It is with deepest sadness that we announce the passing of Ian Frank Gaywood Robinson. We invite you to join us on the 9th of August to celebrate and reflect on Ian’s life, and on the people whose lives he touched.

Ian Robinson was born on the 18th of April, 1935, in Sydenham, Lewisham, to loving mother and father Hilda Muriel Gaywood and father Frank Robinson, respectively. Ian had a happy childhood alongside his parents and their family dog. During his childhood, he made a friend in Michael Lord, whom he would pass the time on their shared bus ride with reading comics together. At age 18, he handed out flyers at the Queen’s 1953 Coronation (and would later go on to sign Princess Diana’s book of condolence). Receiving his education at The Craig Boarding School in Windermere, he found a passion in medicine and went on to train at the London Hospital, before taking a residency at the Jenny Lind Children’s Hospital, in Norwich. Ian also worked as a Medical Officer in the RAF, stationed in Coltishall and Chivener in England, and Aden in Yemen. He even desired to become a pilot, and while he could not ultimately choose this path, his name and title can be found inscribed under the wing of the RAF Waddington Vulcan XH558. He found his calling in being a General Practitioner and Anaesthetist in a wealth of places around the world, including England, Africa, The Emirates, Canada, and Saudi Arabia. During this time he met his first wife, Valerie Pauline, and raised and loved his three children (and budgie, Jiminy!): Jacqueline Sarah, now 60; Julia Melanie, now 58; and Ford Timothy Ian Gaywood, now 55. After having moved to Canada, Ian met his second wife, Mary Jane MacNeil. His first wife Valerie went on to marry his childhood friend Michael, and Ian would still warmly regard them both as ‘two people he loved’, remaining close with them. Later, Ian would become a Publican for some time at the Whitehall Hotel, Tywyn, North Wales. He was also a creative, enjoying a range of artistic hobbies, from photography and an interest in cine-film/video, to music of all genres. In fact, Ian was self-taught on violin, piano, organ, accordion, guitar, banjo, ukulele, bugle, and mouth-organ, even composing a children’s carol. He loved science-fiction, Star Trek especially, and also took an interest in science itself as an area of study, privately writing a theory of space-time. Later he became a grandfather to grandson Jesse Elijah, now 23; and grand-daughter Cora Melanie, now 13, who both knew him as ‘Gaa’. He moved from Shropshire to Chesterfield in 2012 to be closer to family, living at Pembroke Court where he made friends with various residents at the housing block’s coffee mornings. Later, he went on to stay at Chatsworth Lodge, where he enjoyed the company of the brilliant carers and his own family alike.

In line with Ian’s close history and connection with the RAF, we ask that anyone wishing to send donations makes them out to the RAF Benevolent Fund. They, amongst many other great deeds, provide welfare support to military families, a range of support to disabled veterans, and emotional and physical support to older veterans.