Walker, Peter John
07/06/1945 – 14/10/2022
Passed away at St. George’s Hospital, Tooting, London. A memorial service was held at St. Columba’s R.C. Church, Up-by-Chester, Chester on Thursday 26th January 2023 at 12 noon.
Peter was born in Chester on 7th June 1945 and lived with his grandparents until the age of 15 as his mother tragically passed away when he was three years old. Due to the failing health of his grandmother he eventually joined his father, sister and stepmother in their home in Newton, Chester.
At school he was academically bright but did not always apply himself. After leaving school he decided to join the RAF where again he was marked out as being bright, but the discipline of life in the services was not really for him and he returned home.
He then took a series of jobs in retail, which suited his lifestyle as a Follower of Fashion and developed a love of buying clothes with designer labels. His collection of shoes had to be seen to be believed, he could have opened his own shoe shop.
In later life he trained for jobs within the construction industry and although it was a far cry from his retail background, it proved to be a lot more lucrative.
Always a bit of a Jack the lad, he was always one for the ladies and one lady in particular, his then girlfriend led to his moving to London in his early twenties.
They did eventually get married and bought a house together. Sadly after a few
years the marriage ended, but Peter had by then grown used to the life in London and bought himself a flat in Surbiton. He lived there until his death on 14th October 2022.
After he learnt to drive, he would visit his relatives in Chester initially in what could only be termed as old bangers very often with evidence of some sort of prang. Concerned neighbours would point out that his car had been hit by something and with some embarrassment it was pointed out that the car had arrived in that state.
On one occasion it took so long for him to start up the car, that again neighbours would come to see if they could be of assistance.
In his mid-fifties he took up martial arts classes and continued until the age of 70, when age related aches and pains started to occur. He gained several certificates and was asked if they could write a piece about him in their magazine as he was the oldest person in the class. He declined their kind offer.
This once party animal matured into a person who was happy with his own company, although going out socially at the weekends for a drink continued until Covid hit.
It was after that the desire to go out waned and was probably due in part to feeling lethargic due to problems with his heart.
He spent a lot of time on his computer and would take part in completing surveys which supplemented his income. On line buying was also one of his penchants and he loved his gadgets extolling the virtues of his air fryers and always delighting in the fact that they were great energy savers,
Throughout his life he kept his catholic faith and until recently was a regular church goer at St. Raphael’s in Kingston-upon-Thames.
Thanks go to the NHS at Kingston and St George’s Tooting for the care and attention they gave in trying to save his life and to his wider family who cared for him during his lifetime.