Derek Greener – Obituary

Brian Anderson’s tribute to Derek Greener.

In the 1960s and the early 70s Derek lived in Tynemouth and sailed at the  Model Boat Club in Tynemouth Lake. After moving to Newcastle he then sailed his home-built yachts at the Exhibition Park in N/C.

He met Roger Stollery who was at N/C University at the time and Roger designed the Vane M class “Popcorn”.  Derek showed his building skills with a beautiful  wooden planked “Turtle Deck”.  Derek sailed this boat with considerable success

Derek was a plumber to trade before he went into the RAF as a Armourer during his National Service

Derek worked for the Bowey group where he setup an engineering branch for them. Later he left Bowey to setup his own very successful plumbing business.  During this time he designed a 10 rater (Pedler), which proved to be an excellent design.  He also sailed a Vane “A” yacht (Clockwork Orange Peel design).

When radio sailing became popular, he sailed 10 Ms and 6 metres at Newcastle, and various Ms at Killingworth Lake.

Derek became Commodore at Newcastle, a position he held for a number of years until the club closed in 2000 due to weed problems.

He became Sailing Secretary at Killingworth MYC and later Commodore for some years and continued sailing even into his 90s, but eventually was forced to stop a few years ago due to ill health.

Derek was a skilled craftsman who not only made model yachts, but also beautiful Violins and Northumbrian Pipes.

Derek and his wife Marina moved to Hartlepool to be close to his granddaughter Emma and her family.

Our thanks Derek for all the happy days we had sailing with you over the years.

Brian Anderson