James Derek was born in Londonderry, Northern Ireland on 12 January 1940. His parents were Jim and Jean Burns and he had two younger sisters, Cath and Iris. The whole family moved to Coventry in 1957. For the majority of his career he worked for Mobil Oil Company in retail estate. He married Grace Williamson in 1967 and they had one son, Robert, born in 1970. During their marriage they lived near Bedford, Leicester, Cambridge, Newbury and Southampton. Grace died in 2010. Derek's hobbies included golf, horse racing, cruising and singing. He moved to Romsey in 2011 and was an active member of The Abbey United Reformed Church. He died peacefully in Southampton General Hospital on 5 September 2016 with Robert, Tamsin, Iris and Derek by his side.

The family would welcome all those who knew James Derek to the Thanksgiving Service which will be followed by lunch at a nearby hotel. The service will include 3 hymns; Praise, my soul, the King of Heaven, The Lord's My Shepherd (tune Crimond) and I cannot tell why He, whom angels worship. The first two hymns are probably very familiar to most people, the third is set to the tune of Londonderry Air (which is the same as Oh Danny Boy). The link below is a video of the hymn sung to this tune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62wk5KvI7-w

The following links show the car parking options in Romsey (the church does not have any parking)

http://www.testvalley.gov.uk/resident/transportparkingandstreets/car-parks/romseycarparks/
http://www.testvalley.gov.uk/assets/files/10328/Romsey-Car-Parking-Leaflet-April-2016.pdf

For those who require accommodation we would recommend The Palmerston Rooms bed and breakfast in Romsey (http://www.thepalmerstonrooms.com/)