We joined other mourners at West Wiltshire Crematorium, Semington, this morning to celebrate the life of Derek James Wilbourne, who died recently at the age of 79.
His coffin was carried in to the strains of Mr Blue Sky by ELO, and how appropriate this turned out to be.
This final farewell was being held under a real sky, which offered us big blue patches and warm summer sunshine.
I always knew Derek as Derek James. I hadn’t realised he had dropped his surname – for business purposes – until reading it on the order of service!
A Frome boy, Derek swapped a stable job as a printer to pursue music – his true passion.
He was a DJ in every sense of the word, with his own highly popular roadshow, followed by working with the BBC Radio One Club and then as a big-name music promoter.
I met him during my time with HTV West when he provided Outside Broadcasting Units for our stand at the Royal Bath and West Show.
His final and outstanding success was running Chefs on Stage, a company that provided live cookery theatres for notable chefs such as Mary Berry and James Martin.
In more recent years, his wife Eve and l travelled annually to the Lake District, where we provided – and l presented – a Garden Roadshow at Holker Hall, the home of Lord and Lady Cavendish.
A showman in every sense of the word. My thoughts go out to Eve and all the family. The world is poorer and less colourful without Derek.
