A well-known community figure renowned for his “wicked sense of humour” lost his battle with coronavirus, prompting an outpouring of tributes from friends.
George Dawson, 74, died earlier this month spending much of his final year of life in hospital due to multiple health problems.
The boater, remembered fondly as a mainstay of West Lancashire’s canalside pubs, tested positive for coronavirus on July 28 and died two weeks later at Southport Hospital.
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For more than 30 years, George had lived in a narrowboat in Burscough, where he became a popular and well-known figure in the village, reports LancsLive.
He regularly travelled to nearby areas such as Parbold and occasionally ventured on more distant trips, one of which took his ‘El Cyd’ boat to the River Thames.
Fellow Burscough resident Suzanne Holdsworth led the tributes to a friend she described as private but much-loved. Like many others, she knew George from various drinking establishments around the village.
Suzanne said: “I think everyone who knows him came across George in the pub.
“He just used to go to the Hop Vine, the Ship, he was really well known there and at the Packet House, the Slipway.
“He was a boater and he tended to moor near the pubs.
“He was in love with boating, he travelled the country on the canals over years. He had some incredible experiences, he went along the Thames - can you imagine what that was like in that narrowboat?”
She added: “He was really reserved and very private but he had a wicked sense of humour.
“He liked telling stories, he was a very, very private person and took a long time to get to know people but once he did he was a really nice person and he was so, so friendly.”
For years, he was rarely seen without his best friend Joey - a border collie spaniel mix.
Suzanne explained: “He was a dog lover. He had a puppy called Joey thrust upon him and completely fell in love with him.
“They were completely inseparable. Anyone who met George met Joey as well. Joey died around seven years ago and George was never the same after that."
Despite his love of the water, George accepted his ill-health meant he would be best served by moving into supported accommodation and he was due to view a flat earlier this year, only to be hospitalised the day before that appointment.
Suzanne said: “He’d been in hospital for a good chunk of this year and was discharged briefly to a residential care home but was readmitted a few months ago.
“He kept coming close to being discharged but then wasn’t and he contracted Covid on July 28.
“I spoke to him every day while he was in hospital and he got bits of hope and then it got smashed. When he got the covid diagnosis, it really terrified him.
“We went to see him on the Saturday and he was very peaceful and he wasn’t scared anymore.”
She added: “He had a group of people around him who adored him and who he’d known for a long time.”
George’s funeral will take place at West Lancashire Cemetery & Crematorium at midday on Wednesday, August 25.
Everyone is welcome to attend, with donations to the RNLI or Air Ambulance welcome in lieu of flowers.
Mourners are asked not to feel compelled to wear formal or dark coloured clothing.
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