Stan Kitchen

Stanley Herbert Cyril Kitchen (1907 - 1969)

 

‘K’ as Stan was known to all, was born in Fulham on 29th December 1907, and joined the Company in February 1923 as an office boy in the Costs & Wages Office at the Goswell Road premises, having been introduced by Ernie Perrin.  Subsequently he was transferred to the works department, then at Berry Place, and shortly after the move to Angel Road was appointed office manager.

 

From then onwards he became more and more involved in the day to day affairs of the Company, being promoted to Company Secretary in January 1962 and a Director in January 1964.

 

In December 1966 he reluctantly relinquished the responsibilities of Company Secretary due to a heart condition, when his specialist recommended that he should take a long holiday before returning to part-time work.  However, no-one who knew him was surprised to find him back at the office after just over two months, and although for a period he did reduce his hours of work, it was not long before he was at full strength and any threat, request or entreaty made, completely failed to persuade him to change his way of life with Herberts.

 

A town dweller all his life, it was a surprise to many that he and Elsie elected to move with the Company to Suffolk in 1968, but in Haverhill a flame of interest in the countryside, first kindled during the many Scout camps he attended as a youngster, burnt strongly.

 

Stan died on 18th April 1969 in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge.  At the time he had been waiting with some impatience – as if perhaps he knew time was short – for the first signs of spring in the trees, fields and hedgerows adjoining his new home in Ladygate.

 

Lion News 88  said ‘It is difficult to adequately express in a few words the loyalty of this man.  His whole life revolved around the Company, and was contained in Herbert’s, and as those who knew him would have expected, he served right to the end, with a high degree of loyalty, integrity, and application.  Dour, yet with a happy sense of humour, he will be sadly missed by the Company and his many friends.’.