A true Eden Valley character, known to many through his second-hand furniture business, John Brian Sowerby has died at the age of 94.
Known as Brian, he was born in 1926, at West Witton, Wensleydale.
His mother was in service in Giggleswick, near Settle, so up until he was eight, Brian was brought up by his maternal grandmother.
Eventually, Brian’s mother married a man named Tommy Whiteley and then the three of them moved to West Burton, where several siblings came along, namely Greta and, after a move to Kirby Hill, Stan, Ian and David.
Brian left school at 14 and then went to work at the Eba concrete works at Ripon before drifting into farm work.
He worked at several farms including Thompson’s at West Burton then Lambert’s at Leyburn and clearly a good friendship was formed because he and Arthur Lambert kept in touch for the rest of their lives.
When he was 21, Brian was hired by Winter’s of Clickham, near Appleby, and he worked for them for a while as a cowman and it was during this time that he and his future wife Beryl first met.
They courted a little while, before eloping together. Apparently Brian put a ladder to Beryl’s window and off they went to Lincolnshire.
They went back to Kirby Hill when Beryl fell pregnant and were married in September, 1949.
Over the next decade or so the couple’s family grew with the birth of Robin and Chris.
During the 1950s, Beryl remembers a lot of house moves. In the late 1950s, Brian, Beryl and the two children all moved to Warcop.
In 1960 James was born and the whole family moved to Briar House, Long Marton, shortly after and it was in that house that Brian and Beryl remained for the next 50-plus years.
For a time Brian worked as an insurance man before setting up as a second-hand furniture dealer.
He ran a second-hand furniture store known as The Shed by most people, often with a cigarette sticking out of his mouth and wearing an old Afgan coat.
“If he wasn’t smoking he was whistling,” recalled his family.
Apparently, Brian’s overloaded van was a more well-known sight in Appleby than the tower in Blackpool.
Wherever there was somewhere he could get furniture for a decent price, he’d be there.
House clearances, hundreds of chests of drawers, lots of domestic removals and the list goes on including his favourite — ex-Army sales.
Brian and Beryl had lots of interests together and had over 70 years’ worth of happy memories.
Holidays were a very important part of family life.
When the children were young there were lots of camping trips to places like Skye, Flamborough and the like but in 1971 Brian, Beryl and James all went to Benidorm.
Brian was sold — he got the travel bug and never looked back. They eventually got themselves a timeshare in Marbella which they had for many years.
There were visits to family in Australia, a much anticipated visit to Tasmania too. Thailand was another favourite destination.
Eventually, aged 82, Brian decided it was time to retire.
He continued with his many interests, including shopping, Tuesday coffee mornings at Long Marton and meals at the village school.
He loved gardening and was very proud of the display he managed to grow every year at White Rails.
Brian had a long life, an exceptionally long marriage of 71 years, enjoyed every minute he had and lived long enough to see his children, grandchildren and even some great-grandchildren grow up.
Brian was a dear husband to Beryl, father to Chris, the late Robin and James as well as being a father-in-law, grandad to many and a great-grandad to many more.
