Town and bikers pay respects to much-loved Thetford funeral director David Turner

The daughter of a much-loved Thetford funeral director who had a life-long passion for motorbikes has thanked the community after his service brought the town centre to a standstill at the weekend.

The coffin of David Turner, who died at the age of 79 from vascular dementia and Alzheimer's, was escorted to St Cuthbert’s Church in the town centre by around 100 motorbikes, family and fellow funeral directors that he had helped, on Saturday.

People gathered to pay their respects inside and outside the church, to a man that had served his community through Turner Funerals in Old Market Street for more than 60 years.

Lydia Turner-Offen said: “I had simply put a message on social media to say that dad had passed away and the outpouring of people told us that we had to do something for the people of the town and that he could not just disappear.

“He would have loved the support at the weekend, we thought there would be a few bikes there but it was pretty overwhelming seeing all of them, it was an amazing turnout by everyone.”

David started working for funeral services in the town around 63 years ago, for Boughtons in Station Road, before doing funerals himself and eventually moving to his Old Market Street premises, where the business still is today, in the early 1970s.

Lydia, who took over the business in 2019, said: “This place was basically his home, he thrived and lived here, this place was him.

“He adored funeral directing, It mixed together his love of chatting to people with his love of helping people and he felt that is how he could be part of the town.”

Away from funeral service, David was massively into motorbikes, having his first bike when he was 16 and finally stopping at the age of 72.

Lydia said: “He was a biker all of his life, the first one he had a Royal Enfield Crusader Sports which was the bike of the time back then, but all through his life he rode the biggest and most powerful bikes you could imagine.

“He did racetracks and even in his 60s he was thrashing youngsters on the roads. The last bike he had was a Aprilla RSV Factory, which was the fastest road bike.”

The other loves in his life were his daughters, Lydia and older sister Victoria and their children, Grayson and Jarli.

Lydia said: “He doted on all of us and even though he was very dignified and subtle as a funeral director, as a dad he was the no rules dad and the adrenaline junkie who was always up for an adventure.

“My sister and I were reminiscing about what we used to get up to back in the day, including him tying our skateboards to the back of his car so we could go down the road and teaching us a bit of driving as 10-years-old across Knettishall Heath.

“He was our crazy amazing dad, who was a real character, who always put everything on hold for us and was up for a laugh – there was never a dull moment with him.”

The funeral procession was also attended by various funeral directors, including Richard Pepper and sons from Cottenham, near Cambridge, Peachey Funeral Directors from Mildenhall, Thornalley Funeral Services of King’s Lynn, Michael Denney and Sons in Hockwold and Fulchers in Bury St Edmunds.

Lydia said: “It was a really nice mix of people that had supported dad or that he had helped along the way. To have them there was very special.”

After the church service, there was a procession with the bikes around the whole of the town, to give David one last look at the place he served so well.

Lydia said: “It was amazing, Thetford really did him proud, there were a full range of people getting to the ends of their streets to pay their respects, by saluting, clapping and bowing their heads – it was just so moving.

“We know Thetford ran through dad’s veins and he was ingrained in this town but we were literally speechless by the support the town gave at the weekend and the amount of messages and cards we have been given.

“There are no words or amount of thanks that can show the level of gratitude we feel for the way people came together for us and dad, they really went above and beyond.”