George Poynton

Jun 12 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

THE Union Jack hangs at half-mast over the war memorial on the village green as a tribute to the Korean veteran, whose good looks the whispering girls once likened to those of Dirk Bogarde, the movie star.

They lay poppies here on Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday for the men who fell in the world wars and more recent conflicts.

But next time they will also remember George Poynton, who joined with his pals to raise more than £18,000 to have the Hale Village war memorial restored.

The new stone was provided by Asda and the names of 11 more local men, who were left off, were added, taking the total to 69.

For this work, George, Jim Flanagan, Mike Smith and Mike Parker, were made Freemen of the ancient village, near Speke.

George was born in Everton, where his prowess as a footballer gained admirers, but at 18 he joined the Army, serving with the South Staffordshire Regiment in the Korean War for 18 months, in 1952/53, having previously been stationed in Northern Ireland.

As the war raged, George’s cousin, Pat Ross, told Aileen Morgan, her friend at the Bryant and May match factory in Garston, that he was lonely and would like letters.

“She asked me if I would write,” recalls Aileen, who worked in the Swan Vestas section. “I said, ‘Ooh, I don’t know, I don’t know what he looks like’. She told me that he was nice, so I agreed that if he wrote to me, I would write back.”

That led to romance and they were married at St Christopher’s Church, Speke, in 1956.

In civilian life, George worked for Evans Medical at Speke, and then the Ford car factory at Halewood, becoming a supervisor.

He and Aileen lost their first daughter, Angela, when she was only three days, but they had three other children, Bernard, 49, Anthony, 43, and Michelle, 42.

After retirement, despite recent ill-health, George and his friends worked tirelessly for the restored war memorial, which also resulted in the formation of a Hale branch of the Royal British Legion.

A funeral service is being held for George at 9.30am tomorrow at St Ambrose Church, Speke. His grandsons, Craig Poynton (Army) and Barney Poynton (Royal Navy), will be among the pall-bearers.

George Poynton, Freeman of Hale; born February 5, 1934, died June 8, 2008.