Leslie Langford was not only an incredible husband, dad, grandad and great grandad, but our best friend too.
Our grandad was born on 4th November 1936 in the Welsh mining village of Caerau Maesteg. He had 3 brothers (Kenny, Selwyn and Desmond) and 1 sister (Shirley).
The Langford family moved to Slough in 1944 and with their strong taffy accents they learnt how to stand up for themselves pretty fast, so Kenny, Sel and Les became well known and
respected members of the Slough amateur boxing club. But despite his hobby, grandad was a lover not a fighter and left boxing at an early age to settle down and start a family with Jean
Langford. Aged just 17 when their first child was born Les and Jean knuckled down and worked exceptionally hard to look after their two children, Maria and Kevin.
When the children left the nest, and they were free of financial burdens it was time for Les to reap the rewards of his work ethic. He was driven, sociable and entrepreneurial and started
his own flooring business, L & R flooring aged 40 which fueled by his ambition grew from strength to strength very rapidly. He donated lots of money to charities, including the Thames Valley
Hospice, which unbeknown to him would offer him help him in his hour of need.
He eventually sold his business and went into retirement: Never was anyone less suited to retirement! He was instrumental in encouraging his grandchildren to set up the garden nursery business
they yearned for, and always around to help both physically and in terms of advice. He dug up all the Dahlias from his own garden to sell to the public to help get things off the ground.
At the nursery he was king of the bedding tunnel, always telling people to save their begonia corms, and giving many other tricks of the trade. He was a unique character, louder and larger than
life always with a cup of tea in one hand and a packet of mints in the other. He loved experimenting with new bedding plants in his own garden so that he could give genuine feedback to customers
on good varieties even if that meant that his patio was so overcrowded he couldn't sit out on it!
He was always optimistic and enthusiastic with energy that encouraged those around him to be the same. When he told us he had pulmonary fibrosis we did not realize what those words meant. Infact he was so brave that he battled silently for 5 years, not sharing the horrors that this monstrous disease had caused him.
He had such a zezt for life and love for his family that he was not ready to leave this world. He fought the disease with every part of his being but with lack of knowledge about the disease and no real treatment he had no amunition to fight it with. It took his lungs, as he coughed up the mucus that choked him and caused him infection, it took his mobility as shortness of breath disabled him from walking far but it never took his optimism. As he lay in a hospital bed awaiting the lifesaving treatment that he knew didn't exist he said that they were doing new trials to cure this disease. Did he wish the treatment had been there for him? Of course he did, but a wish far bigger than that was that the treatment would be there to help others in the future.
He was devastated by the thought that young people, who had never abused their bodies were experiencing the same suffering as he was with pulonary fibrosis.
This little man made a massive difference to our lives, lets help his memory make the same difference to others so that the words 'pulmonary fibrosis' no longer mean a 'death sentence'.
Grandad Les we love you and will keep you forever in our hearts,
Your loving family xxxxxxx