Derek collapsed following a wonderful Christmas spent with family and passed away peacefully at
the John Radcliffe Hospital on the 2nd January. A thanksgiving service was held at St Michael’s
Church, Blewbury on the 10th February this year.
Derek and his wife Charmian moved to Grahame Close, Blewbury, as a young married couple with
their daughter Clare, in the autumn of 1965 and stayed there for the next 23 years raising their four
young children, Clare, Nick, Anne and Andy. They moved to Pippins in Upton in 1988, where they
both lived until Charmian passed away in 2019, followed by Derek’s passing this year. Derek took a
keen interest in village life: he was an original member of the Upton Village Wine Appreciation
Society, always ready to share his passion for, and knowledge of, fine wine, which was quite
extensive! He was a long-time member of the monthly Gentleman’s Breakfast and also spent
several happy years volunteering at the Style Acre Tea Rooms in Blewbury, helping to support and
mentor young people with learning difficulties. He chaired a committee to produce a Parish Plan for
Upton in 2005 and volunteered for a few years as an Ambulance Community First Responder.
Outside of his commitment to the village he was known as an enthusiastic walker and could often
be found striding up and down the embankment in Upton with various labradors in tow.
Derek grew up in Beckenham in South London and laid an early claim to fame when he was
bowled out by a young Derek Underwood whilst at school! In 1959 he won a Major Scholarship to
Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he read Maths, Physics and Metallurgy as an undergraduate. He
then took up a research position at Cambridge, specialising in Field Ion Microscopy and earning
his PhD in 1965. Charmian and Derek met at a party hosted by friends in 1961 and were married in
the summer of 1963. In 1965 Derek took up the offer of a job at the Atomic Energy Research
Establishment in Harwell and the young family moved to Blewbury. Over the years he worked on
various projects in his specialism of metallurgy including the use of ion beams to lay down
metallic surface coatings and developing a completely new technique for the safe storage of
radioactive gases. By the end of his time as a research scientist, Harwell held 14 patents listed
under his name. In his later career he led Harwell’s Programme and Planning Group and advised on
the management of the Harwell and Culham sites, including the decommissioning of various
research centres. He took his final retirement in 2003 having spent 38 years at Harwell.
Outside of his passion for the sciences Derek was an enthusiastic gardener, transforming the
outdoor spaces at Pippins into a beautiful garden of vegetable beds, flowers and trees, many of
which were grown from cuttings taken from his own father’s garden. He is remembered as a
sociable and outgoing individual with a great store of fascinating stories, a wicked sense of humour
and a kind and courteous person who was curious about the world and everything in it. He will be
greatly missed.
His children and the wider family would like to thank the many people who have sent cards and
letters of condolence and shared their memories of Derek in the period since his death.