John Goss (FS 60-65).

John’s Wife, Lynne, has provided the following:

“John was born in Oldham on 23^rd November, 1946, the eldest son of parents Ouida and Bert Goss. Bert ran his father’s well known men’s outfitters business in the town. Younger brother Richard was born two years later. John attended St Mary’s Primary School, across the road from the family home in Greenfield, Saddleworth. After a short spell at Oldham Hulme Grammar School, at the age of 12 John went to boarding school in St Bees, Cumbria. Brother Richard was at that time at Seascale Prep School and later joined John at St Bees. John spent many happy school years until he was eighteen exploring the Lake District – walking and cycling around the area on free days away from school. While at St Bees he also developed a love for rugby, which continued throughout his adult life – one major highlight recently was a guided tour of Twickenham Stadium, a birthday present from his daughters.

After completing his A levels John went off to Agricultural College at Cirencester to study to become a land agent, but after a short time decided it wasn’t for him and returned home to train with a local firm to become a Chartered Surveyor. After becoming qualified, he moved again to start a job working for West Sussex County Council in Chichester and loved his time on the south coast. It was also here that he met his first wife, Anne, and where their eldest daughter Margaret was born in 1976. Her birth led to a move back north for them to be nearer grandparents and they set up home in Silsden near Keighley, eventually welcoming two more daughters – Hannah in 1977 and Caroline in 1979. John at this time was working for Pendle Council in property management and remained in that job until 1987.

John met his second wife, Lynne, while working at Pendle Council and following their marriage in 1986, their daughter Kathryn, John’s fourth, was born in 1988. John and Lynne have lived in the Pendle area of north east Lancashire since their marriage.

In 1987 he  began working for Rochdale Council and shortly afterwards was seconded to Rochdale Development Agency where he remained until retirement in 2009, being closely involved in setting up Kingsway Business Park,  at that time the largest business development park in England.

Following his retirement, John and Lynne adopted from daughter Margaret and her family, their springer spaniel dog, Dylan. It was such a new lease of life for him after finishing work. Although he and Lynne had had other dearly loved spaniels during their marriage, Dylan became John’s best mate – accompanying him on walks around the neighbourhood and further afield. Dylan would often be seen sitting next to John in the garden while he was carrying on with his other great love – gardening. John and Lynne loved nothing more than walking with Dylan in the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales and occasionally meeting up with daughters and grandchildren for walks in the countryside. The countryside was in his blood from his school days - he enjoyed reading books about farming in the dales, Yorkshire vets, anything to do with the great outdoors.

Some of John’s final years in retirement were spent helping out with deliveries for the local butchers in Brierfield. He so enjoyed the driving around, talking to all kinds of people, and just generally being the sociable, chatty person he had always been. John and Lynne also enjoyed travelling abroad, particularly cruising, and had recently enjoyed cruises to Norway and the Mediterranean. Trips to Australia were also very common during the 1990s and 2000s to visit Lynne’s family who lived in Tasmania.

Unfortunately, during the last two or three years, his health was not very good, mainly due to being diagnosed with diabetes and then dementia. In May this year he was taken ill while on holiday in Corfu and this resulted in a lengthy stay in hospital before moving to a local care home in Burnley. Unfortunately he passed away peacefully but very suddenly on 6th September 2019.”

 

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St Bees School,    St Bees,    Cumbria,    CA27 0DS.

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