John Anderton

John on the 1963 school photo

John, taken in 2005 by his son, James (Photo taken from a newspaper print)

I remember John from 1961 I was in class 1S with him.  I was expelled in the second year in 1962.  I had a lot of problems, mainly in retrospect due to a dysfunctional family.  I was always in trouble, held the school record for detentions, etc, played truant for six weeks, never had the right equipment either for my basic school work, or for games.  In those less enlightened times you would be singled out for some type of punishment or humiliation for such crimes.  When we had to play cricket I did not have any cricket kit, and I used to dread being humiliated in front of the whole class, but there was nothing I could do about it.  I just accepted that that was how it was going to be.  But John had a spare set of kit, and would never forget to bring this for me.  Once, he only had one set of kit, because the other set was in the wash, and he told me I could have his kit and he would go without.  He truly was a special special person and I never forgot the kindness that he showed to me. I did not see John until around 1982, when he walked into the Cricketers Arms one Saturday night.  I was so impressed that he remembered me, and of course we reminisced about times long since passed.  He still had that big smile on his face, I never forgot him, and whilst I was sorry to hear of his passing, as a spiritualist, I am so pleased that he now has his well deserved new life.  I was the first to arrive at his funeral.  I now live near Huntingdon, so I allowed plenty of time to get to the Spiritualist Church, which I was obviously familiar with and as I expected, it was packed out.  I think I recognised Stuart Slinn from our class of 1961 but no one else.  I have been to many funerals in my time, as we all have of course, but I can never remember being quite so emotional before.  I heard Johns wife say at the graveside that he had said several times during his illness "I am not afraid of dying when the time comes, as I know I will be going to a better place", he was surely right about that.  There was a nice picture of John in the Chronicle and Echo, big smile, of course, I have pinned it up on my kitchen wall amongst the others of people that have passed away and there will not be many days that will pass when I do not raise a glass to him, he truly was a special person. I knew John for only a year or so, but remembered him for forty five.

 

John's mum, Iris, saw Stuart's words and added:

 

John did not originally have a spare cricket kit, but she remembers him coming home and telling her that he had lost his cricket kit and she had to go and buy him some more.  John had obviously done that so that Stuart could use his extra kit.

After he died, children at Thorplands School planned to release a cloud of Helium Balloons, as part of a tribute by staff and pupils to their learning support assistant who had made such an impact in such a short time.  The following item is taken from the Chronicle and Echo about the school's tribute, which was published in the week after he died and provides a short summary of John's life.

 

CHILDREN at a Northampton school will release a cloud of helium balloons into the sky carrying messages written to their much-loved learning support assistant who died this week.  Staff and children at Thorplands Primary School will be among those to pay tribute to John Anderton; a man known for his colourful character and "flamboyant" ties. Mr Anderton took up the post of learning support worker in September and later told his wife Janet they had been some of the best months of his life.  Headteacher Mary Slaymaker said: "He has been wonderful since he has been here.  He was just what the children needed, very caring and very encouraging.  "He made a difference to children and staff, he was really one of those people who light up a room as soon as they walk into it." The school are due to hold a ceremony next month in which children who were helped by John will release balloons into the air in his memory. Mr Anderton grew up in Spring Boroughs, moving to St James in later life and finally moving to Kingsthorpe with his family.  He married Janet in 1975 at Northampton's Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the couple had a son called James. He worked at British Timken in Duston until he was made redundant in the late 1990s and he then found work at Mereway Community College as a site supervisor assistant.  But when he caught a bad virus in 2004 his existing heart arrhythmia condition worsened and he had to give up manual work.  He was given the Thorplands post late last year and worked there until his sudden death on Monday. Mrs Anderton said: "He was a larger than life person, we found 200 of his flamboyant ties. He wore different ties when he went anywhere."  His outgoing personality also earned him a host of nicknames including `John the dancer' and even Johnny Daffodil because of the yellow trousers and green jacket he used to wear. Outside work he was a long-time member of the Boys' Brigade, a player for the brigade's Old Boys' Rugby Football Club and a keen supporter of the Saints.

Everyone I have spoken to about John remembers him as someone who you immediately liked, who went out of his way to make sure you were not left out and considered others before himself.  He will be very sadly missed.

Ian Dow

31st March 2006

 

In October 2009, Jane Phelps (now Sheppard) saw this Memorial to John, and wanted to add a few words to it.  She says:

 

I was shocked to see the death of John Anderton and very saddened.  I did not know John during my time at school although I knew Janet his wife.  I did however meet John during my time as Chair of Governors at Mereway Upper School.  John was a perfect gentleman in every sense of the words.  We had lots of laughs and the team at Mereway was richer for his presence and he always had a smile for me when I arrived for meetings.  I have moved to Ireland and did not hear of John’s sudden death and offer my sincere condolences to his family.