ONE of Newton Abbot RFC’S longest serving players and a member of the All Whites’ ‘500 Club’ has died at the age of 92.
Ken Lock – better known to friends and rivals on rugby pitches and bowling greens as Topsy – appeared more than 500 times for Newton Abbot’s first and second teams in a career spanning two decades.
When it was time to hang up his boots and do something else instead on Saturday afternoons, Lock switched to bowls with the Bovey Tracey club.
He was a bowler for more than 30 years and at his peak in the 1980s when he won four club championships.
Active sport had to take a back seat in recent years, but Lock remained a supporter of Newton Abbot RFC and went to home matches as frequently as possible, often accompanied by son-in-law Keith Wakeham and his grandson Sam.
“Ken worked behind the scenes on the committee and ground maintenance for many years after he stopped playing and missed few home games as a touch line and travelling committee supporter,” said Keith.
“The All Whites was a huge part of Ken’s life and that of his late wife Joyce.
“My father in law was one of only a dozen players to appear in more than 500 games for Newton Abbot.
“While he was doing that Joyce became part of the furniture in the rugby club kitchen for more than 40 years.”
Newton Abbot RFC thought so highly of Ken Lock they made him a life member.
Kenneth Alfred Lock was born in Newton Abbot on May 28,1928 to mum Caroline and Dad Topsy. He was one of the couple’s seven children.
“They all lived in a two-up, two-down terraced house in Osborne Street with grandfer,” who had the front room,” said Keith. “Sadly it’s a car park now.”
Lock attended All Saints Primary and the former Highweek Boys’ school.
“He was in the choir at St Paul’s Church and always kept his lovely singing voice,” said Keith.
Lock was too young to be called up during World War Two, but in 1947 aged 19 he was drafted into the army for two years’ National Service.
“He went to Egypt where he ended up as a corporal in the Catering Corps,” said Keith.
When Lock returned to Newton Abbot in 1949, he got a job at Torbay Mill before moving to Hamlyn & Whiteways seed merchants as a driver.
“It was around this time he started to play rugby for Newton Abbot and soon became known as ‘Topsy’ after his father Alfred, who played for the club in the 1920s,” said Keith.
Topsy junior generally played in one of the half-back positions, but was equally comfortable in most positions behind the scrum.
Ken met wife-to-be Joyce at a Saturday night dance in the former Globe Hotel in Newton Abbot. The couple married in 1954 and were together for 63 years.
“For their wedding in Bovey Tracey they had Les Tucker, another Newton rugby stalwart, as their best man, said Keith.
The newly weds initially set-up home in Windsor Avenue, Newton Abbot. Later they moved to Kingsteignton.
The Locks had four children – all girls – and their extended family grew to 10 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Away from work and the sports field, Topsy Lock was a passionate gardener. He enjoyed watching TV westerns, listening to Puccini’s opera Madame Butterfly and the music of Deanna Durben.