Becoming Grandad/grandfather or in this case a Grandpa isn’t something you have to do anything to become or ask for. It simply happens when your child has a child. However the reverse relationship, from the Childs point of view, requires so much more than this.

I can only speak from my own thoughts feelings and memories of my Grandpa, and I can think myself, Jack and Richard so lucky to have had someone who lived every day for the enjoyment of others of which you have heard many examples of today. Someone who was at his proudest when being told about his grandchildren’s achievements, however small they may seem to ourselves he lived for these moments, and cherished them long after we’d said goodbye or put the phone down.

My earliest memory of my Grandpa was being taught how to pedal my scooter around the path at Oak Tree Road. He would spend hours as I attempted to cycle back and forth. As a very young child this carried the up most enjoyment but only as I’m writing this now looking back I realise that he shared the exact same feeling. This relationship stayed with us through 25 years. Be it our many many snooker trips which I still claim tired me out more than him! (and went over time fromGrandpa being told by Nanny to let me win some…to Nanny telling me to let Grandpa win some) to helping him with his computer so he could watch the cricket or Southampton. Or even the snippets of advice he give me when we discussed school/university and now work. He always had the best knack of making a problem seem easier.

I really could talk for hours about my memories, and reasons why he was such a special person in my life but I just want to end with this…

Our Grandpa kept a garden.
A garden of the heart;
He planted all the good things,
That gave our lives their start
He turned us to the sunshine,
And encouraged us to dream.
Fostering and nurturing the seeds of self-esteem.
And when the winds and rains came,
He protected us enough.
But not too much because he knew
We would stand up strong and tough.
His constant good example,
Always taught us right from wrong.
Markers for our pathway, that will last
a life time long.
We are our grandpa’s garden,
We are his legacy
Our life goes on and you will see,
Him, in all of me.