Funeral Tribute- hi all, for those who weren’t able to make it to the funeral, I’m sharing my tribute words below. And for those who were able to make it, thank you for making it a spectacular send off. Annabel It’s a very special thing to see all of the people that Robin, my dad, loved most in the world all together. I know that this is a gathering he was sad to miss and he wanted me to press upon you that there will be a party afterwards at the Piddington village hall. As a lover of gin, he was pretty excited about having a gin bar there and I assured him we’d have plenty of nice wines - so please join us if you can to continue to share stories and memories with one another. I know some of you have had very far to travel, others have taken time off work and so many of you are juggling major life events of your own. Thank you to each of you for being here. Please know that today, and any day, it’s okay to laugh or cry, or anything in-between when you think about Robin It’s impossible for any one person to do justice to my dads life. So thank you to all those who have shared memories and photos with us and thank you to Trish, William and Simon who will also say some words too. It’s also impossible to fully capture our thanks for the overwhelming love and acts of kindness that you have shown to my dad and to our whole family. The generosity of those around us has blown us away and quite literally kept us going. So too did the incredible care that dad received throughout his illness (and I know both palliative care nurses and his carers are here today). During the course of dad’s illness we were lucky to be able to have wonderful times as a family and share memories of his life. I feel hugely grateful for this time. At first we relived dad’s wonderful international adventures in the 70s with his old friends Don and Terry and new friends Jan and my mum,  and so many more. We spoke about sailing down the Nile, snorkelling with giant sting rays in Kenya, planting trees and fighting off bears in Canada, getting marooned in a Guatemalan rain forest after the Passion river burst its banks and unknowingly drug smuggling across a Sudanese border. I love thinking of dad driving a little VW car from England to India, exploring beautiful countries on route such as Syria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, or deciding to waterski across the Channel, perilously dodging tanker ships as he went. And of course the style with which he met my mum for the first time on Cay Caulker, a tropical island off the coast of Belize. Walking up to her and Jan with his opening line ‘would you like to share my coconut’! I’ve always been impressed that my dad, who grew up in a Council estate in Croydon and left school at 15 because his parents couldn’t afford his school uniform, went on to lead such an *extraordinary* life.  After leaving school dad worked in a factory testing electronics until he was old enough to do an apprenticeship in pipe fitting, welding and heating engineering. His first job was at Crystal Palace building the Olympic swimming pool. In 1971 at the age of 24 he set up his first heating engineering company. And embarked on his first major adventure across Europe in a caravan. On his return he became a welder on oil rigs for many years, which allowed him to work half the year and travel for the remainder for the best part of a decade. Whilst on the oil rigs my dad pushed for better working conditions and organised a rig wide downing of tools in protest for the unfair dismissal of a colleague - later reinstated.  Whilst there my dad met his great friend Leigh who later became his best man and Andrew’s godfather. Once Andrew was born dad set up his second business, partnering with his good friend Colin.  But his adventures have never stopped, from an inflatable boat in his 20s and the catamaran in his 30s, he went on to buy a narrow boat called Derek. My parents had so much fun exploring the waterways with Colin and Denise whose own boat was moared close by. Then, about 20 years ago, and inspired by John and Helen, they got into camper vans! They had wonderful times in NZ and exploring France and even taking it to Glastonbury festival with me.  At home dad has always been passionate about the natural world, energy conservation and the environment. He grew a huge range of vegetables and would enjoy nothing more than telling us that everything we were eating all came from the garden. It did mean that we had to become accustomed to eating a fair few aphids or slugs but he always reassured us that it was a good source protein.  I sometimes called my dad the King of Piddington because he always seemed so involved in everything and knew everyone. But he said that he wasn’t the King he was just the caretaker. And he’s probably right, he has always fixed things and rushed to help those who’ve needed it. Neighbours burst pipes, a plumbing problem, broken down cars, fallen trees, leaking rooves, even medical emergencies.  My dad was a big believer in community. He set up the weekly Piddington lunch club to bring people together and working with the Piddington Horticultural society he helped to organise many many charity fundraising meals at the village hall; my all time favourite the French night where Coralie and I were both the waitresses and the after dinner entertainment when we had to perform the can can whilst wearing flashing garters (thanks for that one dad). Dad also helped to organise the annual Oldies Christmas meal, supported with street parties, and was Santa for the Children’s Christmas Party. He has done this and so much more, always generous with his time and love. Amongst friends and family dad and mum have always had an open house for anyone in need of support,sanctuary, laughter or wine. For some their house has been a place of physical protection. For others it  has been a place to go when there was no where else to go. A place without judgement where friends, family and neighbours were always welcome especially during tough times. Dad felt very strongly about helping people where he could and he and my mum are two of the most generous people I’ve ever known. Generous with time, with money, with their love and friendship. Dad also had an incredible sense of fun and silliness and wasn’t shy of practical joke (Jane and Stefan taking the brunt of them in recent years). Perhaps all of this, combined with his incredible loyalty and adventure is why he had, in his own words, ‘so many beautiful friends’.  As I was growing up I often asked my dad about his faith. He said that his belief was to leave the world a better place than he’d found it. He lived by that belief throughout his life. He’s gone ahead of us to chop the wood and light the fire, to build a treehouse and make sure there’s ice in the freezer for the perfect gin and tonic. And right now he’s having a cup of tea with his great friend and dearest neighbour Bill who died in October.  And just as Bill loved his wife Janet, my dad will always be deeply in love with my beautiful mother. In his words; ‘you are a wonderful woman. Few had better adventures than us. So many adventures’.  And as for me, when I think of my dad I will always think of gorilla buckets of pimms laced with brandy and bananas, tree houses with fireman’s poles, midnight feasts, flower fights and tarpaulin water slides. Of his joy at watching Arthur, Elsie grow, of blind man’s buff and buckeroo. I think of digging potatoes together, wild cherry picking, his legendary picked onions and crispy wings on a perfectly roasted chicken. I think of him renovating my flat and drilling holes in my walls (whether I wanted them or not), of scaling up trees - the more dangerous the better and his spectacular flagpole and Christmas star. Of cups of tea in bed and the way he somehow knew something about literally everything. Most of all, I think about the way his face lit up when I entered a room, his big smile and strong hugs- which I know isn’t something reserved for me alone. I read somewhere that to be a legend people need a legacy that lives on after them. I think all of the love in this room is his legacy and my father is a legend. An adventurous, eccentric, funny, generous, brave and kind legend!  Thank you again for being here. And thank you to Rev Anne for today and the phenomenal support you’ve given us over many many months.