Bill Bickerdike, one of "the gang" of garden centre pioneers in the UK, has died aged 83.
He passed away peacefully last Wednesday evening at home after a short illness, with his family around him.
Bill's son Mark, who set up and runs Bikerdikes Garden Centre in Letchworth told GTN Xtra: "Dad and Bob were the old school, part of "the gang". They were true pioneers and he often told me that they had no idea what they were doing but they had fun. Inflation was so high back then that any mistakes one year were worth more the next year.
"Sandy was built in 1972/73 solely as a garden centre, possibly the first purpose built garden centre in the UK.
"Dad retired at 59 when Sandy was sold for housing but he was always here when we needed him and continued to offer sound advice right the way through to the end.
"His motto was "Never say no... say yes to as much as you can" and he certainly lived life to the full, sailing the Atlantic after retiring and skiing through untill he was 80."
Bill's funeral will be at 10:30 on Friday 27th August,at St Swithun's Church, Sandy, Bedfordshire. SG19 1AQ
According to Debbie Bickerdike's facebook post, Bill requested a colourful funeral with no black ties.
Debbie has also shared a video from 3 years ago on his 80th birthday, so you can all enjoy his zest for life and how to live life to the full! Listen to his lovely comments at the end of the video. https://www.facebook.com/debbie.bickerdike.3