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Ivan Pinfield (Read 4968 times)
ChrisB
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Ivan Pinfield
Dec 1st, 2014, 10:26am
 
Ivan Pinfield, best remembered as Head of Catering across the BBC, has died aged 94. His BBC career stretched from February 1949 to September 1978. He lived happily in retirement with his wife Meg in West Cornwall, and died peacefully at Penhellis House Nursing Home.
Ivan served as an officer in the Second World war, but was badly wounded in an explosion and nearly lost his right leg, putting paid to many of his much-loved sporting activities. His catering skills were honed whilst running various units on the South Coast, finding ways of serving up delicious meals to visiting top brass. After being demobbed, he helped his cousin run a pub near St Ives, and whilst there, was head-hunted by someone from the Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford. Ivan was seen as the ideal candidate to open the theatre’s restaurant, following its wartime closure. It was here that he met his first wife, actress Margaret Courtenay, and began a lifelong passion for theatre. Their son, Julian, was born in 1952.
Enter the BBC. In the late 1940s Ivan was offered the job of Deputy Head of Catering, moving to London and subsequently taking over as HOC in the early 1950s. At this time he started taking an active part in amateur dramatics, playing many different roles including some of the ‘heavyweights’ such as Macbeth and Prospero.  It was whilst working with the Questors Theatre in Ealing that he met his second wife, Sandra Wainright-Fahey, a TV producer.
In the 1960s Ivan steered BBC catering through times of great development, the new BH (London) top floor canteen and the opening of Television Centre being just two.  
When he left the BBC in 1978 Ivan moved with his family to Somerset and ran a smallholding with pigs, goats and sheep.  As his wife was still working, he was the main home-maker, but he found time to make cheese and cook quiches for the local deli, amongst other things. Sadly, Sandra died before the age of 50, leaving Ivan to bring up two teenagers, Melissa and Barnaby, on his own.
In the 1990s Ivan moved home, back to Cornwall, where he re-met some theatrical friends from forty years earlier, including their daughter Meg who became his third wife.  He was, at this time, a lively seventy-something and enjoyed ten further years of busy life. This included an active role with the local church and more acting – at the world-famous Minack Theatre, near Land’s End.
Parkinson’s disease caught up with Ivan and he had to move into a nursing home in 2012 when he was 92.  There he did his best to cheer up the other residents with quips and songs, taking part in whatever activities were offered.  He died on 14th November and is greatly mourned by all.  There will be a memorial service in Perranuthnoe Church on January 31st 2015, at 2.30pm. All are welcome.
Please note: The family is appealing to anyone who can contribute information or memories about Ivan’s career as Head of Catering, as the BBC does not keep records of staff. Replies to me will be passed on.
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Re: Ivan Pinfield
Reply #1 - Feb 8th, 2015, 9:01am
 
This obituary appeared in The Guardian on December 22, 2014:

Ivan Pinfield
by Julian Courtenay-Pinfield


As head of catering at the BBC from 1949 to 1978, my father, Ivan Pinfield, who has died aged 94, ran the BBC canteens that were a haven for the stars and crews of television and radio. But he was also an accomplished actor in his own right.

After the war, he helped a cousin to run the Gurnard’s Head hotel near St Ives in Cornwall, where he was headhunted by the director of the Royal Shakespeare theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. Ivan was considered the ideal candidate to open the theatre’s new restaurant. It was here that he met the actor Margaret Courtenay, and began a lifelong passion for the theatre. They married in 1947 and I was born in 1952.

In 1949 my father had moved to London, taking over as head of catering at the BBC in the early 1950s. In this role he organised catering for performers, journalists, technicians and other BBC staff at every level, in London, Glasgow, Belfast, Cardiff, Plymouth and other centres, and at outside broadcasting events, such as the Wimbledon tennis championships.

At this time he also took an active part in amateur dramatics, playing big roles such as Macbeth and Prospero. His first marriage was dissolved in 1968, and it was while working with the Questors theatre in Ealing that he met Sandra Wainwright-Fahey, a TV producer. They married in 1970, and had two children, Melissa and Barnaby.

My father retired from the BBC in 1978 and moved to a farmhouse in Baltonsborough, Somerset, where he developed a smallholding, apple orchard and vineyard. Sandra died before the age of 50, leaving my father to bring up two teenagers on his own. When they left for university, he moved to west Cornwall, where he was reunited with theatrical friends from the Stratford years, David and Eleanor Phethean. On a chance visit to the Gurnard’s Head he met their daughter, Meg. They married in 1996. Ivan played an active role with the local church and did more acting, this time at the world-famous Minack theatre, near Land’s End.

Ivan was born in Brighton. His mother, Lorna (nee Secretan), ran her own gown business in Knightsbridge, west London, and in Penzance. His father, George Potter, was a garment salesman. After he left, when Ivan was very young, his mother married Reginald Pinfield, a prep school teacher in Brighton. Ivan was educated at Highgate school, London, where he was awarded a full scholarship.

In 1939 he volunteered for officer training at Sandhurst, and saw active service in the Middle East as a lieutenant in the Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment). He was badly wounded in Syria and returned to Britain on home defence duties.

He is survived by Meg, Melissa, Barnaby and me, and by eight grandchildren.
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