Gareth and Margaret were a huge influence on our lives for nearly 30 years. After moving to the UK, we were introduced to them by the unforgettable Muriel Cannon when they were living in the Isle of Wight ..and what an introduction! Gareth arrived home from work to meet us that evening, having been hit over the head by a 9V battery in a sock by an angry IRA prisoner. If he had a slight headache, he did not complain! We were in awe!!! Margaret, bless her, kept calm and carried on to provide a lovely dinner and we all enjoyed a very amusing evening. That was just the first of many, many occasions when we have enjoyed that same wonderful, generous hospitality and great company. We will never forget Gareth reciting his poems (Felix is right - he did seem to have a thing about spiders), singing songs and regaling us with his life adventures as we sat around the dinner table or in front of the fire. Gareth was a live entertainment centre. We shared the highs and lows of each others’ lives, watching from the sidelines with Margaret as he went to Kosovo, and then to Basra. We shared family events, house moves, followed career moves and shared a wonderful celebratory lunch when they joined us straight from Buckingham Palace after he received an OBE (frankly, for what he did, he deserved a knighthood!) We took holidays together in France, Spain, Italy, Russia, South Africa and Australia. And then there were the dozens of weekends we spent at Yew Tree Farm. Gareth had it all – knowledge, intelligence, wit, love, care, empathy, passion, consideration, strength and fortitude, loyalty, pride in himself, his family and his friends and a lot more, including being one of life’s bon vivants. He adored Shane and Sam, and their two children, Felix and Serez, were the lights of his life in the past few years. He had an amazing love and devotion to Margaret (just the way he said the word “Margaret” was like a love poem). His life was darkened forever when Margaret departed this world 18 months ago – we all saw that. The small glimmer of light in his death, is that they are reunited. We will miss his presence in our lives and pray that he can rest in peace, having done more than his share to make this world a better place. Robert and Coral