Tom

Tom was my father-in-law. On the face of it we should not really get on. He loves rugby, I love football. He loves golf, I don't see the point. He is a Tory slightly to the right of Genghis Khan whereas I am a lefty, pinko socialist.But we did!

Tom had been a navigator on Vulcan's in the RAF, which for those of you too young to remember was Britain's first nuclear deterrent fleet of bombers. Again this should have divided us, after all I had also been a member of CND,However I have the deepest respect for our armed services after all it is the politicians who make the policy it's the service people who are the guys sitting at the end of a mile of tarmac with a bomb so destructive we can hardly comprehend it strapped to their aircraft. Tom did this in the knowledge that if he ever started on the journey to Moscow or Minsk he was not certain of coming back and if he did the airfield would no longer be there nor would his family. I am just so glad I don't have to make that sort of choice I am not that brave, he was.

Tom died this week.

I would like to tell you about an abiding memory I have of him. When Lucy and I were going through the process of splitting up he called me up and invited me out for the day. We were to go on a corporate day with Lexus . So we drove to a country park where we, sometimes inelegantly, attempted to take 4x4's around an off road course. All this time Tom was trying to see if there was any way he or Pam his wife could help us. He showed real kindness and concern that I will always remember. The day ended with us deciding to go to the Nigel Mansell museum which was nearby. Here we marvelled at all things Nigel. The helmet he wore to win the F1 championship, the cups he won as well as his invitation to the Queen Mothers funeral, God it was boring. At the end of the tour we were all herded into a small cinema where we were expected to sit through a film of Nigel's life.

This was the point when before we lost the will to live we formed an escape committee, we could take it no longer.

However we were thwarted by the guards, sorry guides, who had locked the doors so all we could do was to make our way out through the emergency exit but this involved a walk around the theatre and creating shadows on the screen. As we made our run for it we could hear the hissing and tutting of the die hard Nigel fans.

So I would like to bade farewell to Tom. I will miss his directness, his ability to hunt out a bargain (his family know of his love of the yellow sticker) most of all his unfailing kindness when there was a need for it and his wise counsel.

I will miss him.