Roly was my friend, he was a true gentleman, funny,generous,clever, serious, sometimes frustrating and very brave.
I have many stories I could tell you but one I would like to share is when he asked me to play squash, I fell over laughing and said you must be joking. We eventually turned up at the squash court, I stood in the centre and the game was going on all around me, 10 minutes later he said that's it game over, he wasn't even sweating or out of breath. I said when do I get a go, he said when you can get the ball, from that day on I was hooked. When I eventually won a game he shook my hand and said well done bud. Sometimes Roly said I sabotaged the game by sweating on the floor causing him to slip, but he had me running around all over the place.
We often enjoyed going off for a few days fishing and one time we actually went off for a week,anyway we decided to have a wager for biggest fish, I couldn't believe it when on the last hour of the last day Roly, who didn't appear to be doing a lot of fishing, as he was more interested in looking at the wildlife around him, calmly shouted over for the landing net, I stood there with disbelief as he had caught the biggest fish and won the bet.
We've had some wonderful holidays with Soggie and Roly including camping in Spain and France. On the first day of the holiday I asked Roly what we were having for dinner and he said Spam. The next day I again asked what we were having for dinner and he said Spam, by the end of the week I hadn't realized how many different ways you could eat. Spam. Soggie and Roly also invited us to go to Guernsey with them where we we're introduced to Rose and Norman and their families.
When Roly asked if I would help with a gig he was doing for his friend Paul up North I was happy to go along,little did I know this would then escalate into becoming one of his back stage crew and props man for his yearly shows.
Roly had a few sayings that would make me laugh and I am sure many of you will have heard him refer to the weather as "it's red hot" or, "I'm wet through", or when Soggie mumbled something he would say to her "do what love".
Roly was my best friend and I will miss him xx