Stephen John Carrington

“Always loved, never forgotten and forever missed.”

Steve sadly passed away on 18th July 2022 aged 63 years.

Beloved Dad of Ben, Joe & Tom.

Steve once after he was brought back from a fatal heart attack, “I know I’ve been a bugger, but I’ve had a bloody good life!”

He was much loved by his parents Georgy and the late John Carrington and no parent should have to say goodbye to their son, it’s not the natural order of things.

Steve and Marie were married for thirty-one years and although they separated in 2017 they lived in the same house and divorced just last year but still cared.  Steve had a partner Kath.  He will always be a beloved dad to Ben, Joe and Tom, a dear brother to Jayne and Julie, brother-in-law and close to Steve, an uncle to Robbie, James, Ellie and to Ollie, Grace and Summer.  He was close to his cousin Kim who says he was very much like a brother to her and a cousin to Darren.  Fond of Marie’s parents John and Joyce, he had many happy times with them over the years and thought a lot about her late brother Neil, and cousins Debbie and Gail.

Growing up he was a good friend to Ashley and to Julie, they both became godparents to the lads.

There were many great friends to Steve and Marie over the years:  Paul and his wife Denny, also godparents to the boys, began a lasting friendship years ago after Paul and Steve met at Michelin.

Carmen and Keith, neighbours from Cheadle who also became close friends, friends from Staffordshire, Andrea and Lee, Lez who was Steve’s best man and his wife Jayne.  Steve and Marie were close to Gary and Jenny and went on holiday to the Isle of Wight every year to visit them.  They also went on holiday with Gerald and Avis to the Isle of Wight when the kids were younger. And Bob and Steph in later years who have fond memories of the holidays they also shared.

Janet and Russell who rented a property to Steve in Wybunbury before moving to his house in Shavington.

Some interesting factoids some of you may not know:

Steve was welcomed into the world on 23rd June 1959 and lived in Dudley with his mum, dad and two sisters Jayne and Julie.  It comes as no great surprise that he was incredibly mischievous and always getting into trouble, but he was very funny, and people couldn’t help but laugh at his antics – except Jayne and Julie who he used to wind up big time!

His mum left him in charge one day when she went shopping and when she got back, she was horrified to discover Steve had cut Jaynes hair and she had returned the favour!  Georgie gave him a slap for it.

When he was around six or seven, he pushed a washer on to his finger and Uncle Alan had to cut it off in his vice – the washer not the finger!

At the age of thirteen he made himself a ring out of a steel tube and got it stuck on his finger so had to have it cut off – the ring not his finger!

His mum and dad bought him a racing bike and he swapped it with his friend one day and had an accident split his chin open.  He went through a phase of being in and out of hospital as a kid.

When he was nine some of his friends lived in a pub and their cat had had kittens. Steve brought one back and asked if he could keep it, his mum said he couldn’t have it because it was a female and to take it back.  He returned ten minutes later with another cat and that turned out to be female again, so again his mum told him to take it straight back.  He then came back with a third cat asking yet again if he could keep it and by this time Georgie was fed up and said no you can’t have a bloody kitten it’s another female!  It seems Georgy didn’t want a cat in the first place.

He attended Red Hall Junior School and then Ellowes Hall Secondary School until he was 18 and his very first job was at a bread factory.  He and Ashley worked together at Dudley Zoo, but Steve had real aspirations to become a pilot, but his hopes were dashed as he was born with a perforated ear drum.  His last job before moving to Staffordshire was in the Redmond Fisher foundry and when he went for the interview, he was asked what line of work he wanted and he quite serious he replied, “I want your job!”

He enjoyed fishing with his cousin David and his local was the Free Bodies Pub in Dudley.  At the age of twenty-six, Steve moved from Dudley to Stoke to work for Michelin where he met Paul and wife Denny.  Around same time, Marie worked at Spode, and apparently when Steve was walking off a hangover one day, he was peering in the window smiling and waving and he just he went in, asked her out for dinner.  Very long story, they married in 1990 and honeymooned in Mexico.

Ben and Marie supplied me with some more snippets, they lived in Blithe Bridge in Staffordshire and Cheadle and their local pub was the Master Potter.

He then moved to Crewe due to work commitments at JCB, working for them for close to thirty years jumping up the ladder from shop floor manager to executive director level.

He lived in the US in Savanna, Georgia for one year whilst at JCB and the family visited for school holidays, but he also travelled extensively with work to places like India, China, Brazil, Russia, US, Europe to name but a few.

Ben, Joe and Tom were born between 1992 and 1996 and they enjoyed fabulous family holidays, globetrotting to Caribbean, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahamas, Mexico, Cape Verde and many more exotic places.  He always wanted to treat them to wonderful adventures, and they knew they were very lucky to experience travelling the world and experiencing activities like Scuba Diving.

They also enjoyed family holidays every year in Cornwall and the boys were able to take a mate or a girlfriend because they rented out a large holiday cottage for a week and of course Isle of Wight.  They did a lot of surfing, drinking and eating.

After moving to Crewe in 1998, they first lived in Hough, local pubs being the Vine, The Elephant and The White Hart then in 2012 they moved to Steve’s dream home, Sandygate Lodge Walgherton, having bought the house for its fishing lake, he loved fishing and maintaining the land on his tractor.  The local pub was the Red Lion and Steve was often seen mowing the fields in his tractor with a beer in hand listening to the radio!

Whilst at JCB, Steve proudly accepted the Queens award twice.  In 2012 Steve was pictured with the award and the article read:

The global success of JCB’s most iconic product was honoured this week with the presentation of a Queen’s Award marking a huge growth in overseas sales. Exports of the JCB backhoe loader increased by almost 150% from 2009 to 2011, earning the company a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category.

HM Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire, Ian Dudson CBE, presented the Award to Backhoe Loader Business Unit Managing Director Steve Carrington in the presence of the division’s 750 employees.

After Steve left JCB he worked for Mecalac (another excavator manufacturer) at senior level for a couple of years.

In his last couple of years Joe and Tom spent time living with him in both Wybunbury and Shavington and in his spare time, he had a number of interests.  He loved his cars, guitars, shooting air rifles, fishing, films, socialising, food, music, a good drink or two, or three, and his eyebrow and mouth would twitch when had a drink!

Steve’s catchphrase was:  You only live once.  That’s not exactly true, Steve lived twice!  And he lived life to the full

His funeral will take place on Friday 5th August 2022 at Crewe Crematorium Chapel at 1.45pm

Kind donations in Steve’s memory are for British Heart Foundation

For further information and to offer your condolences, please telephone our funeral home on 01270 584447