Saturday August 2 2026 saw many of Derek’s friends gathered in Southwick Community Centre’s Garden Room to celebrate his life. Bob Ryder spoke of Derek’s life and drew much from Ray Hopper‘s piece below.
Ray’s tribute appeared in the August 2026 Newsletter (#88) and he wrote: Derek is credited in 36 Wick productions over a 30-year period from 1994 to 2024, with a wide range of skills, from mask maker to acting roles large and small and directing, as well as being husband to our wardrobe mistress Cherry from 2013.
Derek was born in Lambeth, London and was evacuated to Merthyr Tydfil in 1944, where he learnt some Welsh, which presumably informed his later love for the works of Dylan Thomas. He won a scholarship to Emmanuel School in Clapham, playing Rugby and joining the Scouts and the church choir. He went on to study dentistry at Kings College. He did his National Service in the dental corps, stationed at Benghazi in Libya and joining the drama group, afterwards joining several others whilst living in the Croydon area.
He moved down to the Brighton area in 1994, again joining several local drama groups, including the Wick, where he first appeared as Zeus in Margaret Ockenden’s award winning production of Rape of the Belt, by Benn Levy. Apart from the award accolades we have no reviews available, which I am afraid was a common occurrence in the 1990’s. After playing Montague in Bob Ryder’s production of Romeo and Juliet I was delighted that he agreed to play the decrepit Glow Worm in our 1995 child friendly Christmas production of The Plotters of Cabbage Patch Corner, written by my old friend David Wood. He shuffled about very effectively in his nightcap, nightgown and lantern before heroically saving the “goodies” from the dastardly Slug and his gang. There followed several small roles before his greatest test, playing Sir Thomas More in Tony Browning’s much-admired production of A Man for All Seasons, by Robert Bolt. The Shoreham Herald noted “The role…was brilliantly portrayed by Derek Fraser, who conveyed the inner tensions of his character superbly”. In the millennial year of 2000, he persuaded us that it would be appropriate to perform Dennis Potter’s controversial play about the later life of Jesus Christ, Son of Man, which he directed to much acclaim. After several other medium sizes roles, he landed the major role of Harry in John Garland’s production of David Storey’s Home, a gritty analysis, with a 5 handed cast, of life in the British Mental Asylum system of the 1960’s. As Barrie Jerram observed in the Argus, “Although the play is full of humour…. the poignancy of their situation breaks through…. the asylum has in fact become their home.” Over the next few years, he had a number of medium sized roles in, for example, The Winslow Boy, David Copperfield, Rope, Therese Raquin and Macbeth all performed to his usual high standard. During the 2020 lockdown he participated in our online Advent Calendar by reading The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. His penultimate role for us was as the blind De Lacey, in Diane Robinson’s astonishing production of Frankenstein. A glowing NODA review noted “the scenes with the old blind man, played by Derek Fraser, were also superb”. His final role for us was as the Priest in another Diane Robinson production Anna Karenina.
Derek had a lifelong love of learning, especially about Greek and Roman civilisation, Religion and Art/History, eventually leading to an Open University degree in 2010. This made him very good in quizzes – with Derek on your team you always had a very good chance of winning. He ran the Preston Park U3A Art/History appreciation group for many years. He also sang in various choirs and was 3 times a supernumerary at Glyndebourne. He loved travelling, especially to his beloved Greece, and also trekked in Nepal in 1998.
Derek had a private cremation, but a number of us were invited to attend his burial of ashes at Clayton Wood natural burial ground, with a short service conducted by old friend Fr. Peter Wolfenden. We listened to music by Vaughan Williams, Thomas Tallis and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. His beloved granddaughter Jade gave a loving and emotional tribute; I was privileged to be asked to read “Dear Gwalia”, from Under Milk Wood, by Dylan Thomas; we heard Roman words of wisdom by Marcus Aurelius; a tribute from family friend Tricia and a final farewell from Fr.Peter, before processing into the heart of the wood for the ashes scattering. The promised deluge thankfully held off until we were all safely in the Jack and Jill pub.
We bid farewell to a man, truly of many parts, who made a massive contribution to our Company and sending our warmest condolences to Cherry and the rest of his family.