Tributes to Stratford's Tony Carr, boxer, athlete and well-known taxi driver in town
TONY Carr, a much-loved former boxer and athlete and a well-known Stratfordian has died aged 78.
Tony was Stratford’s very own ‘taxi driver’ who worked the ranks in Bridge Street and in front of NatWest.
Tony (pictured, third from right, running for Stratford Athletic Club in 1967) was also a prolific boxer with Stratford Amateur Boxing Club and a committed runner with both Stratford Athletic Club and Leamington Cycling and Athletics Club.
His career included time as a former printer with the Herald newspaper and over 30 years as a loveable cabbie in Stratford where he was always in demand with elderly who became his friends and made a point of asking for Tony on their shopping trips during his time at Taxi Line and Othello Taxis.
News of Tony’s death on Sunday 5th March has shocked his friends who told the Herald they will miss his friendship and quirky sense of humour but most of all the fact that he was – “an absolute gentleman.”
Samantha Ward struck up a friendship with Tony after she suffered her own personal loss when her husband died 17 years ago.
Tearfully Sam told the Herald this week: “I love Tony very much. He was very special to me. Every week - for the last ten years – we’ve had Sunday lunch together. I saw him and had lunch with him on the Sunday he died and there were no signs of anything different – I wish I’d looked at him a bit closer. He was a character and very Irish and loved to put a little bet on the gee gees during Cheltenham. He lived in the same house in Tiddington all his life – with his mum when she was alive - and although he didn’t have a family here, everybody knew him in Stratford. When we had Sunday lunch he used to pour me a sherry which I don’t like, so I poured it into to a plant pot on his dining table – the plant flourished. He was most proud of his boxing and was known as the ‘pocket rocket’. He had photographs of himself in his living room. He was such a gentleman he would buy me a £100 bottle of Black Opium for my birthday. He had a real love of rose bushes and grew his own vegetables. On the day he died, I gave him £20 to get our Sunday lunch from the pub and told him to use the rest for a pint while I stayed at his house to watch Only Fools and Horses which is my favourite and that’s how well we knew each other – he’d do his thing and I’d do mine. I will remember his cowboy hat and his mad hair which is how many people will remember Tony. I keep expecting to hear from him and I’m genuinely going to miss him - so much.”
Tributes have poured in for Tony Carr this week who was a fellow founder of the Roman 9 mile race which he started with Richard Morris of Stratford Athletic Club in 1967; Tony won the race a year later.
Richard Morris said; “He was a gentleman and an absolutely fabulous bloke. When I first met him at the athletic club he ran like a boxer with his arms up and we thought he’s not going to be that good but he blew us all away he was so fit. He broke the record for the nine miles and if he’d gone for the ten he might have done it in sub 50 minutes which is quite a feat and that includes international class runners. When I last saw him on the day of the final run of the Roman 9 mile race in January I told him he ought to write down his boxing and running memories but he was just too modest and didn’t think about it too much. He was probably the best athlete and boxer Stratford has ever produced and will be sadly missed.”
Les Barnett, coach at Leamington Cycling and Athletics Club said: “Tony was a committed runner who left his aggression in the boxing ring. He could easily handle the 5,000 and 10,000 metres on the track and was a great road and cross-country runner. He was one of the lovely guys, who committed himself to everything and was not afraid of hard work and most of all he always had a good word to say about people.”
Allan Coldicott of Stratford Athletic Club said: “Tony was a real character around town. I ran with him and he was really into his boxing. His 45.20 record for the Roman 9 stood for years. He was educated locally and loved his gardening.”
Former Herald employee, Tony Jones, who also worked with Tony Carr from 1968 at the Herald office in Rother Street said: “ I shall miss him. It’s such a shame he was a really good guy. He frequently used to run 100 miles a week. He operated one of the Heidelberg printers at a time when the Herald had a lot of big name contracts like the theatre programmes at the RST.”
Mick Calcutt from Stratford Athletic Club recalls: “Tony didn’t look like a boxer because he had a stocky build but when we ran as a group he blew us away.”
Tony Carr lived a full life and always cared for others. A current member of the Herald newspaper – Gail Haskins and her husband Ron - remembers going for a drink at the Bell in Shottery with Tony and his mum.
Gail said: “Tony would drive his mum to the pub and take her a sherry while she sat in the car and he had a drink with us. He was so kind – he was just that sort of person – always kind.”