Peter John Kempshall (21 May 1946 - 28 Apr 2025)

In loving memory of Peter John Kempshall who sadly passed away on 28th April 2025.

Born 21st May 1946 to Harry and Annie, with three brothers: Michael, Brian and Colin. Peter was a smiley, caring and thoughtful child, he would regularly help his father on his milk round at weekends, and developed a love of the outdoors and for sport early on. From playing family cricket in the garden with a dustbin for a wicket under the kitchen window (no prizes for guessing what the fate of the window was on numerous occasions!), until stumps were acquired some time later, to playing table tennis, tennis and later weight training with his brothers and cousins David, John and Raymond.

An accomplished athlete, Peter captained his school’s football, cricket and athletics teams, won the school mile in 1958 and the school district 100 yards and school’s cross country in 1959, and won the school district again in 1960 in a time of 11.2 seconds.

After leaving school Peter obtained his first job working on Embankment Gardens in London before being apprenticed to Ewell Court maintaining the grounds and gardens and taking care of the athletics track. He spent some time repairing sewing & knitting machines for Singer in Epsom before returning to the outside as a gardener for County Gardens in the Esher and Cobham area.

In the spring of 1964 Peter met Marilyn Farrow at Felecia’s School of Dancing in Kingston, and they went on their first date in the July. They were engaged on the 1st May 1965, buying a ring from a jeweller in Wimbledon. With time in between to win bronze and silver medals in Ballroom Dancing, Waltz, Foxtrot & Quickstep, Peter married Marilyn on 7th September 1968 at St Matthew’s Church, Surbiton, with the reception at St Francis Church Hall, Ruxley Lane, West Ewell. Following their honeymoon in Llorett de Mar, Costa Bravo, Spain, Peter and Marilyn moved to a flat in Calne, Wiltshire.

Later, in September 1968 Peter started work looking after the grounds at H.A. Coombs in Calne before becoming a self-employed gardener in 1969.

Also in 1969, Peter & Marilyn moved to their first house together in Hungerford Road, Calne before the birth of their eldest son Andrew John in June 1970 at Bath hospital.

On 8th May 1971 Peter joined Wiltshire Police and enjoyed 30 years as a PC that included roles as a village bobby (a role he relished), wildlife liaison, and a few years stint on firearms helping protect high profile figures in the Wiltshire area – not so much relish for the paperwork though! Peter worked through some challenging times in the police force; the efforts to modernise policing; being involved in the solstice issues at Stonehenge during the 1970’s and 1980’s including the battle of the bean fields in 1985; the miner’s strikes of the 1980’s.

Peter’s love of sport continued during his time with Wiltshire Police and he represented the Force in football, rugby, and squash, in which he competed against police forces in other regions taking winners medals in Northern Ireland and Aberdeen. Peter met many wonderful people, both colleagues and “civvies” during his time in the police, many of which remained lifelong friends.

In August 1971 Peter, Marilyn and Andrew moved into the Police House in Hamble Road, Greenmeadow, and during their time there Peter & Marilyn welcomed to the family Simeon Paul in March 1973 and Samantha Joy in June 1974. This was followed by a move to the Police House in Culverhay, Cricklade, where they were to stay until the March of 1979 when Peter and Marilyn purchased their own home in Deansfield, Cricklade.

In March 1989 Peter & Marilyn and their children moved into a new home in Peatmoor, West Swindon.

Peter also enjoyed cycling and cycled the London to Brighton a number of times in the 1990’s and 2000’s in aid of the British Heart Foundation.

Peter’s love of gardening never left him during his time with the Police Force, and in addition to creating and maintaining an immaculate garden at home, he also had an allotment and grew his own vegetables; from 1975 until 2002 this was behind the police station in Cricklade, before taking on an allotment in Purton in 2002.

On 7th May 2001 Peter retired from the Police Force and returned to his former career starting GOG Garden Services; a landscape and maintenance gardening business.

Another passion of Peter’s was his joy in motorcycling. In 1963 he bought his first motorcycle, a BSA 350cc B40SS, at age 16, although he got a car at the age of 18 as Marilyn’s mother didn’t like motorbikes! In 1980 he got a motorbike for travel to and from work as he was posted back to Swindon after spending the 1970’s working in the villages surrounding Swindon including Cricklade, Purton, Ashton Keynes. He eventually bought his dream bike, a BMW 1200 tourer, and became a member of ROSPA, obtaining his advanced gold certificate multiple times and sharing his knowledge with others as an advanced tutor. Peter also volunteered for the Severn Freewheelers ensuring critical medical supplies were delivered where and when they were needed out of hours.

Peter also loved to travel, and if he could do this on a motorbike that was heaven right there! He was able to visit many locations around the world, but a highlight was Asia with Marilyn and his daughter Samantha where they travelled through Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as family trips to Disney Florida and Spain, and visiting Samantha’s family and his brother Mike and his wife Glen in New Zealand, and his niece Jo and her family in Australia.

Peter started to have memory issues in 2014 and was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment, later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2018. This diagnosis was subsequently revised to dementia with Lewy bodies in 2023. Initially, Peter was cared for at home by Marilyn, until it became clear that this was no longer possible in May 2022, when he was admitted to hospital before moving to a care home in Wroughton. Peter spent his last months receiving excellent care in a nursing home in Old Town, Swindon, and although his years spent with dementia were difficult, his last few days were calm and peaceful, and he was able to spend his last moments with the love of his life, Marilyn.

Peter was sometimes irascible, always strong of character as well as body, did not suffer fools, and was fiercely loyal to his family and friends, all of which will miss him terribly.

And now finally, please, brew yourselves a pot of tea, pour yourself a mug and raise it in Peter’s honour, you may be able to find some tea leaves left somewhere if you look hard enough!

For anyone attending the celebration of Peter's life, this will be 11am at North Wiltshire Crematorium with a wake following at the Village Hotel, West Swindon. Smart casual please, Peter was not one for a shirt and tie if he could help it!