John Clements, 72, of Crondall, Farnham, UK, passed away on January 28, 2023 after a short illness.

Born in Hastings to Len and Emma, the family then moved to Greenford where he would spend his childhood. From the start, John was always looking for a new adventure and found himself in, often hilarious, scrapes from which his dad and sister Mary would have to rescue him.

His first job after leaving school was as an apprentice electrician, spending time in Jersey which he always remembered fondly. Following this he joined the army, a Royal Signal, spending three years at various bases including Canada and Cyprus. During this time, his reward for winning the title of best recruit was to choose his own posting, and it was John all over that he selected Tangmere thinking it sounded exotic, only to discover he was going to West Sussex.

Deciding to then leave the army for the civvy life, he settled back into the scene in Greenford, where he made many firm friendships for life. The inventor Trevor Bayliss and John would spend many happy days having parties and motor boating on the River Thames around Trevor’s house on Eel Pie Island.

It was during these times that he met his wife, Jonny. They first met when he gatecrashed one of her parties and he later charmed her with a late night date to a snack van for a cup of tea. One too many speeding tickets while working as a sales rep led to John moving to Canada, with Jonny following shortly after. It was here that they decided to get married, after a characteristically unromantic proposal based on pragmatism and a genuine love and loyalty that would endure for the rest of his life.

Following their return to England, John set about building a family life. They had two children Susannah and James and he then followed his dream to start up his own business, Signal Instruments. This was to be John’s driving ambition for the next more than 40 years. That time saw Signal grow from making heated line in his garage to a company across three locations employing over 70 people supplying customers including NASA and Rolls Royce. Following his retirement in 2018, John’s son James and wife Lucy have taken over at Signal and continue to build on John’s legacy.

There is to be a funeral service held at Holy Trinity Church, Bowenhurst Road, Fleet GU52 8JU on the 23rd March at 11.30am. There will then follow a celebration of life at the Lismoyne Hotel, 45 Church Road, Fleet. The family ask that in lieu of flowers, donations are made to Blood Cancer UK https://donate.bloodcancer.or…

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