FAMILY history enthusiast Geoff Deedman died suddenly on August 14, aged 76.

He was born on August 5, 1938, at Victoria Hospital in Boscombe, and brought up and educated in Southbourne.

On leaving school in 1953, aged just 15, Mr Deedman went to work as a junior salesman at the high class gents’ outfitters Poole and Poole in Old Christchurch Road.

He went to college to study window dressing, but his career was soon cut short by national service.

In June 1957 he travelled to Shropshire to do his six weeks training as a soldier, before joining the Royal Artillery.

His first posting was Cyprus, then in the midst of an on-going guerrilla war. He served on the island colony for 14 months – tackling a hidden enemy – before heading on to a new posting in Carlisle.

From there he used his 48-hour passes to return home to Bournemouth for the weekend, and in August 1959 he managed to get two weeks leave to get married.

He had met Christine at a ballroom dancing school in Boscombe, and the pair married in the town at St George’s Methodist Church.

After this brief break he was back to camp until January 1960, then off to Germany for a few months before being demobbed in June that year.

Mr Deedman returned to his old job at Poole and Poole, but financial considerations led to his moving to another outfitters, Sydney Thompson up the road, where he worked as a salesman and window dresser.

He then moved on to Alkit before changing trades and becoming a machine operator at the De Vilbiss Company factory in Ringwood Road, a miller at Ward Engineering, and a skilled machine operator at Alkin Engineering in Wallisdown Road – where he worked for 13 years.

His final job was at Haywood Engineering in Frances Avenue from 1988 to 2003.

Among Mr Deedman’s many pastimes and interests was a great love of big band music, so much so that he joined a big band appreciation society.

He studied Italian, following a holiday in Italy with his family, and became very interested in genealogy, spending many years researching his family tree.

A regular contributor to the Daily Echo’s Snapshots of the Past section, Mr Deedman and his wife were members of the Kinson Historical Society and the South West Historical Society.

He and Christine celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary in August 2009.

Mr Deedman suffered a bad fall at Christchurch Quay during the Stompin’ on the Quomps Festival and was rushed to hospital. Sadly he never recovered.

He leaves his wife, children Paul, Carol and Jenny and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.