Yesterday I lost my dad who succumbed to the vagaries of age and has left us to join the BEES contingent in the next world. My dad was 84.
My dad came from a family of BEES fans going back to the early 1900s. He started life in, as he described, if you can believe it, in a very working class rough Warwick Road, Twickenham. His mum died when he was very young and he was brought up by his eldest sister and a father who seemed to be a rough manual road worker.
My dad left school at 14 and worked and worked and often moved jobs, for a little bit more overtime if it was available at another firm etc. I think this was quite common in the factories on the Great West Rd at the time. He worked as a lathe turner in engineering and eventually became a skilled engineer with British Airways in the 1970s. Dad was one of them people who was a grafter who did all our DIY, had an allotment and was a very skilled model and dolls house maker. He was not a pub person, didn’t have a large number of friends and just looked after his family.
The most enjoyable times I had with him, were the discussions we had about our beloved BEES. As a immature teen, I didn`t listen as much as I should of about his BEES stories from the 1930s on. I remember at his most animated he said “we had a team of internationals, full current internationals as well”. He used to tell me of queues and paying to leave your bike etc at GP.
Dad started to take me to GP around 1976, it was more about my mum working than wanting me to share his love affair with the BEES. Shortly after he took me to the Bricklayers where if I remember rightly there were more tables and chairs than later years and he would have a quick half with a guy he used to pick up from Spring Corner.
My dad was predominantly a New Roader, but I do remember in the early days coming into GP on the Ealing Road and then spending one half on the Oak and another at the bottom of New Road. He didn`t go to many away games, but would attend the big local derbies. He went to the big FA Cup games also like Anfield 1989. I remember him taking me to The Den and we stood on the large bank down the side with no segregation – he still cheered on the BEES. I remember doing some DIY for my mum in her garage and I came across a red hard hat, my dad had written “Up The BEES!” on it front and back and I believe he wore this at British Airways engineering when we were about to play the FA Cup QF. This was so out of character for my dad and years later showed me how excited he was for the game and the BEES.
My dad was one of the majority who didn`t really understand the Noades issues and just wanted to watch the football. But I remember, that at a supporters game at GP for BU, I was rattling a bucket and he suddenly offered to pick up a bucket and then up and down the seats on Braemar Road rattling and shouting for spare change – he raised £350. He also helped me count some of the bucket coins on a few occasions.
Due to ill health dad stopped attending GP approximately 10 years ago. However he used to follow the BEES at home on TV etc. Even when he was slipping away he always asked how Brentford got on.
I hope anybody who remembers Michael “Mick” Bishop can raise a glass and wish him well.
Goodbye dad and I hope you find a nice place to watch the BEES upstairs and I hope we all follow your example of hard work and honesty.
Up The BEES Dad!
Regards
Jon
