…… that you have the pleasure of spending time in the company of someone who is now one hundred years old! Indeed, in my seventy-five years I think I am correct in saying that it was only very recently I had that opportunity for the first time.

Through Fulwood Methodist Church, I have been acquainted with Cyril Leeke for a couple of decades now. Over that time the opportunities have grown to learn a little about his life and experiences in chats before services and other social occasions. Never for more than a few minutes given the busyness of the moment but always enough to be intrigued and fascinated by his story.

So it was a delight recently for Janet and I to entertain him (and his daughter Veronica) at our home to learn a little more. Now I know a little more and look forward to more conversations every time we meet.

On 6 November Cyril celebrated his one-hundreth birthday. How different was his early life in Reading from that which we now experience! Cobbled streets, outdoor toilets, open trams with metal wheels and pastimes with his friends and siblings that are now museum-pieces or which have been transformed into computer games. The eldest of five children, his father had survived the First World War and returned to work in Reading as a barber, It was his skills in that trade that his father often suggested explained his safe return from France – officers were reluctant to place good hairdressers in the front lines.

His father’s barber’s shop occupied the ground floor of a three storey house: the floors above were the family house. Enterprisingly his father installed a coke furnace and baths in two cubicles where people paid to keep clean. The numerous one-up and one-down properties in the street behind shared two outdoor toilets. The pub was nearby with the beer being delivered on a dray cart pulled by shire horses.

From an early age, Cyril developed an interest in animals which has lasted and enriched his lifetime. He told me that his father developed an outdoor greyhound racing track where people paid to come and watch the races and where eventually bookies plied their trade. The family kept several animals, including greyhounds, not so much for sentimentality but to supplement the income and diet. Sometimes their bathtub was commandeered to store and cure the meat. His father became increasingly an entrepreneur especially in the building trade, eventually building a new family home with additional properties being built on adjacent plots as the children grew. Throughout all this Cyril’s interest in animals grew enriched by occasional visits to London Zoo.

Cyril is proud of his education and his role as a teacher in his adult life. He was one of a small number of youngsters to gain admission to Reading School at 11 where he thrived until he left at 16 to take up employment first with Reading University and then the local municipal electricity company. The second world war swiftly intervened and Cyril had taken the early step of enlisting with The Royal Air Force – he didn’t fancy the army. Trained as an air frame mechanic on a range of aircraft, Cyril was posted to India where he remained for most of the war, making sure that vital air services were maintained and repairing damaged planes. Naturally his love of animals prospered as, one by one, he found opportunities to spot most of India’s native birds and much other wildlife. He seems rather fond of pythons!

Returning to this country, Cyril resumed employment in the electricity industry, now nationalised, but was drawn to study – guess what, Zoology! This required him to travel from Reading to London (Birkbeck College) in the evenings for seven years. Only at the very end did a grant come along which enabled him to complete his degree and to train to teach. Qualified, he eventually returned to Reading School where he remained as its first biology teacher until his retirement. On his return from India he had married a childhood friend and raised a family – or as it seemed to me created a zoo! Birds of all types, especially owls, were kept in specially built aviaries in and out of the house and whatever animal I mentioned Cyril seemed to have either kept, or knew how to keep, it. It was possibly this hobby that helped him to cope with domestic loss and eventually, a move to ‘The Arctic Circle’ (otherwise known as Preston) as he puts it.

Cyril travelled to several far flung quarters visiting old school friends and his first-hand experience of the animal kingdom grew by the year. Aged 79, to the astonishment of his family, he announced that he had booked to attend an international convention in Kathmandu to learn more about pheasants. And then to his astonishment, whilst there, he was introduced in person to the future King of Nepal.

Nowadays, time is spent a little more sedately. Even so, as he left our home, he told us that that evening he was going out to dinner with his granddaughter.

It was my privilege to meet and talk to this gentle, witty, kind and unassuming man who is so clearly loved and cared for by his family. Prior to the pandemic I would often see Cyril at Sunday lunchtime in Booth’s café with his grandson completing a cryptic crossword – another absorbing pastime. It has been my pleasure to meet most weeks, however briefly, with Cyril where his warm greeting has never failed to cheer me.

Congratulations, Cyril!