A Scots butcher was honoured by colleagues at a Morrisons following his sudden death as they downed tools and lined the store’s aisles to pay their respects. Peter Owens Gilbertson passed away aged 65 on June 23 2022 at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh.
Peter - described as loving, humorous and “a big family man” - worked in the Morrisons at the Gyle in the west of the capital. His family and friends gathered on Thursday to remember the Clermiston grandad.
At the time of his funeral, his colleagues also paid tribute to the “true gentleman” by bringing the store to a standstill. Stories of the prankster, father and avid Hibee were shared during the eulogy by his wife Linda, whom he met as a young teen, as well as his two sons Scott and Darren, daughter Lyndsey and three grandchildren, reports Edinburgh Live.
Pals remembered Peter’s fondness for practical jokes, whether scaring his wife in the bath or catching out friends Ian and Mikey when they worked together as window cleaners. Celebrant Jacky McKinney, said: “There were endless opportunities for pranks like putting a bucket of water at the foot of the ladder for someone to step in when they were coming down.
“Peter had been caught out himself on one occasion and tried to get his own back on Ian and Mikey; he’d seen them go up and across the roof they were working at, put the bucket down and stood back to watch and laugh, only for the two of them to come up behind him to ask what he was doing?
“Peter couldn’t believe it and asked, ‘so who’s that then’? – just as his gaffer Chris came down the ladder and stepped in the bucket!
“We can only imagine the rollocking that he got!”
The funeral heard how Peter once told his wife she needed to be on the lookout as there was a weird man wearing a blue hat hanging around the neighbourhood. Peter, who became neighbours with Linda aged 15, then climbed up to their bathroom window and stuck his head through whilst wearing a blue hat and gave Linda the fright of her life in the bath.
The couple married on October 18 1975 at St Andrew’s Church in Clermiston, with the pair remaining committed to each other for almost 50 years. His middle child, Darren, recalled a story about his father when he had gone fishing with his brother-in-law and a few friends.
He said: “My dad loved to go fishing and I remember Ian telling me about a time when they were all out on a boat with my uncle, Andy and Mikey and their pal Tony.
“He had a Walkman that he liked to listen to as he fished. One day, he got it all set up but couldn’t get any sound out of it.
“He changed the batteries, then moved them around and still nothing!
“He ended up banging it in frustration trying to get it to work and the movement caused his ear plugs to fall out.
“When he put them back in, he found that the Walkman was working.
“But it turned out that all along he’d been trying to listen to it through the toggles on his jacket!
“He was just about to throw it in the sea, and my mum said if he was listening to Daniel O’Donnell, that would have been the place for it.”
Peter attended Clermiston Primary, Craigroyston and Craigmount High School. As a young man he was an avid Bay City Rollers and Alvin Stardust fan - later having to be talked out of naming their first child Alvin by his wife.
He was known for being a member of the ‘Clerrie Jungle’ gang and would often take the bus to Burdiehouse to fight rival groups of youths. Peter was said to have never been without a “rollie in his mouth” and liked a punt on the horses as well as a game of darts.
He started his working life as a butcher working with his father, Willie, at the family shop at Bilston, but later took a break for a few decades before returning as a butcher at Morrisons, where he worked up until his death. On paying tribute to his life, a spokesperson for Morrisons said: “Peter was a valued member of the team at Gyle and a true gentleman.
“He was very well liked amongst customers and colleagues and will be missed dearly by all at Morrisons.”
