John was born on 31st May 1936, the eldest of 4 children born to Stanley and Mary Hayward in Ramsgate. Brother to George, Gerald & Margaret. At the beginning of the war John, an only child at the time, was evacuated to Old Windsor and attended the Royal Free School. At the age of 10 he joined the St John’s Ambulance and this was to have a massive impact on his life. He served them loyally for more than 40 years and was awarded The Brotherhood of the Oder of St John medal for his services. It has been said that John couldn’t go anywhere without stumbling across an accident or someone who needed rescuing. He proudly represented the organisation at Princess Margaret’s wedding in 1960 which prompted his photo to appear in the Windsor, Slough & Eton Express newspaper He met his first wife Mia, at a St John’s Ambulance function, where she was singing in a choir, they married in 1960 and had four children, Paul, Janet, Mary & Robert. John’s first job was at Luff’s Printers in Windsor where he was apprentice compositor and where he stayed until his deferred National Service which saw him join the Army Medical Corp as a medical orderly, where he served on the Empire Ken troop ship to and from the Far East. Upon returning to Civvie Street, John took a job at Arches Printers in Slough becoming foreman before leaving to start his own printing business. Some years later he changed direction and became a window cleaner. From this humble beginning, the large office cleaning company of Hayward Cleaning Services was born. Even though John sold the company, he still liked to keep his hand in. Unfortunately, his first marriage to Mia ended, but he met Carol, who he married in 1975 and had another child, Angela. He also looked after Carols own two children Terry & Wendy. John was a hard worker but a family man at heart. He was a loving and devoted father and grandfather, his family, always came first. Nothing was too much trouble and he would drop everything to help them out – always without complaint. Amongst John’s hobbies was sailing, which in the later years was to become his main passion. He proudly owned two sailing boats, which he would always encourage friends and family to join him for a pleasure trip or an (unexpected) adventure! He was a member to various sailing organisations and highly regarded for his contributions to the Taplow Sailing Club, were he was honoured with Life Membership. John died on 17th January 2012; he was on a typical trip to Hayling Island with his good friend Leon. They had visited all their favourite places and viewed both the boats John had once owned capping a great day out. As a dad & grandfather John was simply first class, to his friends he was always friendly and humorous. John will be fondly remembered as a lovely man who enjoyed sailing.