8:03am Friday 25th September 2009
By Richard Catton
THE funeral of a Second World War veteran and long serving British rail manager will take place next week.
Charles William Futcher Cook, who died aged of 89, will not only be remembered for his years of dedication to the railway industry both in York and throughout the UK, but also his life-long membership of the Boy Scout movement.
Mr Cook was born in Middlesex in 1920 into a family of master builders. Following the loss of his father in 1929, Mr Cook moved to Harrow, with his mother and three sisters and it was during his last term at Kingsbury County School that his sister brought him an application form for a job with the new national railway company.
Despite “hopeless national unemployment” at the time, Mr Cook was taken on, much to the delight of his head teacher who described the news as a “wonderful opportunity.”
However, with war looming in the 1930s, Mr Cook joined the Territorial Army and eventually, was sent to Egypt for the first major reinforcement of the Second World War. He was wounded while taking part in the invasion of Sicily, though after recovering, went on to spend the rest of the war in the Middle East before returning to his career in the railway industry.
The end of the war also saw him marry his wife Edith.
His life at British Rail brought him to York, following praise for his engineering work on tunnels at Potters Bar and Hadley Wood.
One of his first jobs, in his new role as a publicity manager, was to organise celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the railway and, two years later, he handled the launch of high speed trains and later the modernisation and electrification of part of the East Coast Main Line.
Mr Cooper retired in 1982 after 47 years of service and concentrated on his work with the Boy Scout Movement, in which he reached the rank of district commissioner.
The latter years of his life were largely taken up by caring for his wife, who suffered the first of three major heart attacks in 1982. She died in 2002.
Mr Cooper’s funeral will take place at All Hallows Church, in Sutton-on-the-Forest, at 2pm on Friday, October 2.
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