A SHOPKEEPER who was a community stalwart of Kidlington for three decades has died aged 84.

Grandfather-of-five Dilwyn Morgan ran Cherwell Stores, in Mill Street, Kidlington, with his wife Barbara from 1964 to 1990.

Their shop became a focal point of the village and they soon found themselves helping people with a range of problems.

Mrs Morgan said: “We knew lots of people, many of whom are now parents and grandparents.

“People would come in and ask for advice about all sorts of things.

“We once helped someone find a buyer for their tractor and we were called upon to sign mortgages as well.

“We knew everyone in the village and Dilwyn was known to many as ‘the sweetie man’ because of the sweets we sold to the children.”

The shop was taken over by the couple when the village was much smaller, Mrs Morgan said, when Kidlington still had a petrol station and pumps with a winding handle.

She added: “The shop was a huge part of Dilwyn’s life. He found his niche there and I think he was what most people would call a bit of a character. He was just the sort of man you’d want behind the counter: kind and plenty to say to everyone.”

Dilwyn Morgan was born in Swansea, Wales, on September 27, 1929, to parents Dilwyn and Claudia. He grew up in Loughor, near Gorseinon.

His father was a scaffolder, but died when his son was just nine years old, shattering the family’s life.

A period of hardship for his mother and her three children followed. Growing up with his siblings, Hayden, now 83, and Gwyneth, now 81, Mr Morgan went to three different schools, the first two of which were “bombed out” during the Second World War.

Swansea was a Luftwaffe target during the conflict due to its port and Mr Morgan’s childhood home was bombed during the Swansea Blitz. During the war he picked crops, earning food payments for his family, and left school at 14 to become a tin miner.

At 16 he became a butcher’s boy and was prevented from being called up to national service when he was 18 because of his apprenticeship. After the war he moved to Oxford and, when he was called up again, joined the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry as a private.

For just over a month he served in Cyprus, but was later moved to Suez, in Egypt. He served there, gaining the rank of corporal, and returned to Oxford aged 23.

He met his future wife, Barbara, née Fletcher, while delivering a birthday gift on behalf of a friend to the friend’s mother in Cowley. He boarded a bus from there, but did not know where he was going, getting off near Holyoake Hall.

He went inside and was spotted by a young Miss Fletcher, who remarked to her friends: “That is the man I am going to marry.”

And by September 4, 1954 they had married – in Holy Trinity Church, Headington Quarry.

The couple moved to Holyoake Road, in Headington, and had their first child, Kay, in 1956. During that time Mr Morgan was working at a baker’s in Friar’s Entry, working for many of the nearby colleges. Their first child was followed by John in 1960 and Jane in 1966.

In 1964 he and his wife moved to High Street in Kidlington and took over Cherwell Stores, in Mill Street. He had first come across the grocery shop during his rounds at the baker’s.

Mr Morgan was to run the shop with his wife for the next 30 years.

The couple retired in 1990, when he was 60.

Dilywn Morgan died on September 3 after a period of illness caused by melanoma skin cancer.

A funeral took place at St Mary’s Church, in Kidlington, on September 15.

Mr Morgan is survived by his wife, his brother, his sister, his two sons and daughter, and five grandchildren, James, Eliza, Lydia, Saul and Aidan.

This week’s obituaries

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