On the 4th May 1935, in Golden Green, Kent, Dennis George Edward Frier was born. His parents Cecil and Valentine already had six children and so Dennis would be a younger brother and baby of the family to brothers Cecil, and John and sisters Mary, Dot, Betty and Margaret. Sadly now all since passed.
 
School days for young Dennis were spent at Hadlow primary School and then onto Sussex Road secondary School. The family lived on a small holding in Golden Green and as a young lad, Dennis’ would help his father in the fields and happily work with his cousins foresting in Shipbourne Woods.
 
As was customary at the time, Dennis left school at the age of 15 and started an apprenticeship as a toolmaker at the Crystalate Factory in Golden Green. When he finished his apprenticeship in 1956 he began his national service in the army with the Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers. At the age of 21, prior to joining the army he married Audrey Weeks. Their first son Malcolm was born in 1957 shortly after which Dennis was sent to serve in Malta for 18 months. Following national service he returned to the Crystalate as a toolmaker, where he worked until 1965 when he moved to Kimberley Clark. Together the couple had two more sons, Chris was born in Golden Green in 1961 and, following a move into a new family home in Hadlow in 1966, Patrick followed in 1969, to complete the family.
 
They remember the idyllic orchard, fields and river Bourne behind the Medway View house and how the hard-working Dennis would never rest on his laurels to provide for his family and give them what they needed in life. He would often work long shifts taking on extra shifts when available and then fill the remainder of the spare time with other jobs such as window cleaning. Malcolm remembers the boredom of having to hold the ladder! Dennis was such a hardworking man that in his retirement he set up his own gardening business.
 
The boys remember life growing up with Dennis as their Dad. Dennis loved driving and they especially enjoyed the caravan and camping summer holidays they had all over the UK and many parts of Europe. There were many stand out moments from these holidays but the boys in particular remember the time they were attacked by flying ants, the time the caravan got stuck in mud, and the mandatory “whitsun” weekend in the New Forest. Many magical memories were made on these childhood family holidays and weekends away.   
 
Dennis was a bit of a calamity when it came to DIY with various mishaps around the house not least the time he tried to take a wall down with a bread knife. However, the truth cannot be said for mending cars. He had a great interest in fixing and tinkering with cars….so long as it was a Ford!
 
Unfortunately, the marriage between Audrey and Dennis didn’t last and they divorced in 1977.
 
In the following years, Dennis attended many dances through the “divorced and separated club” he was a member of but it wasn’t until 1980 when he attended a dance in Bognor Regis that he met Christine. Their first date was a pub lunch and subsequent dates were the cinema or visiting various local attractions. They would see each other each week when Dennis would make the round trip to Bognor.
 
On 31st October, Halloween, 1981 they married in the Registry Office in Tunbridge Wells. Their reception was in the village hall in Golden Green where all the staff dressed up in Halloween costumes. Christine already had three sons of her own and together they moved into the family home in Hadlow. Damien, Nigel and Kevin settled in well in Hadlow and with six sons between the couple the boys got to know each other as step-brothers and built a good relationship where they all got on well.
 
The couple shared 39 years of marriage together and some wonderful memories along the way. In the early days they would travel to Bognor to see Christine’s Dad. They had plenty of weekends at their caravan in Pevensey Bay where they liked to socialise with the many friends they had there. Dennis loved a beer, ale in particular and it’s fair to say he was at his happiest sitting with a beer outside his caravan and if surrounded by friends and family all the better.
 
Together the couple went on many coach trips all over the U.K, including Scotland and Wales and they especially enjoyed the New Year’s Eve trip every year to various hotels throughout the UK with their friends and neighbours Ann & Les.
 
Dennis’ love of travel extended much further afield and the couple had 3 cruises together; two around the Mediterranean and one in the Caribbean. They also had some wonderful holidays including Australia, Jamacia, Lanzarotte and Spain although Dennis love of travel didn’t extend to the food. He would forever find the English restaurant serving traditional food rather than eat any “foreign muck” as he liked to call it.
 
Dennis was a social character who loved to meet friends and family at the pub, The Harrow been his local for many years where he would socialise with some of his many friends. He loved to tell the story of how “most people came back from the seaside with a stick of rock but he came back with a wife, 3 sons, a cat, a dog and 2 budgies”!
 
Dennis could be stubborn at times, and he didn’t suffer fools gladly but he was family orientated and enjoyed having his children and grand-children around him. He was most proud of providing for his family and encouraged each of them to stand up for themselves. He was a loyal and charming man who will be sadly missed by all those who had the pleasure of walking part of this life’s journey with him. However, his legacy will live on through his children, his grandchildren and his great grandchildren. He will never be forgotten.