence could be drawn out but otherwise he seemed to think it was of little interest. Others have painted a picture of a happy childhood as the only child of doting parents, within a large extended family all living locally.
We do know that he was brought up on Brimstone and Treacle and was rarely ill but never strong. He claimed not to have suffered any significant illness even whilst in Burma and continued to stay fit and active until last year whence he became progressively weaker.
The War
Dad volunteered for the Royal Engineers when he was 18 in 1940. But he was initially rejected on account of a bad heart. Later Granddad Alex, all too aware of the horrors of war for the infantry and keen for him to have a trade, intervened on his behalf and Dad was accepted. He trained in this country and then sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, celebrating his 21st birthday on the way, to join the Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners, an Indian regiment for which he developed a high regard.
Building roads, bridges, hospitals and airfields, his activities there would indeed have excited any young man. But one wonders how a lad used to the comforts of a middle class home adapted to three years of jungle warfare. A photograph of the time shows him together with two fellow officers. Whilst they look hale and hearty, my father is obviously less robust. He held that his army experience was amongst the most satisfying in his life and I believe that those years had a profound influence on him.
His baptism of fire was gained in Imphal after he was flown into the town. which was under siege. The Japanese who had advanced steadily North and West since the disaster of Singapore were desperate to break out of Burma through to the rich picking of India to the west. The allies knew they had to be stopped and were planning their own offensive.
There followed a vicious battle, the enemy having surrounded our troops both at Imphal and at Kohima to the North. My Father was there for over two months before the sieges were lifted and the enemy forced onto the retreat, the engineers often doing patrol duty. There were over 17,000 allied casualties and more than four times as many Japanese but it was the turning point of the land war in the East.
Early in 1945 The Royal Bombay Sappers and Miners received a commendation from Lt. General Scoones as follows:
“I wish to congratulate all Engineers of the Corps on the splendid success of their work during the operations to date. It is by their skill and energy amounting often to continued exertions by day and night that the Corps with all its heavy equipment has first passed over extremely difficult jungle country and mountain track, and secondly, put across a vast river in ten days. Speed has been the essence of our success. Speed has been achieved by the supreme effort of our engineers in spite of jungle, mountains and rivers and often with faulty equipment.”
Job
As Simon said: “Of all the people I’ve known, he enjoyed his job the most.”
Indeed Dad’s career was his main hobby. His education being disrupted by the war, he obtained professional qualifications as a Civil Engineer at evening classes and applied his skills in the same profession all his life. His involvement in road transport was a vocation not just a job.
From his first project, which was a traffic island in Finchley High Road, to the end of his Civil Service Career as Regional Controller for SE England from whence he retired in 1982, and beyond to the end of his days, he was dedicated to improving the transport infrastructure of the country. Nobody could spend an hour with my father without being made aware of this.
You may not all realise that my Father designed some of the Garden City roads, he worked on site during the construction of the M1 but considered the main achievement of his career to be the leading technical role he played on the Forboys Committee which designed the ‘new’ road signs in the 60s.
He was not however insensitive to the anti-social impact of the motor car. He told me that along with all other professionals he failed to anticipate the explosion in car ownership and pointed out how in many notorious instances the politicians of the day refused to acknowledge even the warnings that they did receive on future congestion.
In recent times he has contributed to the national debate with his concept of taxing car parking spaces, an idea which he published in a letter to The Times and which is now national policy. He put much energy into planning matters for the Welwyn Garden City Society.
His interest in his profession extended also to education and he was a popular lecturer at the Civil Service College. Well into retirement he was leading practical classes at St Albans Building College and at local schools.
Enthusiasms
One of the first descriptions that comes to mind in connection with my father is Enthusiasm.
I can’t do justice here to my Father’s broad scope of interests. It will have to suffice to list some of them:
- His Jeeps. He virtually lived in a jeep during the war and bought another one immediately on returning to London.
- Astronomy, in pursuit of which he lost the sight of one eye.
- Archaeology especially Roman. Simon, Mark and myself well remember digging up the deserted mediaeval village of ‘Olde’, during which Dad was the only person to find anything, whilst Simon fell into a bed of nettles.
- Local history in which his particular interests were boundary markers and maps.
- Civic duties, he met with our MP Melanie Johnson to discuss the condition of Sweet Briar only a few weeks before his death.
- Gardening, not in the ‘green fingered’ style but always pottering around, planning a bonfire and looking for something to mend.
He had a broad spectrum of interests focussing on the natural world and the countryside, Until last year, never a week passed that he, mum and sometimes others of the family would go out for a walk, and it is sad that we no longer have him around unfolding a map to point out a feature of the landscape.
Documentation was my Father’s passion, indeed he was never without a pen in his pocket. He took it as proof of the decadence of the age that his sons invariably fail to carry one themselves.
Family
Dad took his paternal responsibilities seriously and certainly suffered many indignities and defeats at our hands in the early days. As a Father he was patient, non-judgemental and supportive. He continued to take an active interest in the lives of his adult sons but rarely interfered. On the Friday before he died he asked after my job prospects with the comment:
“Well we’ve known you for 49 years so we’re keen to learn how you’re doing.”
He retained a school-boy enthusiasm all his life and was never happier than when instigating and joining in a physical game. He was a great favourite with his grand-children of whom we have five here today. We have many photos of him entertaining and instructing them on any of the numerous subjects on which he was knowledgeable.
The year before last was Mum and Dad’s Golden Wedding Anniversary which alas, on account of Mum’s illness, was not celebrated properly but for more than half a century Mum and Dad have been a source of great constancy, love and generosity to the immediate family, the extended family and also the many friends and acquaintances. We are very grateful to that marriage and have enjoyed its unity and, indeed, its good nature.
Rosh and Pete always loved to laugh together and uncover the funny side of things.
There was a particular conversation some years ago which comes to mind. The topic on that occasion was home economies and a subscription to Which magazine.
Rosh to Pete: Why do we keep getting this Which magazine?
Because it tells you all everything that might be wrong with things you buy.
But Pete, we never buy anything.
That’s because we read Which magazine!
Sociability and Sense of Humour
My father although happy with his own company, was not shy. he came into his own at social gatherings where, to our surprise, and in early years embarrassment, he would blossom. At the Family gathering last Christmas he recited his traditional party piece, The Lion and Albert and one could easily imagine him as a young boy entertaining the Toole and Mc’Donald clans of all those years ago with something similar. His successes as a lecturer owed a lot to his natural appreciation of an audience. He could certainly lose his place in the notes more endearingly than anyone else I can imagine.
My father always had a keen sense of the ridiculous and this would result in chance observations sending him off into fits of uncontrollable mirth lasting minutes on end. His favourite occupation in his last months was to watch videos of TV comedy shows, Morecambe & Wise and Dad’s Army.
His sense of humour never deserted him. The last conversation I had with my father, concerned a dream he had had. Characteristically he told the story with a smile.
Conclusion
One last anecdote; at his retirement party his ex-boss said:
“He is a practical man- if I needed someone who would do a job quickly, reliably and knew how to cut the right corners it was Peter”.
My Father was not a complicated man, he was not a sophisticated man, he was a good and a simple man, reliable, enthusiastic and I have never heard a word spoken against him. He was an anchor for this family and we miss him.
James’ message to you all
James came back from Japan when Dad became seriously ill. Patricia followed and they stayed for the funeral. They can’t be here today but James sent you this message:
“Thank you to all my family and friends, for making the effort to come today and please accept my apologies that Patricia and I cannot be here with you. The warm, spontaneous and heartfelt responses that the family has received from countless people over the last few weeks have been a tremendous comfort to us and are a tribute to my father’s love for his family, friends and colleagues. Although his death has been a great sadness and I will miss him greatly, I am constantly reminded that his long and eventful life left us much to be thankful for.”
Conclusion
My mother who has organised all today’s events, would now like to invite you into the hall next door for refreshments.
She hopes to thank everyone personally, but in case that doesn’t happen can I now say how pleased we are that so many have turned up to remember my father.
Postscript: James
For the record, a memory of a trivial conversation with Dad some years ago has had a disproportionate influence on my Work and personal life. I learnt the lesson of not panicking and being practical.
During the construction of the Channel Tunnel, I worried about the safety aspects. At that time terrorists were bombing London and other places and it seemed to me that the tunnel would be an easy high-profile target. I asked Dad what on earth would happen if a bomb went off on a train in the middle of the tunnel. If it was big enough would it not rupture the walls, would not thousands of people die and would not the entire structure be flooded with water, rendering the whole thing useless?
Dad thought for a moment and acknowledged that although the tunnel was deep under the sea bed it was theoretically possible that a huge explosion might cause it to flood as I suggested. I asked him “So what on earth could be done in that situation?” His answer was simple:
“We’d need to fix the lining and get the water out with a big pump”.
Strange how that has stuck in my memory for so long…”