Thank you for being my Dad I have so many amazing memories thanks to you and mum. Your love of food, cars and football are part of many of these. Dad ‘the foodie’ As a child I remember mussels on the campsite in France and the fateful fish bone in ‘le grand buffet’. Me buying you licorice allsorts every birthday and christmas, despite us both knowing that you didn’t actually like them that much. And of course our brussel sprout eating competitions at Christmas (with white pepper and vinegar obviously). I remember every holiday as a child having to traipse around restaurants, for what felt like hours, reading in detail every menu, just to ensure we made the right choice (a trait which has been passed down to me and now frustrates Gary as much as it used to me when you made us do it)! Even in recent years, you and I would spend hours deciding what to eat whenever you and mum came to visit. I will never again be able to eat blackcurrant and licorice boiled sweets, percy pigs or even celery curry without thinking of you. And I still say that microwaving eggs in any form is wrong and should not be encouraged. Dad, my car and DIY expert Thank you for taking care of all my car and DIY requirements. From researching, viewing, test driving and buying my cars, to knowing they’d be fully valeted whenever I came and visited. Thank you for ripping out and replacing our bathroom whilst we were on holiday (the neighbours still haven’t forgiven us for the noise you made), and anything and everything else that I asked about the house. Thank you for driving me everywhere - to the south of France for my university placement, and more recently down the M4 at 5 o’clock in the morning when I forgot my passport for a big work conference! Thank you for always being there whenever I asked for your help. Dad, the football fanatic At school I was Ray the football coach’s daughter to the boys in my class, to my dismay. I also remember sitting in the lounge of 147 Richmond Road and writing the day’s football results in the newspaper for you whilst you were at Chelsea. Yet I never understood why we still had to listen to the scores on the radio on the way home each week. Thank you for taking me to Chelsea when I was 10, although I have to admit, I remember the pub with our cousins more than the matches themselves. You may not have succeeded in instilling your love of Chelsea in me so much, but you have certainly passed it on to your Grandson. Thank you for giving Arthur his first Chelsea football shirt which he wears all the time. I just wish you could have taken him to his first match. I know you wish you could have too. I have so many special memories, too many to say here. As a child, sledging down completely inappropriate hills into benches and onto main roads. Driving down to Saltdean for the day, with me and Paul telling you to ‘drive faster’ down the winding roads, which you then did, as well as many hours spent watching Miss Marple and Poirot. But my most precious memories now are of you not as my Dad, but as Grandad - I will always remember you carrying Arthur on your shoulders despite knowing you’d be in pain for days afterwards, And Zoe declaring “I love Grandad so much” as if her heart would burst. I wish we could have had you here for longer, but I just want to say thank you for being the best Dad I could have ever wished for. I’ll be thinking of you. x Karen