A BUTCHER who ran a shop in Bicester for 42 years has died aged 72.

Peter Goss, who ran Peter Goss Butchers in Bucknell Road, started working in the trade as a delivery boy for the town’s Waines Butchers in 1956.

Within a decade he had left Waines to establish his own business Goss and Winman in Kings Sutton.

He branched out on his own in 1972 and opened Peter Goss Butchers in Bucknell Road where he remained.

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The shop was named retailer of the year two years running at the Bicester Business Awards in 2002 and 2003. Mr Goss was actively involved in running the shop until he died.

Peter Goss was born in Bicester on April 5, 1942.

He was attending Bicester Grammar School when he started working for Waines Butchers on Saturdays.

Aged 19 he married Alice Howe and together they had two sons. They remained married until she died in 2007.

As well as being a butcher Mr Goss was a passionate cricketer, having started playing while he was at school.

He played for Oxfordshire before starting a lifelong association with Bicester and North Oxfordshire Cricket Club and eventually became the club’s president.

This was a post he still held at the time of his death.

Business partner Dale Grant, who started working with Mr Goss when he was 14, said: “Peter was an absolute character.

“He always had a story to tell about something or other and he was always joking behind the counter.

“He lived for butchery and for cricket and he was the president of Bicester and North Oxfordshire Cricket Club.”

Customers were concerned the shop would now close but the 44-year-old said: “We want to carry on his legacy and continue the shop for as long as possible.”

Mr Goss’ sister Angela Cross, 56, said: “Humour was in his nature and he could be very funny.

“But he was always a man that could take it. I think it was one of his most endearing traits.

“He loved there to be some joy in life and he worked because he loved it and he would help anybody.

“He loved to go on holiday and really liked cruises, and he also loved sport and play cricket.

“His other passion in life was birds. He used to love feeding and watching the wild birds in his garden, and he used to spend a fortune feeding them in the winter.”

Peter Goss died on September 18 after suffering a heart attack. He is survived by his partner Audrey Faulkner, sons Stephen and Philip, sisters Angela and Diana Cross and mother Joan Wise.

His funeral will take place on October 7 in St Edburg’s Church.

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