Steve was fantastic at all of these things and much loved by all of us; as a close friend said, he was quite simply “one of life’s good guys”.

Amongst his many talents Steve was of course a very accomplished sportsman, spending many happy hours playing football and cricket, always with a steely determination to win and probably always with a sense of fair play…
On the 29th November 1999 Steve became a Dad himself to a daughter or as he would say, ‘my Darling Victoria’.  Victoria was always the most important thing in Steve’s life.  His love for her was so genuine and obvious to everyone.

Steve took the role of Stepfather very seriously and was immensely proud of Megan, supporting her at athletics and cross country. Megan’s world changed, as she was exposed to the antics of Steve, from his silly walk whilst out in public to his insistence on manners and the correct use of “I” rather than “me”! And as ever Steve brought so much fun and entertainment to everything; Sally particularly remembers Megan  returning  from the supermarket on an early outing with Steve and saying shopping had never been such fun! She went on to describe their new system for working through everything that was on the list – Steve would pick it up and then throw it to Megan, who would in turn throw it to Victoria who would then slam dunk it into the trolley…  OK for some things but less good for those delicate items that would normally be packed carefully at the top of the trolley but instead came back all bashed!All of these things Victoria took in her stride because to her this was just what Dads do.  But Steve was a very special Dad and a very special person.

Steve never took life too seriously.  His motto was taken from James Dean:“Dream as if You’ll Live forever, Live as if you’ll die tomorrow .” And that is exactly as Steve was, he never took anything too seriously and especially not the cancer, in fact he rarely talked about it, instead he focused on living his life to the full. I’m sure everyone who knew him would agree that he really was “one of the good guys”.  We will all miss him greatly but cherish the memories and time we spent with him.