On leaving school, John Spooner entered an engineering apprenticeship. After wartime service with the Royal Navy, he and his wife Mary moved back to John’s home town, Epsom where he joined drycleaning and laundry engineers Neil and Spencer.
He made good progress with the company, eventually moving to Evesham and establishing a regional office there.
It was here he joined the Guild of Dyers and Cleaners (forerunner to the GCL) becoming a prominent member of the Birmingham Centre, while continuing to work hard for Neil and Spencer.
Sociable and outgoing, he encouraged the work of the centre and after years of committee work became Centre Chairman and took his place on the National Council in 1969.
The following year, he was elected vice chairman, but that summer, the indisposition of the chairman led to John taking over and he then held the position until June 1972.
Unfortunately, his career took a downturn when Neil and Spencer closed its regional offices. Then, in 1985, John opened his own drycleaning shop in Evesham.
In recent years, John’s health begun to deteriorate, but although he moved to Bengeworth Fields House in 1999, he retained considerable independence, continuing to make the trip into Evesham to meet friends and shop.
John leaves his son Philip, grandsons Stuart and Stephen, daughter-in-law Rosemary, and a sister Peggy, now in Canada.
He will be sadly missed by his friends and colleagues in the Guild, and their sympathy goes to his family.
