Stuart Kitching

Stuart was always an entrepreneur from making and selling lead soldiers to charging local children for rides in a pony and trap. He even charged other children to muck out his horses much to the chagrin of local parents.

He went to train to be a jockey at a racing stables in Malton. His mother packed him off with all the gear including jodhpurs etc. It seems the other boys found this very funny and would tease Stuart about it. This led to him running away under the cover of darkness! Stuart used to talk about his time at the stables so much over the years that Paul assumed he had been there a number of years. It only came out in conversation with Stuart last year that he’d only lasted a week!

He did National Service in the RAF and again went AWOL and somehow avoided ever going back. He would never talk about how he left and avoided returning, not even to Ann!

One thing he didn’t run away from was Ann. Married in 1963 and celebrated 62 years of marriage on May 11^th this year.

He was a very hard worker. He worked in the family business with his father Alfred and brothers Gordon, Jeff, Gerald and Austin. They worked with heavy plant machinery and worked in agriculture, steel works, railways and quarries. They formed a very successful company and through various iterations still exists and operates today.

He was a very hard negotiator when buying new equipment. Often when he thought the deal was not going to get any better, would bring out a coin and ‘toss’ for a little better deal or agree to the salesman price. He won and lost these but always was a man of his word. One old colleague and friend of Stuart is Graham Wilkinson who dealt with Stuart’s business and personal insurances for many, many years. They enjoyed much banter and good-natured arguments over the years, as well as hard negotiations. 

Being a man of his word was very important to him, something that he instilled into his family.

Stuart enjoyed holidays with family and friends, particularly loving Cyprus. Ann and Stuart visited there many times. They would sometimes go on holiday with their great friends Bert and Gwen Brinkley

They would also regularly go to Newmarket to visit the racing stables although never actually going to racecourses to watch racing. Would also go to Appleby Horse Fair yearly.

Main hobby was shooting which he enjoyed over many years with his friend Bert and a wider group they met during the course of being members of various shoots. He formed close friends with:-

Tony Smith, Paul Robinson, Mike Atkinson, David Thornalley, Noel Knapton, plus many more

He was still shooting at 75 years of age.

He loved Range Rovers. He bought his first one in 1971 and used them for his work activities in the quarries as well as shooting. He had many over the years and always remained loyal to the brand, driving one right up to the point that he had to give up driving.

He fought through a benign brain tumour from 2010.

Unfortunately spent last few years in Sandhills Court Care Home suffering from frailty and also dementia.

Ann remained very loyal and devoted. She would visit every day to spend hours with Stuart. Only as Ann herself has become frailer that she had to stop the daily visits but would still visit 2 or 3 times weekly. Latterly Paul would take her over to visit.

Even with dementia he used to keep the staff entertained by loudly singing songs that he changed the words to as he went along. Often making up very rude lyrics as he went along!

He formed a close friendship with Penny at Sandhills Court and would often be found sitting in his wheelchair behind her desk telling stories and singing.