Delphie ran the garage and subsequently took over the pumps on the quay; that place was pretty well open twenty four hours a day.  People would come to Yarmouth to buy fuel because of Delphie. Her whole wall was a mass of postcards from people like the Hiscock family [who endowed the present-day lifeboat] who would send from every port that they were in because they were enamoured with Delphi like we all were, because she was such a magnetic character. Humble origins, humble in her lifestyle and everything she did, but a really good down to earth solid, gutsy, go-getting person.

She was such an encourager of everything. You had some weird project and she’d absolutely get right behind it. She used to wait up for us when we came across from Lymington on a Friday night.  We all had our own mugs. Robin would have been out fishing in that old naval pinnace – he had crab pots, lobster pots, and prawn pots just round from Fort Albert going into Colwell Bay. There were always tons of prawns in the fridge, so we’d have a pile of prawns when we got back.

Fishing boat ‘Kit’ moored by the Lakemans fuel station 1970s Photo: A. Cokes

And Robin, you could hardly get two words out of him, but a finer mechanic I don’t think any of us will ever see.  Sea going and apprentice to start with; all his life he’d been with engines, just incredible. We used to go out fishing with him and he was a canny fisherman, particularly for shellfish.  He knew just where and when they’d be feeding and when those pots would be full.  An amazing guy.  So great to have the opportunity when you’re kids to grow up with this enormous local knowledge that the Lakemans were able to pass on.

She was the most amazingly generous person, not only with her time but with her energy and her money and that manifested itself in the end, in the Abbeyfield.
The Delphie Lakeman Trust has given away over two hundred thousand pounds to a hundred and forty different causes all in her name, principally Yarmouth and West Wight based, to things that she would have approved of because she did like to push the envelope out.

John Caulcutt ( who established and manages The Delphie Lakeman Memorial Trust, which has grown from an allotment in Yarmouth which Delphie left to him.)

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