After a lot of soul searching and thought, We would very much like to present this tribute to our Dad; it is a compilation of the stories, memories and photos that we’ve pieced together over the last few weeks.
So please, sit back, relax, take a deep breath and SMILE, some may find it helpful to close their eyes.
This is the story of our Dad that we would like to share with you today, had he been with us it is the story you never would have heard. But we will now just start with GREETINGS FOLKS…
Dad was born on Thursday May 28th 1942 to proud parents Mother and Dad (Jack and Murial)
Michael Frederick Cassell , THATS CASSELL, C.. A.. DOUBLE S.. E.. DOUBLE L...
He was the third son born into the Cassell family, his two brothers Clifford and David having arrived in the years before, sadly neither of them can be here with us today..
David, having sadly passed away in 2010 and Clifford, although very much alive and well and playing with his train sets in New Zealand is unable to attend due to the huge distance but, he assures us his time table have been adjusted!
Contrary to popular belief Dad wasn’t born with a full bread or wearing his scout uniform,
but we do think he came out clutching his trusty penknife and compass (sorry Granny!)
During his childhood, dad developed many pastimes which he carried on and, re-kindled at various points of his life. A great artist, a keen photographer, a lover of the outdoors, he loved his Hornby trains to name but a few.
Dad very much enjoyed his time at Dale Secondary Modern School becoming prefect and taking up on the many extra activities on offer; swimming /diving, cricket, football , cycling, and sailing, his favourite being chess club, which he went on to develop his skills to county level.
After Dad left school in 1957 he became an Apprentice Chef at the Grand Hotel, right here in Leicester. Dad must have been pretty good at this cooking lark as he progressed over the year’s upto Head Chef
And it was around this time that he made a good friend, a friend so good he introduced him to his much younger sister,
Dad continued with his cycling (the most impressive trips being Leicester to Skegness time trials) and throughout his early courting days many a happy weekend was spent with a light stuck on his head whilst potholing through the caves of Yorkshire and Derbyshire. Anyway things blossomed in his relationship and in 1963 Lesley and Michael were married!
.
In 1966 he was blessed with his first child, a daughter “Sarah”, his princess,
he probably thought his life couldn’t get any better. However, in 1968 along came another beautiful child... a loving and extremely handsome son “Robert”... ‘Me!’
(Pause... Cheeky look n grin to the congregation)
We remember Dad using his artistic skills to entertain and look after us kids, he painted the Magic Roundabout characters onto Sarah’s and my bedroom walls, ‘Dougal’ Brian the snail and the rest of the gang. (dougal was also being the name Sarah gave his rather impressive moustache!)
Sadly, for many reasons the marriage ended, and dad, like many fathers faced with this situation in those times, sadly and regrettably, lost contact with his Princess and me.
In the early 70’s, history soon started to repeat itself (a regular thing for our dad) , And while it started out differently, namely starting as a blind date in 1972, things blossomed and he married Jane in 1974 and wow dad those side burns were very impressive!
3 years later a daughter arrived ‘Rachel’ very much the apple of his eye (sorry rach its those lovely cheeks ) and then followed in 1981 by another good looking and, the icing on the cake… handsome son ‘Peter’ in 1981.
