Stan Jones 1929-2021

Stan Jones

Stan Jones of Lichfield Road passed away last Friday the 17th December. He had recently had a couple of falls and although he seemed to be on the mend, he sadly didn't recover.

Stan moved into Lichfield as a ten year old in March 1939 with his mother and father and lived in the same house for over 80 years. His parents were married in Holy Trinity church and he was baptised there.

He had a famous photo published in The Times on Coronation Day in 1953 of his parents standing in their Lichfield Road doorway with their house decked out with bunting and Union Jack flags. Something of a tradition formed with newspapers sending photojournalists for each subsequent Jubilee in 1977 and 2002 to document how Stan and the area in general marked those anniversaries. Many of us will fondly remember a robed Bishop John Sentamu dancing away in the street outside Stan's house.

Coincidently on Friday 17th December I was out walking with a neighbour from Lichfield and the conversation turned to the forthcoming Queen's Jubilee in June 2022 and that it would be great to have Stan at the head of the [very long] table as the longest resident of our area.  Alas, as we were finishing our walk and turned back into Lichfield we saw an ambulance and heard of Stan's passing earlier that day. 

If you have memories of Stan then please do email them.

The Gentle Author has a wonderful portrait of Stan's life written in August 2021. It is well worth a read.