My father, John Davidson, who has died of stomach cancer aged 78, was a carpenter and builder, and was also capped 39 times by the Welsh basketball team. He was a warm-hearted man, full of life, adored by all his friends and family.
John, the son of William Davidson, a steelworker, and his wife, Lilian (nee Hodge), was born and brought up in Newport, South Wales. He left school at 15 and took a carpentry apprenticeship. He married Eleanor (Lena) Adams in 1957.
Called up for national service in the same year, he joined 4th Company, 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, where he trooped the colour, stood guard at Buckingham Palace and conducted the ceremony of the keys at the Tower of London. As a dispatch rider in the Guards, he developed a lifelong love of motorbikes, buying his much-loved BSA 650cc Golden Flash – which he went on to restore in his retirement. Returning to civvy street, he picked up his career as a carpenter.
His introduction to basketball came while he was with the Guards, and when he returned to Newport he played for the town’s basketball team in the East Wales League. In 1961 he was picked for the Welsh squad, and went on to compete for Wales in tournaments all over Europe.
In 1967 he started to build his own house, completing it in 1969, and in 1972 set up a construction company, Davlan. He became involved in the wider building industry and was president of the Newport and Gwent association of the National Federation of Building Trades Employers in 1980, and regional president in 1993-94. He served on many committees and travelled to Brussels in 2000 to launch the federation’s delegation in Europe.
He is survived by Lena, their sons, Jeremy, Jonathan and me, his sisters, Sylvia and Mary, and nine grandchildren.
