John Lyndsey Clipson

28 August 1934 to 5 July 2024

John died peacefully on 5 July 2024 – just short of his 90^th birthday.  

On 23 July a number of Salisbury Probus Club officers and members attended the funeral service in Salisbury Cathedral where John had served as a steward for a number of years.

Probus member, Roy Bexon, delivered a touching eulogy to his late friend and former colleague. 

John attended Northampton Grammar School and then completed two years of National Service in the Royal Navy before gaining an honours degree in chemistry at Birmingham University. Seeking a career with a difference he was appointed to a position at the then Chemical Defence Experimental Establishment at Porton Down. He progressed through a number of highly specialised and secretive roles in which he met with security forces, the police, the Home Office and allied forces. John spent his entire working life at Porton Down.

Roy and John were persuaded to join the Alderbury Singers and, in 1983, John achieved a long-held ambition when he passed the audition for the Salisbury Musical Society (SMS) of which he remained a bass singer until 2019.

In 1990 he became editor of the programmes for SMS concerts and undertook that role until 2014. This gave him great satisfaction and his quality of work and attention to detail as editor for over 70 concerts deservedly established a legacy of very high quality outputs.

In 1994 John met his soul mate and future wife, Sonia, on an outing to the Southampton Mayflower Theatre and the rest is “history”!  Together they travelled widely, sharing a love of music, theatre, the arts, museums, churches and much more. 

John joined Probus in 2014 and embraced the fellowship and “mild anarchy” which this club offers!

John increasingly succumbed to Alzheimer’s which took him away from his loved ones and into local care homes where his condition could be better managed.  Roy particularly recalls the loving attention, devotion and selfless care that Sonia gave to John.

John will be remembered as a man of stature with a welcoming smile and a ready wit. A man of honour, correctness and charm – reliable and meticulous in all he did. He served his country and his community – always with a meticulous attention to detail.

“Nothing can fill the gap left by someone we love, and we should not attempt to find anything.

We must simply endure and hold out.  That may sound very harsh at first, but at the same time it is a great comfort, because as the hole that he has left remains unfilled, so the connection with him remains”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1943)