Sad News about Wilson Edwards Toy Soldiers (1 Viewer)

So sad, like many others I only spoke to him over the phone, he was a nice bloke.
My condolences,
Martin
 
I've had a follow up after compiling all of your kind messages of condolence and passing them onto Greg, who is my contact.

he said:

Thanks for these John.
I will print all the comments you send me and give them to Leesa when I see her next week at Craig's funeral.
I mentioned to her on the phone today that many people from around the world were sending their condolences.

John
 
My condolences to the family of Craig Pearse on his passing. I feel the loss of a fellow Treefrog member and his friends on the Forum will miss him and his figure making. John
 
Re: Sad news about Wlison Edwards Toy Soldiers

shannon reuss said:
dear all,
this is such a sad and unexpected loss. Craig's friend greg blake has provided me with a tribute and obituary he has written and i wanted to share it with you here on the forum:
Craig pearse was one of life's true gentlemen and it with immense sadness that we acknowledge his untimely passing. Craig's passion for toy soldiers was boundless and reflected in his tireless enthusiasm for sculpting, painting and displaying his own wilson edward toy soldiers as well as collecting many other lines of miniatures. I knew craig for many years and he was for me a true inspiration for opening my eyes to the wonderful world of 54mm model soldiers. Whenever i visited his home he would show me his latest acquisition which would be proudly displayed in one of several glorious glass fronted cabinets. I recall fondly his absolute delight for his lovely collection of trophy toy soldiers including a very impressive collection of trophy artillery models. It was only this year that craig began to collect king and country and i remember the absolute excitement he exhibited when he got to meet with andy neilson of king and country earlier this year.
Craig was a police sergeant with the victoria police and served the people of maryborough the town where he lived. He was extremely competent in his job and highly respected by both his police colleagues and the people of maryborough. As you can imagine his day job came with great challenges and stresses, but craig was a lucky man for in wilson edward toy soldiers he had the perfect counter to those stresses. After a hard days toil craig would delight in losing himself in the world of wilson edward where he would meticulously assemble, undercoat, paint, pack and dispatch multitudes of delightful toy soldiers to his growing legion of customers around the world. Craig, along with his brother jason, established wilson edward toy soldiers about ten years ago and built the business from the ground up. I can honestly say that craig's total dedication to his toy soldier business would leave me in awe. He seemed to possess tireless energy and his love of the hobby never ever diminished.
Craig's passion was for things australian and he produced a vast line of australian first world war figures as well as other figures from australian history such as the eureka stockade and bushrangers. I had the privilege to sculpt some of these latter figures and working with craig was a true pleasure. Amongst the ever growing lines of models craig also produced a wonderful line of figures for the boxer rebellion.
It was with the greatest personal pleasure to see him establish his wilson edward blog earlier this year after i had introduced him to the magical world of blogging. Craig simply thrived on letting everyone know what he was up to with his toy soldiers. It was a mark of his true generosity of spirit that he opened his blog to other toy soldier enthusiasts to share images of their models.
Craig pearse was a very close and personal friend. I will miss him immensely as i am sure his passing will be equally regretted by all those people who ever got to know him either personally or through wilson edward toy soldiers.
Vale craig.
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bugger bugger what a waste. Simmo.
 
I've just recieved an email in from Greb Blake, Craig's friend with details of the funeral last week:

Craig's funeral was a grand affair. The Victoria Police did him proud.

There were over 600 in attendance half of them at least uniformed police including the Deputy Commissioner of VICPOL which says something about the regard in which VICPOL held Craig.

The service was a very good one with family and friends speaking.

The funeral courtage consisted of his police mates as pall bearers, a motor cycle escort, a horse mounted escort, the full police Highland pipe band, 100+ uniformed officers as a guard of honor, and a flyover by the big police helicopter which flew up from Melbourne just to render that honor.

As the Hearse moved down the line of the honor guard each officer saluted.

Craig would have loved it all.

After the funeral service Craig was laid to rest in the Bendigo Lawn Cemetery and I had the honor of being one of the pall bearers at that time.

I was glad to render this service to my friend.

Regards,
Greg

Greg also spoke to Jason, Craig's brother, at Craig's funeral and he asked him to tell you all that WETS will be put on hold for the time being while he considers the future of the business.

He asked for me to please advise the Toy Soldier world of this and not to place any new orders with WETS until futher notice.

Regards,

John
 
Obee said:
I've just recieved an email in from Greb Blake, Craig's friend with details of the funeral last week:

Craig's funeral was a grand affair. The Victoria Police did him proud.

There were over 600 in attendance half of them at least uniformed police including the Deputy Commissioner of VICPOL which says something about the regard in which VICPOL held Craig.

The service was a very good one with family and friends speaking.

The funeral courtage consisted of his police mates as pall bearers, a motor cycle escort, a horse mounted escort, the full police Highland pipe band, 100+ uniformed officers as a guard of honor, and a flyover by the big police helicopter which flew up from Melbourne just to render that honor.

As the Hearse moved down the line of the honor guard each officer saluted.

Craig would have loved it all.

After the funeral service Craig was laid to rest in the Bendigo Lawn Cemetery and I had the honor of being one of the pall bearers at that time.

I was glad to render this service to my friend.

Regards,
Greg

Greg also spoke to Jason, Craig's brother, at Craig's funeral and he asked him to tell you all that WETS will be put on hold for the time being while he considers the future of the business.

He asked for me to please advise the Toy Soldier world of this and not to place any new orders with WETS until futher notice.

Regards,

John
Click to expand...

John

Thank you so much for forwarding Greg's report.

It was nice to hear of the deservedly grand tribute paid to him by his family and mates.

It is so sad to look at WE's Blog and see it frozen on December 21st.

Randy

Here is a photo from the Bendigo Advertiser showing Craig's casket carried by Greg Blake and his other mates on December 30th

 

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