About Grahame

As read by the Minister at the service

History of Grahame for Rev Sam prepared by Chris

Grahame Desmond Robinson also called ‘Jingo’ by his friends
Born at home in Leigh Park on 16th August 1959.
Parents Roy and Hilda (deceased)
Older siblings Christina(Chris) and Alan
Alan is also sadly deceased ( 2016 )
The house and street in Leigh Park hold happy memories of a friendly and caring community of young families. All had some sort of garden in which most people grew fruit and vegetables. We thought Grahame would grow up to work with animals as he showed such an early interest in them. Chris remembers Grahame collecting worms and various other critters and on one occasion forgot to take them out of his pocket where he lovingly kept them before transferring them to a shoebox– so said worms got washed and ironed – he was very upset and had nightmares and his mum was furious – his trousers had to be thrown away and the iron was never quite the same again!
Grahame went to St Alban’s Cof E primary school even after the family moved to Portsmouth in 1965. (Roy and Hilda desperately wanted to return to live in Portsmouth where they had been brought up and most of their family lived).
Hilda continued to travel back to work in a local factory in Havant whilst Grahame attended St Albans and they caught a bus every day to and from Portsmouth. It was a long day and a long bus ride for them (and also for his brother Alan). They both welcomed the day they went to secondary school locally in Portsmouth but missed their primary school friends very much.
The whole family were huge Pompey fans including Grahame at a very early age. He went on to have a phase where he also supported Arsenal much to everyone’s disappointment! He supported Arsenal all through his childhood alongside Pompey. It was a great relief to his dad when he announced he was going to concentrate his support on Pompey and dumped Arsenal. He has continued to be a dedicated fan all his life. He loved it when his sister Chris rented a house in Ruskin Road – near the gates to Fratton Park and became a regular visitor there and the nearby pub!
The family moved to North End, on the edge of Stamshaw where one set of grandparents lived and also Grahames’ dad’s brother George and family lived.
He was an intelligent boy and passed his 11+ and went to Northern Grammar School for boys. His school years were ok, he enjoyed his school trips and visits with his pen friend Jerome, but he couldn’t wait to leave as soon as possible.
He had his heart set on being an apprentice in Portsmouth Dockyard. Alan had already joined as an apprentice a couple of years before.
Grahame signed his “Articles of Apprenticeship to the Secretary of State for Defence” in 1975 just after his 16th birthday. The trade he chose was as a painter and decorator. As an apprentice he attended the Portsmouth College of Art, Design and Further Education and was awarded his City and Guilds in 1978, followed by an advanced certificate in decorative painting in 1979. He passed all his exams with distinctions and credits. He worked on some wonderful ships and buildings in the Dockyard. A highlight was his work painting HMS Victory of which the family has some photographs.
He continued his education at Highbury Technical College and obtained a certificate in Shipbuilding in 1983. This covered 20 different components – including engineering, mathematics, marine and shipbuilding technology, and naval architecture.
It was around this time that the Ministry of Defence began to outsource many of the trades in the Dockyard and Grahame was offered redundancy. He took this with a heavy heart but also saw it as an opportunity to start his own business which he proceeded to do. He invested his redundancy money into setting this up including his proud purchase of a van –his very first vehicle. Sadly, the business didn’t work out and he found himself seeking paid employment again.
A few years later he found his way back to the dockyard again and has been there ever since! He loved working there and it’s been a huge part of his life. His parents also eventually ended up working in the dockyard too so it was important to the whole family.
During his late teens/early twenties Grahame honed his skills at pool. He played in just about every pub in Stamshaw and as well as a few others and manged to win a large selection of trophies and shields! Of course he also developed his life-long love of beer at the same time! He also met his friend and eventually to be flatmate Keith Binns on the pub circuit.
It was also around this time that he started to be called “Jingo”. How this begun we do not really know but it stuck and spread so that some people only know him as Jingo. Chris believed it was to do with his sandy hair and ginger beard (ginger became Jingo), Keith thought it was to do with a cartoon character called Jingo but not sure why –it’s a hairy urangutan! Chris can also remember Grahame using the phrase “By Jingo” when he was taking the mick out of the upper classes – is this how it came about? Anyone who knows – please get in touch with Chris! Update - according to Tracey it came from when grahame won a lot of loose change playing Pool, when he walked the coins jingled in his pocket hence the name "Jingo"
He loved watching football and cricket but he was also a secret martial arts fan and excelled at karate. He would dress up as the karate kid when fancy dress was called for and his friends would play ‘Kung Fu Fighters’ on the juke box as he often ‘bragged’ about his karate days!
He experienced the usual rites of passage with several stories circulating of drunken escapades with his brother Alan and brother in law Pete as well as various friends. His love of beer and later red wine endured throughout his life!
Around 1993, Grahame met Karen (his future wife) and persuaded her to go for a first date and eventually she moved into his flat with him in Robert Mack Court in Portsea.
They very soon after were joined by two beautiful Labradors Samson and Rocky and a pair of lovebirds.
Karen and Grahame had no children together, but Karen had a son Ian from her first marriage and although he didn’t live with them, became a much loved stepson. When he married Leanne, and they had their 3 children Dexter, Tyler and Meredith – it gave him the chance to be a grandad. He was made up.
Grahame and Karen married in 1996 and moved to 2 Kempenfelt House and were joined in a flatshare by their friends Keith and Tracey.
They enjoyed spending time at their local – the Portsea Arms -and indeed the landlord and landlady had been instrumental in getting them to ‘name the day’. The whole community were devastated when the pub closed and the new local for Grahame became the Lady Hamilton, particularly for Sunday lunch.
The next few years were difficult and painful as first their dad Roy became ill and died, and a few years later their mum Hilda also died after illness.
However after this period of sadness, in 2007, Grahame exercised his right to buy and he and Karen became the proud owners of the flat.
After the deaths of his beloved dogs Samson and Rocky, Grahame acquired his new Labrador Ruby. Ruby is an old lady now and missing her ‘dad’ but is being looked after by Keith and Tracey.
Karen struggled with her health throughout their time together and both Grahame and Karen’s friend Tracey cared for her as her health deteriorated over the years. Grahame too had some health problems as he was diabetic and had to have heart bypass surgery.
Sadly Karen died in May 2012 after a long battle with illness at the age of 53.
Karen’s death affected Grahame deeply and he described the period after Karen’s death as very dark. Fortunately, he was not alone in his flat as Keith and Tracey continued to share it with him and he was always grateful for their support.
By then he had taken on a new role working for BAE systems as a union representative -a role which he enjoyed immensely and was still doing when he passed away.
In 2014 he met and began a relationship with Carol, and for a few years enjoyed great happiness with her and his spirit was well and truly lifted. They visited people and places and had some wonderful holidays together at home and abroad. Carol’s three daughters Hayley, Charlotte and Jessica all adored him and he found himself enjoying being part of a new and loving family.
They both had a shared interest in herbal and alternative medicine and Grahame took a course and rather grandly became a master herbalist. He was very proud of this and his family were treated to much advice about how to boost their wellbeing! He tried very hard to use his new skills and knowledge to manage his own health and well-being and felt very strongly that taking prescribed medicines year after year had a detrimental effect on health. But he tried as hard as he could to give himself the best possible chance.
In 2016, Grahame’s brother tragically Alan died at the age of 60 after several years’ of ill health and this brought more heartache.
His relationship with Carol ended at the end of 2017 and this was also a blow although they have remained friends.
Since then, Grahame’s health slowly deteriorated and he had a few more episodes in hospital. His heart was not strong only functioning at about 50%, and he was fitted with a swanky pacemaker which also had a defibulator attached because he was at high risk of heart attack. His ability to walk or go out was severely compromised made worse by severe leg and foot ulcers which were incredibly painful. He bore all of his issues with great fortitude and stoicism.
He celebrated his 60th birthday in hospital with his close family around him to make it special. Chris arranged with the ward for Grahame to be transferred to a private room and all the Robinsons and the Wells’ along with Tracey got together to share some cake and sing Happy Birthday to him.
Life was very hard for him after this, he was discharged home but struggled to do the most simple of tasks. He could no longer attend Fratton Park to watch his beloved Pompey. He struggled to go out anywhere at all and was stuck at home confined to his flat – thank goodness for his wonderful dog Ruby who often said helped him through.
Although he had been unable to work for some time, his mood lifted in January when he was cleared to start work again from home and he was determined that his ailing body should not prevent him from doing his job. Of course when COVID hit, this was in some ways to his advantage as everyone was working from home and his declining condition was not so obvious to others. His couldn’t praise his employer enough for their compassionate and supportive treatment of him throughout the past 3 years – particularly Hannah his manager.
Sadly he developed and infection and quickly became poorly. By the time he was discovered in his room he was unconscious and he stayed that way until he died on 2nd October in intensive care at Queen Alexandra Hospital with his sister Chris and brother-in-law Pete by his side.