[If you have a story to tell then send it to my email, and a photo or two would be nice.
This chapter is written by the wife of a gentleman who was part of the Derann story from an early age and is still fondly remembered by all who met him.
John (Johnny) Thompson.
Ged has asked me to write about John’s time at Derann – so here goes –
John first met Derek in 1967 when his Dad bought him an 8mm projector and he used to go to Derek’s first shop in Holly Hall to hire the 8mm films. This started a long friendship between the two, and John used to go after school and during the school holidays to help out. This was the beginning of a very long friendship.
Derek moved to his second shop in Holly Hall and Sue (John’s wife) and Anne used to do all the cleaning when Sue finished work at the company she worked at just up the road.
Derek was Johns Best Man on 24th June 1972 when Sue and John got married.
Derann moved to 99 High Street in July 1978 and John rewired the whole building – it was officially opened by Barbara Windsor on 8th July 1978.
John continued to help Derek and went abroad with him to Germany and France and several trips to Wardour Street, London.
John started to work full time at Derann on the 3rd January 1980 and set up the TV and Audio workshop when Derann started to diversify selling TVs and Audio equipment.
John and Sue continued to help out over the years at the Open Days, John in charge of the film shows and Sue on the coffee machine etc.
John continued to work at Derann until the Autumn of 1998 but Derek and John remained friends until Johns untimely death on 29th March 2001at the age of 49. At the funeral Derek gave an amazing speech about all the years that they had been friends. They are both sadly missed. Love to you all. Sue x
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