O B I TU A RI ES
In 1976, John remarried and with his wife Jean set up Tiffins Tea
Shop in Westerham, which they ran successfully for a number of
years before choosing to settle back into full-time retirement.
Upon remarriage, John had also become a proud stepfather to
Jean’s sons, Richard, Graham and Roger Styles (each Sennockians
during the 1970s), and to her daughter, Pippa.
He and Jean travelled a lot in retirement, yet he also loved being
at home and was very fond of and knowledgeable about
Sevenoaks and the surrounding villages having lived in the area
for so many decades.
John Breething: back row, second from right. 1943 cricket team
JOHN BREETHING 1926-2019
John Harold Breething was born on 2 April 1926, the only son of
Harold and Cynthia Breething, who owned the Dunton Green Brick
and Tile Works.
John went to Sevenoaks Prep School, where he developed his love
of cricket alongside his lifelong chum, John Lark, before they both
went onto Sevenoaks School in that tumultuous month, September
1939. Although his father soon arranged the offer of a safe haven
in Canada, John refused to leave, preferring to continue steadfastly
with his schooling at Sevenoaks, an education he later described,
with typical understatement, as ‘a little disrupted’: lessons were
only possible for Sevenoaks School boys in the mornings, so that
other pupils could be brought to the school from South London
and elsewhere to attend lessons during the afternoons. Perhaps
the silver lining was more time for John to practise his cricket, as
he was to go on to play for the Sevenoaks School 1st XI as
an accomplished all-rounder and to follow in his father’s footsteps
as player and Chairman of Holmesdale Cricket Club near Sevenoaks.
After Army service in WW2, John worked in the insurance industry,
rising to become a company director of Sedgwick. He married
his first wife, Chris, in 1951 and they set up home in Sevenoaks,
bringing up their two daughters, Sarah and Teresa. They both got
huge pleasure out of their girls, working in their garden and their
amateur dramatics careers with the Sevenoaks Players, where John
found his forte in more humorous roles, once being described in
a ‘Sevenoaks News’ review as ‘an asset to any comedy in an
amusing role’.
136
John was a man of great wisdom, a diplomatic and placid man
who rarely found the need to raise his voice; a loyal man of great
humility who possessed a sharp wit and a subtle sense of humour.
Even into his eighties he was a volunteer driver for ‘elderly people’
who couldn’t get around on their own, despite many of them being
younger than he!
His family all knew how much interest he took in the things
each was doing: children, step-children, grandchildren,
step-grandchildren, children-in-law, great-grandchildren... John
always seemed to know effortlessly who was who and what
they were up to. Although he did struggle with his mobility in
his last few years, he never lost his sense of humour. He was a
wonderful father, grandfather, friend, sportsman but he was above
all a true gentleman – and everyone who shares memories of him
would say the same.
Roger Styles
Nigel Burgham 1949-2018
Nigel Russell Burgham joined Sevenoaks as a day pupil (Hardinge),
moving later to boarding in School House and finally the IC. He left
Sevenoaks in 1968. After completing his Civil Engineering degree at
Dundee University, Nigel worked in Scotland, Abu Dhabi, Sellafield
and the Scottish Islands. His last job with Scottish Water was as
Procurement Manager for the islands.
He was a keen Munro walker, skier and motorbiker, and he loved to
travel both in the UK and abroad. He enjoyed parachuting in the
TA and was very involved in WaterAid. He lived for many years in
Newport-on-Tay in Fife and is survived by his wife Anne to whom
he was married for 42 years.
ALUMNI REVIEW
Anne Burgham