Handbook on line 2012 - Forester Kent Cricket League - Uk.net

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Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League Tributes Shepherd Neame Kent Cricket League Tributes
John Jessiman
John was born on 12th April 1948 in Croxley
Green Hertfordshire, and this only by chance
as his mother had returned home due to a
family illness, other wise he would have been
born in India. John and his mother returned to
India a year later where John met his father and
sister Sandra for the first time. John was more
conversant in Urdu as he was looked after by an
Iya, an Indian nanny.
In the mid 50’s John’s father, who was a structural
engineer, made the decision that the family were
going to return to the UK as the education
system in India was moving away from English
towards native languages. This came about under
Nehru’s administration, a man who John met as
a young boy and he presented John with his own
Nehru style suit decorated with gold thread.
Aged 8 he made his first footfall in Scotland and
this is where he picked up his unique Scottish
accent that we all came to know and love. As he
spoke perfect English he was picked on at school
and adopted his brogue as a defence mechanismit
never left him.
John was brought up in Kings Park, an affluent
area of Glasgow, but his fathers family had
originated from the Gorbals and John came to
spend an unhealthy amount of time in this district
sampling life of a very different nature to his own.
Educationally he was advanced for his age and
took his highers aged 16 but for his lack of
a French qualification he might have gone to
university but instead left home and headed for
Ireland.
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This period of his life was a little hazy to say the
least to the extent that until the 1990s he had
Dublin geographically upside down in his mind!
After a while he found himself in London where
to put it mildly he drifted and then somehow
ended up in Grimsby working on the trawlers-it
must have seemed like a good idea at the time-
This was a hard life and I for one was surprised to
learn of this occupation.
At 19 he returned to London having lived quite
a lot! He was quickly trapped into working for
the Labour Exchange when they found out about
his educational qualifications, he was now in the
system and he quickly rose to be an Executive
Officer but could go no further at this time due
to his lack of a degree and not being 25, how
times have changed. He progressed on however
in his type of work becoming a computer
programmer. He frequently clashed with his
superiors when they asked if he had tested his
programmes and he replied there was no point as
he never wrote anything that was wrong! (Anyone
who has done a crossword with JJ can testify to
this)
He next became a Systems Analyst with a
temporary promotion to HEO. It was in the Civil
Service, aged 23, that he met Georgie, aged 19,
and after a whirlwind romance they were married
within 4 months with him decked out in a blue
velvet suit. They married in Caxton Hall, which
they only managed to do as they gave their work
address instead of their home postcode. The stag
night must have been a good one as the best man
never made the ceremony!
They lived in Crouch End for a short period
before moving to Chatham in 1973, where they
lived for a couple of years during which time
Patricia was born. Then it was on to Cherry Close
Sittingbourne in 1975 and John Paul was born in
1977. By this time John had become a Systems
Architect for Lloyds in Chatham then in London.
It was at this time that any chance of a glittering
cricket playing career was finally ended when
whilst under the influence of a couple of shandies
he managed to get his leg trapped in the revolving
door of the Lloyds Building causing an ankle injury
which he used to great effect for the next 20+
years appealing to my better nature to gain the
corner stall from me in the Fruiterers.
JJ’s career really took off in the mid 80’s when
Bowrings head hunted him . They later became
Marsh Mclenan where he stayed until his
retirement in 2003. He spent many years working
between London and New York where he made
many very good friends some of whom John
tragically lost due to the 9/11 attack on the twin
towers where John himself was due to be that
day but for his dodgy ankle which meant he was
unable to travel. So who says beer is bad for
you? As you can imagine John’s jaunts to New
York were not without incident not surprisingly
as he spent a fair proportion of his time in the
Pig and Whistle. On one trip, when Patti was
accompanying him, he was wheelchair bound
(due to aforementioned dodgy ankle) on the
way home his escort, a young American lady,
pushed him into the back of the lift feet first, you
can imagine the language!! Needless to say Patti
sensibly waited for the next lift.
Back in the UK John obviously was a regular
commuter and often missed his stop and ended
up in Dover or Ramsgate requiring assistance
from his daughter or wife to get back home.
However on one occasion he surpassed himself
as he started walking back from Dover but
managed to cadge a lift from the police back as far
as Faversham!
By now JJ, as he became known to all of us who
donned jumpers and flannels had taken up cricket
umpiring fulfilling a life long love of the game, of
the greatest game in the world, which started in
India and his time at Public School. In the mid 80’s
he started locally with Woodstock & UK Paper
and then on to Gore Court. His appetite whetted
he embarked on his umpires exams, which he
took at Lords and passed with flying colours.
As a result he moved on to become a panel
umpire for the Kent League where he made many
friends both colleagues and players. JJ enjoyed
the respect of all, for his integrity and sense of
fair play and for those lucky enough to engage
him in conversation there was his wicked sense
of humour. Locally he continued to be heavily
involved with the AKCC, the Dougwood Cup
and The Milsted sixes. Youth cricket also featured
heavily and later on Veterans cricket which he
particularly enjoyed as there were times when he
was the youngest person on the pitch! Until the
end he was still the secretary of Gore Court and
for those of us involved in the game his loss is
sorely felt.
JJ also had another active pastime this being
walking. He spent many happy years with a group
of work colleagues and friends-Fred Skipsey being
one of them-walking the Wainwright Walks in
Cumbria. I have seen the routes they took and
some were quite formidable.
Over the last decade I had the pleasure of
accompanying JJ on numerous trips to the
battlefields of Flanders and Normandy. These trips
were an eye opener for many reasons, his interest
and knowledge of the sites we saw was incredible
as was his intolerance of certain situations. On
one trip Steve Leney managed to book us into a
house within the only village in Northern France
without a bar! JJ being the only driver ( it was his
company car) was less than impressed.
Navigation or the lack of it was another pet hate
as John Corcoran, Jim and I were to find out on
other trips. The four of us rocked up in Fleur,
the site of the first ever combat use of the tank,
after touring up and down the village a few times
looking for our accommodation, Jim and I who
had the maps, found that although we had found
Fleur there were five of them and we weren’t in
the right one! JJ’s language was let’s say choice.
Most amusing , to us, was his absolute hatred
for all things shopping related. Whilst in Caen
we found C & A which he refused to go in and
after successfully acquiring a painting about 6ft
long in the same town he walked away in disgust
(especially after we had sent a few locals flying
whilst wielding said painting) He refused to help
get it in the car or with the delicate job of holding
it all the way home. Incidentally the painting
still has pride of place in the house of the next
speaker.
This almost phobic behaviour towards shopping
has been backed up by Georgie, Patti and John
Paul who would wince at the prospect of entering
a High Street with him apparently he would be
rude and obnoxious to any store assistant that
came within his personal space- now there’s a
surprise.
Thank you for your forbearance as you can gather
JJ lived a varied and interesting life and touched
the lives of many of us fortunate enough to
have enjoyed his company. Lisa and I were very
privileged to count him as one of our closest
friends. He truly was a remarkable man.
Melvyn Packham
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