Derrick Tuplin (2 Sep 1948 - 4 Apr 2026)

In loving memory of Derrick Tuplin who sadly passed away on 4th April 2026

My Dad

Memories from Derrick’s daughter Ruth

We’re all here to remember Derrick or as I knew him “Dad”. Some of you have known him a long time, some all your lives and others for a much shorter time. We will all have our own memories of Dad and impressions of him.

For me, there are 3 words that sum up who Dad was:

Firstly, Dad was always KIND:
• As a child long family walks could be quite challenging & tiring but I could always rely on Dad to hang back to wait for me, help me over stepping stones and even on one occasion pulling a terrified teenage me up a scree slope.
• My first Saturday job started at 8am and sometimes I didn’t fancy the 30 minute walk to get there. Dad would groggily agree to drive me when I pleaded at the bedroom door.
• Dad donated his blood over 75 times only stopping when he was diagnosed with skin cancer a few years ago.
• Many of you will be aware of Dad’s lifelong commitment to supporting charities:
◦ As a child I can remember him collecting money for Amnesty International & Christian Aid.
◦ Up until last year he volunteered with Methodist Homes. First, he was a volunteer driver and more recently a telephone befriender. His commitment to this charity lasted a massive 20 years and only stopped last year when he was too ill to continue
◦ When Susanna Wesley House was opened by the local Methodist Circuit Dad started volunteering there too. He supported their work with asylum seekers. In recent weeks, despite being very unwell and immobile Dad expressed a desire to get on the bus into town on a Friday morning to go to Susanna Wesley House.

These are just a few of the many examples I could give of just how KIND Dad was.

My second word for Dad is PEDANTIC:

• If you have met Dad you will have been corrected by him! He was certainly a stickler for the correct use of language.
• Some of our family favourites are:
Regularly and frequently. Dad’s concern about this was highlighted when he was a governor at Murray Park school. He noticed that the school’s policy documents included the statement “Policies will be reviewed regularly” but did not specify how often this meant. Dad asked is this once a year, once every 300 years or once a millennium? He would point out to us that regularly needed an associated time period and frequently didn’t help either unless you specified the frequency!
What’s the unit? You could not give Dad a measurement, volume or any other number without telling him what unit you were using. This even extended to him questioning the district nurses who were checking his blood sugar levels in his final weeks. Once a science teacher always a science teacher!
That’s not a cup, it doesn’t have a saucer! Dad would say cups have saucers, mugs don’t. And woe betide you if you called a plastic beaker a glass!
Which Sport? Whenever the sports news came on the TV & they launched into talking about Liverpool, Man United or even the World Cup Dad would shout out but which sport? As you can probably guess he was not a fan of football!

• Dad’s pedantry was also evident when playing board games. The rules must be followed exactly and if they didn’t make sense to him he wouldn’t play. In one particular game called Escape from Colditz the German guards could move from their barracks straight to other parts of the board. Dad was having none of this...they should go through a door & then walk around the board following the pathways.

As a family, we have vowed to continue Dad’s pedantry in tribute to him. So be careful what you say; we will be listening and ready to correct!

The third word I would use to describe Dad is FUN:

• The first thing FUN brings to my mind is his love of telling jokes. Perhaps you loved hearing Dad’s jokes or maybe you laughed quietly out of politeness? As we grew up my brother and I became a little tired of all the jokes so we came up with a rating system. It went from one Ha for slightly amusing to three Ha’s if it was hilarious. It wasn’t often we rated a joke as more than one Ha!
• Dad was also a lover of puns and wordplay. As an older teenager and adult I felt a sense of achievement to be able to guess what quip he was going to come out with and get in first! Sometimes he even laughed.
•
These are a couple of my favourites:

When asked What’s the matter? He would reply The man who makes the mats!
When asked Are you alright? The answer was Yes, apart from the bit that’s left!

• The joy Dad took in puns & wordplay led to his love of cryptic crosswords. In fact this was partly to blame for me arriving late to my wedding in this very building. Dad and I were so busy trying to finish the crossword after Mum & the Bridesmaids had left the house that we forgot my flowers! Dad had to go back to fetch them.
• Alongside the usual family board games Dad and I used to play another rather more silly game. Hide the Apple Sticker! The only rule was you had to place a sticker from an apple somewhere and wait for the other person to find it. Hiding places included each other’s clothing and inside the tea pot lid! But Dad never would admit the sticker Chris and I found at the top of a Polish mountain was anything to do with him!

• Dad’s fun side came to the fore when he became a Grandad. My children have asked me to share some of their memories:
◦ When Jude & Abi had messy faces after a meal at Grandma & Grandad’s their faces would be wiped and then out would come ‘Brown Towel’ to dry them. Over time this became less about drying and more about being chased by Grandad with the towel!
◦ Arrival in the car park for a day out with Grandma & Grandad always started with looking out for Grandad’s ‘Windmill Arms’. He would be next to their car waving his arms around like a very enthusiastic parking attendant.
◦ Jude & Abi enjoyed many caravanning holidays with their grandparents. They particularly liked the journeys in what Grandad called the ‘Red Rocket’ (really just a red Skoda Superb).
◦ They also affectionately remember Dobbin the rocking horse that Grandad made for Jude which they both enjoyed riding. It is now in our loft awaiting it’s next generation of riders. Jude also recalls making a bench seat with Grandad for the willow tree in their old garden.

The final memory I’d like to share with you is the last words my Dad spoke to me, just 4 days before he died. I was leaving his room and I told him I’d see him soon. Dad looked at me & said “not if I see you sooner”. I said that sounds like a threat; to which he replied WELL, I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE! It felt very special to know that even though he was so very unwell, the man who I had the privilege to call my Dad, was still there.

Before I finish I’d like to say a few thank yous:
To the church family here: thank you for picking up the phone to Mum, visiting Dad & caring for them both.
To Jane Rice: thank you for your commitment to spending time with Dad in his final weeks and allowing Mum to get out of the house.
To our wider family: thank you for your phone calls, visits & support.

But most of all thank you to Mum for caring for Dad in his last weeks and allowing him to fulfil his wish to die at home.
And to my brother Chris for being there for Mum in the final days and taking some of the strain of caring.

Finally, from the family, thank you for coming today, and please do take the time before you leave to fill in one of the memory cards. They can be found at the back of church or in the church hall with the food. We’d particularly enjoy reading any funny anecdotes or jokes you can remember Dad telling.

Remembering Derrick

Thank you all for coming today to celebrate Derrick’s life.
He was born in a farm cottage near Cleethorpes in Lincolnshire, but then grew up in Burton upon Stather near Scunthorpe where he attended school and the local Methodist church. His mother and father were Mary and Joseph, which lead him to joke that as their first born son he should have been called Jesus. He had one older sister (Kath) and four younger brothers (George, Stuart, John and Noel).
Derrick remembers having Pigs and Chickens in the garden. One day he climbed on the pigsty roof. He managed to drop his teddy in with the pigs. He did not see the teddy again as it was trampled / eaten by the pigs.
The family could not afford holidays. They did however occasionally go on the occasional day trip to Cleethorpes or Skegness. The young Derrick could only dream of exploring the rest of the UK or going abroad on holiday.
Derrick attended John Leggott Grammar School Scunthorpe. He then gained a place to study polymer chemistry at the University of Aston in Birmingham. At University he enquired about a local methodist church and was directed to Station Road Methodist where he joined the Sunday Nighters (a youth group meeting after the evening service). A young lady in the choir noticed him sitting at the back of the church, this was Laraine. Laraine had been feeling like a gooseberry accompanying her younger sister on dates with her boyfriend, Peter. Peter encouraged Derrick to join then on double dates and romance blossomed.
Laraine got a place to study pharmacy at Bradford University. Undeterred by this Derrick arranged a year in industry at a company near Bradford this allowed the romance to continue to blossom.
When they had completed their degrees they got married. They were married in an Orphanage chapel as the church was being demolished and rebuilt. (They specialise in churches on Station Road that were being rebuilt, the one we are in today is the second such church). The Orphanage is no longer there and is now a Tescos where they went shopping. They could get their groceries in the place where they were married.
Derrick had various jobs. He started out working in the plastics industry. He later trained as a teacher and taught science and chemistry. After teaching in various schools he later turned to supply teaching. He had many and adventure finding some of these schools due to his poor sense of direction.
When he started teaching, he took on childcare during much of the school holidays. One of my memories is that there was always a DIY project to help him with around the house. He also enjoyed making things from wood, he made a toy train and rocking horses for his children and grandchildren.
When I took an interest in kayaking he was not happy to just drop me off / pick me up from the local club. He joined too and we then went on various trips to rivers in North Wales to paddle white water. We also competed in various kayak races (including paddling 60km round the canals of Birmingham together). It was great as a teenager to have such a shared activity.
After retiring from teaching, he started handing out leaflets for the Liberal Democrats. He was then put forward as a candidate for a local election (with supposedly no chance of winning). To great surprise, he overturned a large majority and became a Derby City Councillor. He was on various committees including the adoption panel and the plain English panel. After 4 years he stood down as a councillor as he was frustrated by the fact that policies were based more on the chance of winning the next election than what needed doing / changing.
He pursued lots of different hobbies in retirement. He joined the seniors at a local golf club, attended Probus meetings, attended a photography club (submitting photos for competitions) and most recently joined a male voice choir. He was also a key member of a quiz team in a local quiz league. He did lots of volunteering in this church, the circuit and beyond, more of which later.
He always loved his cars and caravans. He bought many a nice car from his father-in-law Cliff (including 2 Ford Granadas and a Volvo). Many summer holidays were spent towing the caravan around Europe (alongside his in-laws). I remember driving up one mountain pass when I said ‘dad, there’s a helicopter flying down there in the valley’.
Laraine and Derrick had many other holidays around the world, visiting 6 different continents. Special trips include the Galapagos Islands, New Zealand and a microlight flight over Mount Everest. What a contrast to the young Derrick who hardly ever left the county of Lincolnshire.
He was a proud grandad. His grandchildren knew him for his jokes and plays on words. He was affectionately known as ‘daft daddy da Derrick from Derby’. They also often saw him with a camera pointing at them. Joshua as a toddler, when playing, said ‘Da Derrick’s unwell’. When asked what the problem was, he said ‘he needs new batteries for his camera’.
As a family we are grateful that you as family, friends and people representing the various different groups he was part of have been able to join us today to remember him and celebrate his life.