Pidgeon, Basil (BGS 1939-45) BEM
My name is Caroline. I am Hazel‘s daughter. Some of you may remember Hazel. My mother was Basil‘s cousin and she worked in Wickham and Co. with Basil and their uncle Stanley Fogaty. I have known Basil all my life.
I started to visit Basil in Clayfield care home in Barnstable, when I heard that he had dementia and wasn’t receiving many visitors. I tried to visit him once a week. Sadly for Basil, he had very few close blood relatives and his nearest and dearest and some of his friends, had already predeceased him. Although Basil had dementia he could still talk about the past and his language skills were excellent.
I found that we were similar in many ways. Neither of us were natural athletes and avoided anything relating to sport. When I asked Basil if he’d ever been swimming at Westward Ho! he laughed and said he’d only paddled, because if he’d gone in the sea, he would have drowned.
We also shared a big interest in family history. We both owned old photographs of family local places and historical events. Basil had done his research for his family tree the hard way. He had visited the records offices, sometimes as far as Exeter, taking his wife Eileen with him. She went shopping, while he ploughed through records for information. We had both produced extensive family trees, but my information came the easy way – from an existing family knowledge and the Internet.
When I visited Basil in the care home, I would ask him how he was and he always said he was absolutely fine. He had a roof over his head, a comfy bed to sleep in and food on his plate. I sometimes asked him what he’d been doing that day. On one occasion he told me that he’d been out delivering a wine list to Woolacombe and on another visit, that he had driven his uncle Stanley Fogaty somewhere. Stanley owned a car, but couldn’t drive. Basil [when he was young] was allowed to use the car on the understanding that he would drive Stanley when required. One day I asked him how old he was and he said he was 72. His memory of the last 20 years was non-existent, or at least transitory. He often thought I was my mum and called me Hazel. Sadly, he sometimes thought he was still in Meddon Street. He would tell me [on my way out] to stick my head around the door and say goodbye to Andrew. Surprisingly, he could occasionally recall something you had told him the week before, but yet he couldn’t remember that Andrew my mum and her sister Audrey, had already died. I suspect that might have been a blessing in many ways.
I used to take enlarged copies of my old family photographs into the care home. Basil loved looking at old photographs and talking about the people in them. Luckily, I also knew and remembered these people including Basil‘s mum and dad and Hazeldene where he was born, so it was easy for me to spend an hour chatting.
Basil rarely watched the television in the care home. I asked him what he liked to watch. He said his favourites were The Royal Variety Performance and programs about antiques.
Basil was very interested in collecting small replica lorries and vans. He had 370 of them kept in cabinets. One day somebody dusted them. Basil was totally unimpressed. He was annoyed they had been moved and out of order. He also collected stamps and bottle labels and these memories often came up in conversation.
Basil was born on the 4th of May 1929 in Hazeldene, 10 Westcroft Terrace, in Bideford. He was the only child of Hilda May Fogaty and Henry Pidgeon – otherwise known as May and Harry. Also living at Hazeldene were his uncle Stanley, his maternal grandmother and the occasional lodger. Basil had a cat named Jumbo that had come from one of the neighbours. He was obviously very fond of Jumbo. There were members of the Fogaty family living next door and he had a very good friend across the road, called Richard Cornelius that he used to play with. He appeared to have had a happy childhood and was obviously well loved.
Basil attended Geneva School, followed by the Bideford Grammar School. There are photos of him at Geneva and the Grammar School, immaculately dressed in his blazer, school tie, with very shiny shoes. When I commented on the shoes and asked him if he had polished them, he said no his father had.
His father Harry worked for Wickhams, but also served with the Devon Special Constabulary. During the war years when Harry was called out on a night time emergency, he would wake Basil and tell him to get up and go and sleep with his mother, because he might need to look after her. Basil always said the bed was nice and warm, with a smile on his face. Unfortunately, May (Basil‘s mother) suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and it would bring tears to Basil’s eyes when he described the pain she suffered.
As soon as Basil left school, he began working in Wickham and Co wine merchants. Stanley Fogaty [his uncle] was very keen that Basil joined him in the firm. Basil started at the bottom working his way up to director in 1960, managing director in 1970 and company chairman in 1993, before retiring in 1994, after Wickhams was taken over by Balls Brothers. I never heard Basil utter a bad word about anyone, but I sensed that someone in Balls Brothers had upset him.
Basil did his National service as a Bombardier in the Royal artillery in Fremington from 1947 to 49. He went to London for a few weeks, where he underwent some tests, before he was trained to do mainly clerical work.
On the 22nd of May 1963 Basil married Eileen Grant (who was also employed at Wickhams). Eileen was the sister of Donald Grant, one of Basil’s good friends. Eileen had been previously married and had a son Andrew Ford, who became Basil’s stepson. When speaking to me Basil always referred to his stepson as ‘My Andrew’ and was obviously very fond of him. Sadly, Eileen died on the 9th of April 1993. They had been married for 30 years. I have been told that every two weeks, Basil went up to the Higher Cemetery in Bideford to place flowers on Eileen‘s grave. When he spoke of Eileen, it was always with love and devotion. His wishes will be fulfilled, when he’s buried with her in the Higher Cemetery.
He eventually had a good friend in Tessa who kept him company in later years. I used to occasionally bump into them in Morrisons, when we were doing the weekly shop.
Basil was very active within the local community. He was a volunteer at the Bideford Archives. He had been active in the scout organisation since he was a young lad, becoming secretary of the Second Bideford Scout group committee and chairman of the Torridge branch of the BP Scout movement.
Basil supported Cancer Research UK and had been a Rotarian. He was involved in the Grammar school’s Old Boys Association; he often talked about trips with the Rotarians and remembered dinners at the Royal in Bideford.
He supported Cancer Research UK for nearly 50 years serving as chairman for their Bideford and District local committee, until his retirement from that role in 2011.
President of Bideford Grammar School Old Boys Association in 1974.
President of Bideford Rotary Club and club historian 1989 to 1990.
President of the Bideford Chamber of Trade 1963.
He was awarded the British Empire Medal in 2014 for services to charity and to the community of Bideford.
To finish, Basil received a certificate of merit in 1945 for a Bideford Book Drive for which he obtained the rank of Field Marshal in the Book Recovery Brigade.
He had collected over 250 books. I asked him, ‘How on earth did you manage to collect all those books Basil?’ He said, ‘I knocked on a lot of doors.’ Not something we might do today, but it gives an insight into his personality.
Basil died at the age of 96. I will miss sharing our memories. He was an elderly gentleman I had grown very fond of.
