A MILKMAN who served Headington residents for well over a decade has died, aged 98.

Bob Brechin held various jobs across Oxford, also working at the Cowley car plant and as a dresser at the New Theatre.

The Scotsman settled in the city after the Second World War and was a familiar face at the Marston branch of the Royal British Legion (RBL) until his final years.

Bob Brechin was born on July 27, 1921, in Aberdeen.

He was one of 13 children brought up by painter and decorator Robert Brechin and his wife, Barbara, in an area condemned before the First World War.

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Times were hard, but family life improved when they moved into a new council flat next to the golf links, with the children earning money by retrieving lost balls.

Bob was a promising footballer and was able to pursue his love of the game when he joined the Territorial Army, playing for several forces teams throughout the Second World War.

While stationed in Cheltenham, between serving with the Royal Engineers in Iceland and later Italy, he represented the Army (South) against Oxford City.

Mr Brechin was the only player mentioned in the Oxford Mail report of the game, which took place at City's old White House Ground.

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He was later stationed in Bicester and Thame and would cycle into Oxford to dance at Headington's Holyoake Hall.

There, Mr Brechin met his wife-to-be, Jean Scully, and they married in 1942, just before he was posted to Italy.

In 1944, while based in a small town south of Rome before the assault on the city, he discovered he was a father to his first son, Robert.

The couple's second child, Kathleen, was born during a brief stay back in Aberdeen in 1948, but they returned to Oxford to live in an old wooden hut in Ferry Hinksey Road.

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With housing in short supply post-war, the family was moved to the Slade Camp barracks in Headington, where a third child, Stuart, was born in 1949.

In 1951, they moved into a house in Borrowmead Road, by which time Mr Brechin was established as a milkman.

He would start the day by delivering milk to residents' doorsteps, while his evenings would be spent at the New Theatre.

Mr Brechin met several famous performers and became very friendly with veteran actor Lionel Blair.

After hanging up the keys to his milk float, he took a job on the production line at the Cowley car plant, later rising to plumbers mate.

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Mr Brechin enjoyed great success in the role and remained at the factory until he retired in 1986.

During retirement, Mr Brechin and his wife visited their ever-increasing extended family and returned to Aberdeen every year.

At home, he regularly danced at the Marston branch of the RBL and played bingo, while his trips to Scotland continued even after Jean passed away in 2003.

Mr Brechin suffered from advanced prostate cancer and died in his home on Monday, September 9.

He is survived by all three children and his funeral takes place at Oxford Crematorium at 1pm on Friday, September 27.