Tribute: By Keith Bromley....  

Cecil's great grandparents left England for Lyttelton, New Zealand and arrived on the 7th February 1851 as immigrants of the Canterbury Association, a Church of England enterprise. The sailing ship "Castle Eden" arrived 53 days behind the historic first four ships as it was necessary to call into Capetown for repairs.

Cecil's mother Aunty Alice, daughter of William and Ann Guilford, was born at Pleasant Valley where she went to school. In 1902, the family came to Port Taranaki and boarded a train for Inglewood. After a cup of tea at the Moa Tearooms they set out for Tarata by coach and Alice and her sister May rode their bikes all the way. A new home was built and is still there today. After her father's death, the family moved to New Plymouth and Aunty Alice spent some time at Timaru and then returned to Inglewood. In 1920 Aunty Alice married her cousin Leonard "Toge" Guilford. Cecil's father Uncle Toge, worked on the main trunk line through to Taumarunui, then bought some land at Okahukua. Anne, Cecil and Bruce were born at Taumarunui and did their schooling there, travelling by train each day. Early 1940, the family shifted down to the Drummond"s homestead at Tarata and then to New Plymouth where Cecil did his apprenticeship with Smart Brothers Plumbers.

Cecil joined the RNZAF at Ohakea and saw active service in the Soloman Islands, Santos, Guadacanal and Bougainville during WW2. His father Toge spent five years on security duty with the RNZAF at the old Bell Block Aerodrome. Anne saw service in the Middle East on the hospital ship Oranje as a nurse with the New Zealand Army. Bruce trained in Taieri as a RNZAF pilot. Cecil's mother, Aunty Alice gave time to the local army, navy and air force service clubs. On Cecil's return to New Zealand after VJ Day, he went back to his trade as a plumber. The family shifted to Auckland and then to Wanganui where Cecil worked for a weed spraying contractor and at the freezing works. Cecil and his mother finally came back to New Plymouth and settled in Coronation Avenue and he worked as a plumber for IWD. He always lived with his mother and took care of her until her passing. Cec always had a lovely vegetable and flower garden and specialised in roses. One particular beautiful rose called Peace was his mother's favourite.

We lost our aunt and Great aunt Alice in 1980 being the last of the Ann Benbow and William Guilford's family at the age of almost 95. Cecil retired to Inglewood and had many happy years as a member of the Inglewood Club. He loved pool and snooker and paired up with Brian and they won the Sherriff's Trophy two years running. He enjoyed pool and was very good at it. At one stage while Brian was green-keeper at Kaimata, Cecil played bowls and I am told, he was just average just like Brian! Cecil always loved dancing and music and horse racing was his great love. Boxing Day and New Year?s Day, Uncle Toge, Bruce and Cec would always attend the races even though Auntie Alice did not approve. In earlier days, he enjoyed rugby with Maurice O'Connor. Wow! And all those wonderful Guilford parties and reunions, he loved them all.

Cecil was a man of few words. He was humble, quiet and had an unassuming character but in the tradition of the Guilford ancestry, a spade was a spade and if you were wrong , he was very quick to correct you! With Cecil's passing, it is the end of an era for this side of the Guilford family, as Bruce, Anne and Cecil had no children. Cecil was a great uncle to 9 and Karen remembers very fondly his visits to her home at birthday times - he never forgot them. He would always arrive unannounced, bring some lunch and make himself right at home. That was the sort of person Cec was. He will be fondly remembered by all who had any association with him throughout his 82 years of life. A special thanks to the staff of the Roseneath Resthome for their wonderful care of Cecil.