Brian came into my life soon after I met his son, Mark, when I was 20 and training to be a nurse.
He, Margaret and Stephen warmly welcomed me into their family.
I'd never had much of a relationship with my own Dad, so it was wonderful to be part of such a loving family,
Over the years, as we bought our first home together, Brian taught me how to wallpaper, plaster, and point, he was a great teacher who had the ability to hold back and teach rather than take over (the one skill that I never quite got the hang of!).

After Margaret died Brian would come for his tea every week and inspect all the 'improvements' I had made to our home with my new skills, we developed quite a bond working together on various projects.

Shortly before Mark and I married in 1993 Brian decided it would be a good idea to get new false teeth, so his 'father of the groom' speech at our wedding reception was quite hilarious as he struggled with his new dentures!

Brian was there at the hospital in October 1995 waiting for me to produce his first grandchild George, he told me the story of Mark's birth, back in the times when it wasnt the done thing for the father to be present at the birth, he had made his way on the bus from Edgeley to Stepping Hill, in a thunderstorm, only to be sent away by Margaret, calling in at the pub on the way home he was told he was a dad.

Brian was just as great a grandad as he was a dad, George and Joel both adored their 'Gargan' as they called him, one day he created havoc when he turned up with a toy drum for George (this mysteriously dissapeared soon after!), When Joel was little and I was rather fraught he helped us by putting in a downstairs toilet.

As the boys grew, Brian would entertain them with his magic tricks, producing money from behind their ears and such. He would tell them wonderful stories which they lapped up eagerly, how Princess Anne was a very close friend (to be fair he had actually met her!) how he'd been the third man on the moon, and all sorts of other tall tales, the boys believed him completely and Grandad had to be put on the 'naughty step' more than once for telling such dreadful fibs!

Later he met Olga and soon bought her round to meet us all, Joel (aged 9) took his grandad to one side and said 'Grandad, aren't you a bit old to get married?! They never did get married, but Brian sold his house and moved in with her and they took great delight in telling people that they were 'living over the brush', Olga was just fantastic, such a lovely bubbly person and just what the doctor ordered.

The pair of them travelled all over, so much so that they seemed to be on a perpetual holiday at times, Early in 2019 they were round for tea one evening and informed us they'd just booked a cruise to Norway, Mark and I just looked at one another and laughed, we had planned to do exactly the same thing for our 25th wedding anniversary, but had planned on going 6 months later, Brian immediately said 'why dont you come with us?', in the end Stephen came along as well as the trip coincided with his 59th birthday. So in November 2019 we all set sail on Cunard's Queen Victoria, and what a trip it was, it was such a treat to be able to spend all that time in Brian and Olga's company, there was such a lot to do on board even on the sea days, we would meet up every evening for our meal and go to the shows together in the evenings. As it turned out, the trip we had originally planned for early 2020 was when Covid struck, so we could have ended up stranded on a cruise ship had we gone when we originally intended.

Throughout the pandemic we would vist Brian and Olga often, dropping off shopping and then sitting in the garden socially distanced to keep them safe, we would swap jigsaws to keep ourselves amused, Brian and Olga missed their holidays.

As Brian's health started to deteriorate he was still determined to look after his family, he planned almost every aspect of his own funeral, it was his wish to be at home amongst his loved ones at the end, and he was able to spend time with almost all of us all in that final week, and was ordering us around right up to the end.

I feel priveledged to have had Brian guiding me through the past 35 years of my life and to have been able to help care for him in his final days was an honour. Olga has been truely magnificent throughout, in the final week of Brian's life her home was completely taken over by the hoards of people who wanted to say goodbye to this wonderful man yet despite her own grief she made everyone welcome and gave us all the chance to tell Brian how much we loved him, she is every bit his wife, as I am his daughter.

Sleep peacefully Brian,

Lorna x