Tributes paid to 'cheeky' Marlow cobbler (From Bucks Free Press)

Tributes paid to 'cheeky' Marlow cobbler

12:00pm Sunday 21st March 2010 in

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TRIBUTES have been paid to a “cheeky” cobbler remembered for always telling jokes who has died aged 87.

George Bristow, who set up and ran Thameside Shoe Repair in Dean Street, Marlow, for 21 years from 1966, passed away after a battle with lung cancer.

Mr Bristow, who lived in Berwick Lane, was also well known for his ten years as a car park attendant at the Compleat Angler Hotel by Marlow Bridge.

Marlow High Street was brought to a brief standstill as a horse and carriage took his body to All Saints Church for the funeral on Friday.

Daughter Leonie Holzer, of The Acre, Marlow, said: “He was always telling jokes and if anyone else would tell one he would said 'oi, I crack the jokes around here' even towards the end. He had a real cheeky character.

The mother-of-two said: “He was always smiling and always happy. Everybody knew him in Marlow, everywhere he went.”

Mr Bristow was a member of Marlow Age Concern.

His party trick at the cobblers was to hold small nails in his mouth, which he would then simultaneously spit out  to then bang into the soles of shoes whilst being watched by passers by.

“Kids used to think it was quite funny, they would stand at the window watching him,” Mrs Holzer said.

She added that he “loved the job” at the hotel.

Mr Bristow was fond of horse racing and he would “always have a flutter” at the bookmakers - but hardly ever backed a winning horse.

He was also a keen angler.

He held a licence to fish at the river by the Compleat Angler and would also go out on a small rowing boat he owned on Temple Island with best friend Bill Hens, who used to run a bicycle shop in the town.

“He also loved his garden and was always growing flowers, fruit and vegetables,” Mrs Holzer said.

Before his death, born and bred Marlovian Mr Bristow decided to write a history of his life for his many grandchildren and great grandchildren.

In it, he talks of his early years living in Queens Road, his parents Joseph Bristow and Kate Turner, his nine siblings and his career.

A phrase he would often tell his family was “don't forget to stop and smell the roses now and again” - encouraging them to slow down and appreciate the good things in life.

With this sentence he ended his seven page biography.

His wife Merle died aged 77, also from Cancer, in October.

The family thanked Sue Ryder Nettlebed Hospice in Henley, where he spent his last weeks.

Mrs Holzer said: “They were just amazing, he felt really safe there.”