Michael George Follenfant

“Love’s last gift – rememberance.”

Michael sadly passed away on 24th February in his own home, aged 77 years.

Mick will be deeply missed but fondly remembered by all who knew him.

A service to celebrate his life will take place on Thursday 11th March in the Crematorium Chapel in Crewe.

For any further information please contact our funeral home on 01270 584447.

To the family he was always Mick: to his work and life in Crewe, George and  to the Anglo-German Club – Mike.

The family believe that his second Christian name – George- was adopted when there were too many Michaels, either at school or indeed when he joined Royce’s so he was appointed a George. He was following his uncle who was known as George rather than his first Christian name.

He was born  in Pinner, Middlesex in November 1943 in the family home – his mother then a secretary and his father an electrical engineering army officer.

Mick’s earliest memories of family life were of Borden in Hampshire where the family lived in an army quarter. In the late 1940’s – just to think that was in the first half of the last century – the family moved to Tankerton in Kent near to his fathers’ mother and later, his aunt Jess and uncle George with his cousins Peter and Jane.

His brother, Jon came along in 1949 in Tankerton where they both spent their early years on the north Kent coast in a rambling old house that was forever being repaired or redecorated by their father when he was on leave from the army. They were very happy times for the family, enjoying walks on the seafront and in the mud with their cousin Jane, with their and their neighbours dogs, sailing with cousin Peter but mainly just messing about.

At Christmas the two families would get together and perhaps be joined by cousin Roger and his parents.

Mick passed his 11 plus and started commuting two stops up the line to Faversham Grammar school where he noticeably starred in the play Becket, playing the lead role as well as gaining his A levels.

Mick was interested in maths and mad about cars and things engineering. So perhaps it was no surprise that he followed the profession of his father, uncle and grandfather who were electrical engineers, into becoming an engineering apprentice with Rolls Royc,e moving to Crewe just shy of his 18th birthday in 1961.

So the brothers grew up together until George started work in Crewe and Jon entered secondary school in Kent.

Initially, George lived in the Rolls Royce hostel, Leighton House, before moving on to a shared flat in Bunbury and then a shared house, in Jubilee Road.

In the 1970’s he bought his present house in Sandylands Park and Jon came up from London, where he was then living, via their parent’s house, then in Worcestershire, with a load of furniture and household goods. On moving in and turning on the water for the first time the header tank in the roof over- flowed down the stairs to their great consternation. Luckily, they fixed the problem by George thrusting Jon through the ceiling hatch outside the bathroom with instructions to fix the ballcock!

In Jon’s teens and early twenties he would often visit George in Crewe and they would go to Oulton Park to watch the motor racing, also local attractions across into North Wales and on a couple of occasions they would be roped in by George’s friend Martin Bourne to marshal aircraft at the Sleap air days.

They would go on holidays together in the UK – youth hostelling in Devon- travelling around Ireland in George’s Beetle and then adventurously on several trips through France in his red MG.

Mick sorted out Jon’s first car for him, being his elder brother, and expert in all things automotive. He subsequently spent many hours patiently explaining over the phone to Jon in London how to repair various cars by the roadside.

Joyce came into Mick’s life quite early after he moved to Crewe when they met through a work colleague. When Joyce went through divorce they became soul mates and found that they had much in common including music and started regularly visiting the Halle in Manchester. They became competitive cooks trying to outdo each other on alternate Sunday lunches at their respective houses.

Joyce loved singing. Mick loved music.

He helped her learn to drive so that she could travel to the Nantwich Choral Society.

He joined her on choral society exchange trips to Vienna, Macon and Bishofsheim. She was the organiser when they started to travel and the two of them began annual holidays initially to see Jane in the states then the Greek islands, Turkey, the Danube and many other places beckoned.

They lived separate but joint lives for many years, never married, never moved in together, enjoying each other’s company and he nursed her through illness until she died 6 years ago.

In the early 1990’s Mick was made redundant from Rolls Royce and at a loose end went to Florida to stay with  Jane and her husband Mel

in Florida for 3 months, helping make loos for luxury yachts and rigs. A period of life which he thoroughly enjoyed.

On his return he tried a variety of jobs before ending up working in Lancashire for Arvin Meritor. He bought a flat outside Blackpool and commuted between Crewe and Lancashire each week. On his retirement he sold the flat.

Like many people thinking of retirement he wondered what he would do and Sara, Jon’s wife, counselled him into thinking about a dog as a companion. They had all enjoyed owning dogs in their lifetimes. After much thought and research, Brassie came into his life from the Dogs Trust. Thereafter Brassie ruled his life and became by all accounts the terror of Wistaston.

Over the years he enjoyed weekend sailing on Winsford Flash, went on several deep-sea sailing holidays with the Island Cruising Club, was a member of the local church council, a canvasser for the Conservative party and particularly enjoyed his membership of the Anglo-German Club.

Mick was Jon’s best man when Sara and he were married and was their first visitor when Jon was posted to Germany in 1983. With Joyce they helped them move into their house in Salisbury in the late 1980’s.

Mick and Jon spent every Christmas together, bar maybe 4, either at their parents houses or latterly in Jon’s Salisbury home or at the homes of their daughters Elizabeth and Amy and grandchildren.

Whilst a distant great uncle Mick was interested and proud of his nieces’ progress through life and the subsequent arrival of their children. He quietly enjoyed their company and was perhaps, as a single man, overawed by them when they all got together for family events.

They would have almost regular weekly phone conversations sometimes brief and sometimes rambling on for an hour or more. In their most recent one they were talking about coming to see his completed building work, subject to Covid, and going through family photos. Jon was also keen to re-visit the Dysart, a pub he often took him to for a good steak.

Covid has perhaps been both a reason and an excuse for the brothers not seeing each other recently but as their father lived into old age they both thought they both would have time in the future to get together and perhaps compose a family history. This was unfortunately not to be.

The family would like to thank everyone for coming to the funeral, particularly to Sean who has taken on Brassie, to Martin, Mick’s friend of 59 years and with whom some whisky may have been shared, and his wife Julie for forwarding cards. For all the messages of condolence and to all those who live locally and who helped Jon make the necessary arrangement from afar.