Obituary

Island Obituary: John Pullinger

A skilled coachbuilder, responsible for converting the Island’s open-top buses has died aged 94 after a short illness.

John Albert Pullinger, son of Albert and Eva Pullinger, grew up in Portland Street, Newport. His father, foreman at Newport’s railway station, booked a passage to Canada for him when war broke out in 1939, but the danger in crossing the Atlantic cancelled that. The family often vacated the town for a Thorness beach hut but had a lucky escape when a jettisoned bomb dropped nearby.

After leaving school aged 14, John maintained a family tradition dating back to 1791, for coachbuilding, by joining Margham’s coach works in Crocker Street. When Margham’s lost the contract for body repairs for Southern Vectis, John was fortunate to obtain a job at the company’s Nelson Road workshops in 1951, commencing a 41-year career. Apart from undertaking accident repairs, he reconstructed a pair of 1939 Bristol K double deckers to open top in 1958/9, converted 6 ‘Lodekkas’ to open top in the ‘70s, created the open top ‘Shanklin’s Pony’, and assisted in rebuilding an AEC Matador as a tow truck. Remarkably, every one of these ‘special projects’ survives, including the 83-year-old ‘Old Girl’, still in regular use.

In 1961, at a dance in Sandown, he met Myfanwy (Lyn) Roberts who was on holiday. They married in Salford in 1964 and lived at Gurnard. In their 58-year marriage, they shared interests and enjoyed cruising holidays.

John was a keen model-maker, specialising in ships and aircraft and with his friend, Ray Porter, made ‘Isle of Wight’ badges for cars. In retirement, he painted maritime subjects and enjoyed photography, including producing cine films and DVDs. His main interest however was sailing and he possessed several vessels over the years.

He leaves his wife Lyn, cousins, nephews and nieces. The funeral service at the IW Crematorium was well attended by family, friends and former colleagues.