Garry Roger Marsh
1965 - 2025 | Sheffield
Garry Roger Marsh was born on April 14, 1965, at his parents Roger and Heather’s home in Handsworth Sheffield. If he had been born 10 days earlier the family could have claimed a full year’s tax rebate. His brother Steven Craig was born two and a half years later.
When Garry and Steven were quite young their grandparents William and Violet Brooks moved from Rotherham to Scarborough. This was to become their holiday destination for several years and the start of Garry’s love of Scarborough. Sometimes Garry would go missing including from his bed. The mystery was solved; his grandad Bill would take him to the footbridge over the railway line near Scarborough station to watch the trains.
When the family bought their first car, nicknamed the ‘Tin Pig’, holidays became more adventures and the first time we set off for St. Ives in Cornwall the journey took 12 hours.
Garry’s love of nature and the environment started at a young age. When his mother checked his pockets before washing his trousers she would often fine his latest collection of worms. He loved birds and became a member of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.
One of my pleasures of Garry and Steven’s childhood was taking them for swimming lessons on a Saturday morning where they both became proficient swimmers. Garry was very proud of all the achievement badges that his mother sowed on to his swimming trunks.
They went to various local school finishing at Beaver Hill Secondary school. Garry excelled at rugby and football for the school, and he achieved the equivalent of 14 O Levels.
Garry loved his cars. When he passed his driving test he would borrow my car. He knew everything there was to know about cars and their parts but never got to grips with the petrol cap. After he had borrowed it the first thing to check was the fuel gauge.
Garry’s further education took place at Sheffield City Polytechnic (now Sheffield Hallam University) where he studied Electronic Systems and Control Engineering on a thick sandwich course.
For his year out he worked at the Ministry of Defence facility at Shoeburyness
He was given the honorary rank of R.A.F. lieutenant. This gave him the perk of dining in the officer’s mess but Garry being Garry he never did choosing instead to eat in the canteen. Having signed the Official Secrets Act we never knew exactly what he did there, but it was something to do with wiring up and testing explosives on the firing ranges.
On graduation Garry was awarded the degree of Bachelor of Engineering with honours.
During his studies he also worked in Cole Brothers’ warehouse. This was so that he could have enough money to obtain a yearlong visa to visit Australia
Following his graduation he, together with two friends, set off for a year in Australia. They arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, and immediately started looking for work. They heard that there were plenty of jobs available fruit picking in Mooroopna, near Melbourne. It was very hard work picking 6,000 pears per day. Between them they saved enough money to buy a car. It was an old banger and if they went too fast round roundabouts the doors would come off.
They drove to Brisbane, Queensland where Garry got a job fitting tyres to very large truck wheels. The tyres could contain animals that had crawled in whist they were being transported. This cured Garry’s fear of spiders.
In Cairns, Queensland Garry took a first-class training course on the Great Barrier Reef and became a fully qualified scuba diver. He had taken 10 dives on the reef down to a depth of 60 feet, including a night drive. There were 21 people on the boat from 6 countries. Garry found it very difficult to describe the beauty of the reef and its inhabitants.
On the second night on the reef, they joined up with two other dive boats for a toga party. It was a really wild night and much beer was consumed. Garry made some really good friends on this trip particularly with one Swedish girl, but we did not get her name.
They sold the car for $A1,950 making a $A750 profit. They bought 15-day bus passes for travel anywhere in Australia. They set off for Darwin then on to Alice Springs and Ayres Rock.
One night they decided to sleep under the stars and bedded themselves down under a large tree. The following morning, they discovered their mistake because they had all been defeated on by fruit bats. Not Garry’s exact words. His year visa being up he then returned home.
There were two traditions in the Marsh household, Thursday night was chilli night, his father’s signature dish, as the family dispersed to other towns this became very infrequent. However, his mother’s famous Sunday roast diners continued and there were many heated discussions regarding who had eaten the most Yorkshire puddings.
Garry, although no longer going to the matches, continued to support Sheffield United and would listen to their matches broadcasted on Radio Sheffield. He was also a regular listener to the radio station’s ‘Praise or Grumble’ the subject was often discussed over Sunday lunch.
Garry made lifelong friends of Micky and Nigel they had many good nights out together and probably as many regretful mornings.
Garry’s first job was with Stanley, Black and Decker. Garry achieved the position of Senior Project Manager of Information Technology – Europe, in this position he visited several countries in Europe, the office that he visited in Italy was next to the Ferrari F1 facility. In his lunch hour he and a member of the Italian office would go to a hole in the fence and watch the F1 cars going through their paces.
As the year 2000 approached Garry was told to stop all projects and concentrate on combing through all of Stanley’s European software and change it to avoid the so called ‘Millenium Bug’. Garry made such a success of it that he was asked to go to the USA to correct Stanley’s software there as well. The year 2000 came and Stanley had no problems as a result of Garry’s diligent work.
Garry enjoyed family holidays abroad in Spain and Portugal. Where he loved spending time with his nephews Max and Jack. He also spent time at Steven and Lisa’s home in Scotland where he enjoyed some sea fishing.
Every Christmas Garry would spend with his family and very much enjoy Lisa’s cooking and helping with Max and Jack’s new toys. He would join in with the boys and Hollie in the silly games that were played after Christmas dinner.
Garry had a short but serious relationship with a French girl called Magali. They both shared a common interest of rugby union. Unfortunately, they both wanted to live in their home country, so it did not work out.
After a few years Garry was ready for a change of occupation and took voluntary redundancy from Stanley. He tried several business ventures and in his spare time he shared two allotments in Catcliffe with a neighbour Wendy Green, and this developed into Green Marsh Garden Services Limited. There main customer was Barbot Hall for whom they became Estate Managers. This outdoor life suited Garry far more than his previous office bound employment.
Garry was very good friends with his next-door neighbour Cara and often looked after her dog for her.
Garry had many interests’ music, nature, the environment, gardening (but not his own) photography, and bird watching. He was talented in other ways he played the guitar, and we recently found that he had taken up water colour painting.
Garry had also made friends with the families of Samantha and her twin sister Justine from Buxton. They will be telling you of this friendship shortly themselves.
Garry, like many Yorkshire men was very careful with his money. However, he was generous to a fault with love, affection and his time. He was kind and caring. He was a member of the Labour Party and proud to support the Catcliffe community as Councillor and Chairman of Catcliffe Parish Council. He also worked with the Environment Agency as the Lead Flood Warden for Catcliffe. We have received condolences from both organisations.
In conclusion I was recently shopping at Crystal Peaks and by coincidence met the lady that served drinks in Ward B10 of Rotherham Hospital. She told me that Garry was the kindest, gentlest patient that she had ever served.
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Thoughts and Donations
£275.00
Thank you to everyone who kindle donated to Garry's funeral collection
Donated by - 10/10/2025