Place of birth

ramsgate

Most recently lived in

ramsgate

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Interesting facts about leonard

Len was born in 1923, and left school at 14 for an apprenticeship with the Coal Board. When WW2 broke out in 1939, being too young at 16 to enlist, he joined the Home Guard, patrolling the cliffs at Pegwell Bay. So we can genuinely lay claim to having our very own Private Pike. At 18 he joined the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Paladin where he worked below decks on the ship engines. He saw action during the war in the Indian Ocean escorting convoys. In February1944 a Japanese submarine torpedoed and sunk the troopship Khedive Ismail. Paladin picked up survivors and then depth charged, rammed and sunk the submarine as it came to the surface. 1,297 people lost their lives in the space of the few minutes it took to sink the ship, including 77 WRENS. Only 208 men and 6 women out of a total of1,511 were saved. This was the 3rd worst Allied tragedy of WW2. So bad the news of the action was not released for another 40 years It must be impossible to imagine how this would effect a 22 year old, or any sailor witnessing this tragedy. This following Hymm is a dedication to all those associated with the sea and its many dangers.

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After the war he married Olive and did his bit for the “Boomer” population. We moved to Dane Crescent early 50’s where he lived for 70 years. He was proud to have a garage, being about the only one in the road. In recent years when it became difficult to park he’d exclaim “Look at all those cars” , conveniently forgetting he was about the first person in the road with a car. He worked on the railway, at Pfizers and finally at the Powerstation as a maintenance mechanic. When not working he would spend his time messing around with old cars using many tools he obtained by dubious means. In the early years he built garden sheds, kept chickens and bred budgerygars. He was into DIY and always modernising the house in the 1960’s style. This was how it was kept till it was sold. He was a keen football supporter of Ramsgate and Margate FC. He was kind to animals, often having a dog. One of his greatest loves was ballroom dancing when in the 50/60’s he and Olive would go to dinner dances which were popular those days. He took retirement from the Powerstation in 1983. A working life of over 40 years, he certainly got his money’s worth from the pension schemes. They used their freedom to go on many foreign holidays, sometimes spending extended winter breaks in Spain.. He lost his wife Olive after a marriage of 57 years. He fended for himself admirably, either cooking microwave meals.or going to lunch clubs. He would pass his time by doing odd jobs around the house or watch TV programs about monkeys and Meerkats. He’d often walk down town usually stopping off at the Royal Hotel where he would sit outside overlooking the harbour and strike up conversations with anyone with time. He’d look after stray cats and build dens for creatures of the nights in the old sheds. He continued to drive well into his 90’s until he was stopped by the police for going too slow, so at that point he felt he’d better give up. He struggled to understand the rules of COVID, especially the forced closing of the pubs. “They did’nt even do that during war” he would say. As the years went on his health started to take a turn for the worse. His mobility began to suffer and the house having an upstairs bedroom and bathroom became unsuitable. His memory began to fade as Dementia took hold. After a really bad spells of ill health we were advised that he needed 24 hour care. So he went to Wantsum Lodge in St.Mildreds Road. This gave him a new lease of life. He had no worries about the responsibility of the house nor worry about looking after himself. He was able to enjoy the company of other residents and attention to him by the staff. He also got in a few more visits to Wetherspoons after being pushed along the sea front in a dodgy wheelchair. His health had bad episodes but then he would suddenly recover and be back in the lounge chatting to other residents. He reached his 100th Birthday, the King sent him a card and he soldiered on another 18 months. His body gave up the fight on the 15th July. He died peacefully in his bed.

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