Peter
would not have wished this to be a sad day, but, rather an opportunity
for us all to comfort D,
Louise, Antonia and their
families, and to reflect, with pleasure, on his life. Indeed,
in his usual pithy way, I believe that Peter, seeing you all
here, would have said ‘Haven’t they all got anything
better to do on a Thursday afternoon’.
I have known Peter for over 40 years, which is considerably shorter
than others, so I have no inside knowledge of his early years,
other than to say that he was born in Twickenham, in 1938, an
only child, educated at The Mall prep school, in Twickenham and
then at Kings School Canterbury, where he enjoyed his first taste
in rowing, a sport which was to form such a central part of his
life. He rowed, at 2, in the Kings First 8, in 1957 and lost
to Shrewsbury, in the semi final of the Princess Elizabeth Cup,
at Henley, Shrewsbury recording a record time of 6.56, in that
heat. Interestingly, St Pauls, who won the event, recorded 7.19,
in the Final, a fact which must have given Peter, rowing at 11
stone 2, immense pleasure.
From Kings he did National Service with the RAF, again rowing
with distinction, for RAF (Benson) Rowing Club, at 3 in their
4 (probably to the detriment of an intimate knowledge of aeronautical
military tactics, although steely rowing nerves would have stood
him in good stead in battle). He was intended to do National
Service in the Army, but he chose the RAF, as presenting more
opportunity for rowing.
After National Service, Peter joined his father’s firm
of Ament Engineering, heating and ventilating engineers, based
on the Slough Trading Estate. Peter was an excellent salesman,
backed up by the necessary technical skills and the firm prospered.
At the same time, Peter continued his rowing career with London
and Twickenham Rowing Clubs.
His finest achievement was rowing bow in the London Grand 8,
of 1961, which was beaten, in the first round of the Grand, at
Henley, by the Russian Navy who were the ultimate Winners; during
that year, the London 8 competed, with success, at many home
regattas and on trips to Antwerp and Boulogne. In particular,
in the Grand event, at the Metropolitan Regatta, they beat UL
who had won the Thames Cup at Henley.
After ceasing active rowing Peter went on to coach and umpire.
He was always very proud of the fact that he was a qualified
umpire, whilst, at that time, the Umpires at Henley were only
enthusiastic (and, in Peter’s view, sometimes downright
bad) Stewards.
In the 1960s he started his 10 year stint as Secretary of Twickenham
Regatta, and for the next 30 years, served as a vice President.
He was immensely proud of his rowing, even to the extent, in
the early days, of turning up to parties in his LRC socks, for
all to see.
Apart from his active clubs, Peter was a member of both Leander
and Remenham Clubs.
During his rowing days, he was living at addresses at The Crooked
Billet, in Twickenham, where riotous parties were the norm, including
a fancy dress event for ‘Vicars and Call Girls’;
one dreads to imagine Peter’s personal contribution to
this theme.
It was at this time that my wife, Sarah, first met Peter, on
a memorable camping holiday, in Spain, with three girls in a
Mini and three boys in a Land Rover, who managed to lose the
girls on the first (and very dark) night in France. From all
accounts, Peter was the caring one and, by breakfast time, on
the second day, they all met up again. To this day, neither D
nor I have really got to the bottom of that holiday.
Whilst at the Billet, Peter met D and they were married in Devon,
in 1965, going on to produce their two daughters, Louise and
Antonia, of whom he was immensely proud.
Peter and D moved to Warwicks, at Hurley, where we shared a school
run to Highlands; by today’s standards this was no ordinary
school run, particularly when it was D’s day, for she managed
to transport anything up to 8 children in a Mini Clubman, with
no suggestion of seat belts. If Peter had been told that this
might have been slightly dangerous, he would have dismissed it
with words such as ‘well they’ve got to get to school
somehow, I suppose’. At
Warwicks, Peter’s culinary skills were on ample display
and many of us will remember the curry parties, particularly
immediately after Christmas. ‘This one is fine but this
one will blow your ruddy head off and go easy with the lime pickle’.
Sadly, in the mid 1970s, Ament Engineering was put into liquidation
but, with the help of friends and with his customary enthusiasm,
he started again, largely with the help of his great friend Mike
Davis, who procured work to be carried out on various sites occupied
by Courage Brewery. At this time, I became a director of the
new Company and we had several 6 monthly trips to the Isle of
Man, where, apart from informing the investors of progress in
the UK, we always returned with boxes of Manx kippers, to which,
I am sure, Peter did more justice than I.
Whilst Courage was being completely heated and ventilated, Peter
continued the business as a consultancy and he and D had moved
to the Isle of Wight, first in Ryde and afterwards at Rofford,
in Yarmouth, where they put their skills to good use in revamping
a moribund Wine Bar, with huge success.
During his time, in the Isle of Wight, Peter started racing Sigmas,
which he did for about 6 years. The pinnacle of his racing career
was to have won the Junior Offshore Group for his class, during
a whole racing season. The racing, coupled with several cruises
(many competitive) to France, were periods of pure joy for Peter.
Whilst at Rofford he became involved in the Royal Solent Yacht
Club, eventually serving as Rear Commodore (House) a role for
which he was particularly fitted. I once asked Peter if he had
ever considered joining (or seeking recommendation to join) the
Royal Yacht Squadron; his reply would be inappropriate to repeat
here, but the essence was ‘what would I want with that
bunch of old men, swilling pink gin on the Platform, whilst I
am out racing, in all weathers’
Peter and D’s Isle of Wight summer hospitality, to Thames
Valley holidaymakers and visiting sailors, was legendary, including
beds, breakfasts, swimming pool and picnics.
After the first sojourn in the Isle of Wight, they moved to Wiltshire
and the Cattery; this was primarily D’s venture, but Peter
entered into it with gusto, constructing and repairing the cages,
mucking out, organizing the bookings, and putting his considerable
computer skills to work. It has been said that ‘to err
is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer’;
however Peter put technology successfully to the fore in his
organizational skills for the Cattery and subsequent activities.
Then back to the Isle of Wight, where the Folkboat took over
his life, both as salesman, delivery man (5 day round trips to
Denmark), exhibitor at the Southampton Boat Show and, continuing
as Secretary of the Folkboat Association, a post which he held
for over 25 years. He was also the combined secretary and treasurer
of the Nordic Folkboat International Association, for which he
wrote the Class Rules and Articles. For those of you familiar
with the Folkboat, it could be thought to be the least likely
class to engage Peter, solely by reason of its and his relative
sizes. Access through the hatch and space in the cabin are particularly
restrictive. Be that as it may, Peter made a huge contribution
to the Folkboat fleet, for which many yachtsmen will be eternally
grateful.
For the past 30 years, Peter and D have been among those staying
with us, at Remenham, for the week of Henley Regatta. The Wednesday
picnics in Row D of Lion Meadow, come rain or shine including
occasions when sitting under umbrellas in pouring rain, slightly
merry, and allowing the drips off the umbrella to dilute ones
neighbour’s wine glass; standing, with Peter, at the bottom
of our garden by the Barrier, watching indifferent crews, punctuated
with comments like ‘How Coaches let crews like this come
to the Regatta is a mystery to me – would never happened
in my day’; pints of Brakspears in the Bridge bar, surrounded
by his rowing friends and acquaintances; sharing a bathroom and
never seeing them use it (they assured us that they did have
showers and certainly they appeared perfectly clean); carving
beef and ham for our Sunday Lunches– ‘how on earth
many have you got coming’; and taking sides with our children
and their many friends, returning from the Regatta considerably
the worse for wear, to be shown sympathy (or, dare I say it,
empathy) with the situation in which they found themselves. 30
very happy years, shared with exceptional friends.
Dating from Antonia’s time at Kings, Peter recussitated
the Canterbury Pilgrims, first acting as Chairman and subsequently
President, during which time he organized several Regatta drinks
parties, from the back of the Land Rover in D12. In addition,
he was a keen lobbyist of the School to give more prominence
to rowing – these encounters recalled with typical vitriol.
2007 saw the 50th anniversary of his crew competing at Henley
and he was most disappointed in not being able to arrange a crew’s
reunion, the detail for which never gelled as various crew members
were, successively, unavailable.
5 years ago Peter’s final illness struck and he bore it
so resolutely over that time, undergoing every known form of
treatment, established and novel. He used to say that the greatest
possible publicity should be given to his Health Insurer, Standard
Life, who made all treatment available to be provided privately;
also to his medical team who were so supportive. As recently
as the last 12 months, Peter made two trips to France, to tour
the War Graves, accompanied by his great friends, the Philips
Hogge and Bevan Thomas – shades of ‘last of the Summer
Wine’, perhaps. Cheerful to the end, Peter described his
Macmillan Nurse as akin to a Double Glazing Salesman, ‘once
you let them into the house, you never get rid of them’.
However, it was D who bore the brunt of Peter’s suffering,
with such fortitude and affection, and made these last 5 years
bearable for him. It is sad that he never moved in to their new
house, but I am sure that D will find it great comfort to be
next to her twin sister, Annie, who has provided such support,
particularly over the past 12 months. Peter Christian Ament: Peter; a large Rock; Christian; Honest
and Caring; Ament (if you will excuse the latin doggerel) Everyone
loved him.
Apart from dear Husband, Father, Grandfather and Friend, Peter
was Oarsman, Salesman, Barman, Yachtsman, Catman, Deliveryman,
Secretaryman and Chairman – a full and fulfilled life,
lived with resilience and humour.
One last thought – Peter arriving at the Pearly Gates to
be met by the saintly Peter, with the words ‘Thank goodness
you have arrived, we’re short of Bow in the VIII, preparing
for the annual race against Hell’.
Let us all remember Peter by imagining the broad grin on his
face that such a welcome would have produced.
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