John Douglas Eccles

19/04/201421/07/2014

What were you doing on the 22nd October 2002?

I will start this months blog with a question. What were you doing on the 22nd October 2002?

If like me normally you can’t remember what you did last week then this question will appear almost impossible to answer unless you were either getting married or your wife was giving birth to one of your children. Now these events are pretty memorable even to someone with my dodgy memory, but I can remember exactly what I was doing, and who with. Now I know what you are thinking, but it has nothing to do with sex or any other nefarious activity. I started a love affair.

Now I know what you are thinking, I have finally gone mad by admitting to the world that I had an affair. But it wasn’t with a person otherwise Ann my long suffering wife would have had me castrated and left to live in a bin liner under some railway arch somewhere.

So I will tell you the story and I will leave it up to you to make your mind up weather or not it has a happy ending.

At the time I was working in Local Radio as a Technical Manager / Producer who was responsible for delivering large scale broadcast projects for the station. Now the Managing Director of the station I was working for was an infamous petrol head who came up with the bright idea that we would broadcast live from the Motor Show at the NEC at Birmingham to help generate interest in creating ad revenue from local car dealers who would a) sponsor it and b) buy advertising spots throughout the broadcast.

I did point out that we were only a local station broadcasting across Manchester not a national station (they were the only people with the budget and staff for such a project) but he didn’t let that stop him. So armed with our trusty engineer and the presenters we met at six am at the station for the journey down to Birmingham.

Now the media briefing was at eight thirty and Birmingham was 80 miles away and we would reach our destination right in the middle of rush hour, this was going to be challenging. Our MD who loved a challenge decided that he would drive to ensure we reached our destination in time.

When I looked in the back of the car I noticed that our female lunchtime presenter was sat with a blanket over her head, when I asked her what she was doing, she replied rather curtly “you have got no idea what this journey is going to be like, its going to be terrifying”, “I have driven with him before”. I thought obviously nothing could be that bad and thought she was just being highly strung.

How wrong was I, all I can say is that being driven by a madman for 80 miles down one of the busiest motorways on the planet was at best worrying and at worst a nightmare which I re-live on a regular basis in my darkest dreams. So after screaming out loud once or twice and hearing our female presenter use language that would make a rugby player blush we arrived at our destination with ten minutes to spare.

So once in the studio it was my job to fix up the interviews that would punctuate the show three times an hour. No easy task but I managed to assemble people who I thought would be interesting and have a story to tell.

During one of my long walks to pick up a guest I stumbled upon what I thought was the most beautiful car I had ever seen in my life, It was love at first sight. Now I know that cars according to my wife are only a means of getting from a to b, but being a man sometimes something happens. You see something your heart wants, whilst your head is telling you its something you don’t need but you just have to have anyway.

Now anyone who has worked in Radio will tell you that the pay isn’t great but the fringe benefits are spectacular. So I walked onto the stand and booked a test drive even though the £28,000 price tag was way out of my range and had the time of my life.

The car in question was the Chrysler Crossfire, it was retro whilst being sporty and was the talking point of everyone who we interviewed that day.

So lets bring the story unto date. During the last few weeks I have been looking for a two seater sports car that myself and Ann can go away in and have some fun at weekends. I was looking at Porsche’s, Mercedes and even Jaguars however whilst I was looking I stumbled on the car I fell head over heels with some twelve years earlier and at a price I could afford.

So I have embarked on the next stage of my belated mid life crisis, I am now the proud owner of a Chrysler Crossfire and in spite of all the bad press it received from the likes of Jeremy Clarkson it is a joy to drive (even it it does frighten the living daylights out of you if you press to hard on the gas pedal).

So there you have it, my affair is out in the open, it has only taken me twelve years to take it to the next level and only time will tell if it is a match made in heaven or a pathway to hell.

Who knows what the future will bring, but it will be fun whilst it lasts!

25/03/2014

My friend Sheila needs your help!

My wife and I have known Sheila for over twenty five years and during that time we have shared all sorts of experiences that have made us both laugh and cry together in equal measure. Now Sheila is one of life’s troopers. She never complains and is always there to help anyone who needs it, and very rarely asks for anything in return, other than a thank you.

The last six months have been a challenge for this lady. In November last year she was diagnosed with Leukaemia, bad news by any measure, and since then she has been through various courses of Chemotherapy and spent endless weeks in Hospital.

Not once has she complained with her lot. When we visit she is alway very positive and talks about getting better rather than how ill she must feel. So this weekend we went to see her at home, to catch up with what’s happening in Sheila’s world. She and her husband explained that the situation had now changed, and without a bone marrow transplant the prognosis isn’t very promising.

So like any friend, I immediately volunteered to put my name on the transplant list as a donor. But here is the kicker – I am to old. Donors need to be between the ages of 16 and 30.

Here is the problem.

Every 20 minutes in the UK, someone like Sheila are told they have a blood cancer such as leukaemia and for many of these people a bone marrow or blood stem cell transplant is their only chance.

They need cells from a healthy person – with the same tissue type – to replace and repair their own damaged cells.

About 30% of people in need can find a suitable donor in their family. But the other 70% rely on a stranger to save their lives.

The Anthony Nolan Trust is the organisation that helps that 70% to find those precious matches.

The Trust has over 500,000 donors on it’s register and they are constantly working to increase that number. Every time someone needs a transplant the register is checked for a match and they make more than 1,000 matches every year.

Now thats not great odds – in betting terms thats 500-1, but when you need a transplant any odds are better than none! To reduce those odds more people need to register and become donors. So here is my challenge to everyone who will read this.

What is needed is people between the ages of 16 – 30, or parents of these people to visit the Anthony Nolan website and register an interest in becoming a donor. It is easy and more importantly its painless. Your results will be put on a register with the other half a million other people. If you are a match, you will be contacted. It may happen or equally it may never happen, but if it does think of the difference you can make to someones life.

I will be championing this cause with every ounce of energy I have, not only because of Sheila but because I hope I can make a difference and help someone who really needs it.

So before you dismiss this without a second thought, what would you do if Sheila was your friend!

Also just think about how awesome it would be to know you have saved someones life.

Please have a look and see how you could help. http://www.anthonynolan.org

09/03/201410/03/2014

I Have Discovered Time Travel

Anyone who knows me will know of my passion for live music. I find it amazing that a group of people can create something far more than the individual component parts. I have been to two concerts this week and even by my standards thats fairly rare.

The first one was on Thursday at the Arena in Manchester, watching Michael Buble with Ann, we booked the tickets before Christmas and she had been getting more and more excited the nearer to the concert it got. Now I have to say that I am indifferent to Mr Buble and I can take him or leave him, to Ann however I can make my mind up weather Its him or the music she is crazy about, but I went to make sure she didn’t get lost or end up stalking him on his way to the tour bus.

I was however pleasantly surprised to see that the guy is just as good live as he is on his albums. The show was nothing short of brilliant, with at least £2m worth of stage, screen an PA. His band were as you would expect fantastic. It made the £120 for tickets, £12.00 parking and £20.00 for a programme seem almost worth it.

On Saturday came the second of my concerts, this one was for me. Caravan a Prog Rock outfit from the early Seventies were playing at the Picturedrome in Holmfirth, not quite an Arena gig but its a great place to watch live music. When I booked the tickets I asked Ann if she wanted a ticket, to which the reply was “is it that strange stuff you listen too when you are in the car”, Cheeky sod.

So I phoned my brother who decided it might be fun to go back and spend a couple of hours back in 1972 and listen to the Band. So for a quarter of the price of Mr Buble we journeyed over the moors, traveled back in time and started reminiscing about Trench Coats and taking Your Latest Album under your arm just in case someone needed to listen to some music.

It also got us talking about communication and how we all kept in touch without mobile phones, that seems an awful long time ago, in fact to be precise 40 years ago.

So we arrived in Holmfirth and Immediately it felt like we had travelled back in time, We had no phone signal let alone wireless and somehow according to the sat nav the place doesn’t exist. I thought that it was a touch of marketing genius to make it just like the seventies, but on asking the bartender at the venue he said its always like that. So we ordered a couple of beers and sat down for a quick catch up.

Looking at the table next to us was a guy with grey hair and his wife having a drink. When I glanced over i thought I recognised him nodded and he nodded back and we carried on chatting. Then it was time to hit the venue next door. The Picturedrome is a fantastic music venue, all sorts of people play the venue just because of its atmosphere.

So the time had come, we were about to see a Band who at the hight of there popularity had a Sixty Piece orchestra backing them. Can I say that they were fantastic, they played all my old favourites and some new stuff thrown in for good measure. I even saw a guy with an Album under his arm, but we were to polite to point and laugh.

Now all I can say is that these guys are now well into the sixties and can still perform a two hour set without breaking sweat. (apart from the young drummer who was very ambitious). It was great to see heroes from your teenage years still performing and having a go.

So if I can just take you back to the guy in the Bar, It was a surprise to me that when the band came on the stage I discovered it was the Keyboard Player. I can remember him when he had long dark hair and an Afghan coat. Thats probably why I only half recognised him and he obviously did the same comparison with me.

So the point of this ramble is If you are lucky enough you should always try to check out the Bands from your youth, they have the ability to transport you through time in the blink of an eye. It is the music you listened to then that has made you the person you are today which according to my wife is miserable and grumpy!

15/02/201406/03/2014

What a Difference a Year Makes

I know I am a little late with this post but life is more that a little hectic at the moment. After our freaky Blizzard the other night I was tempted to look back at photos of this time last year and discovered that we were digging ourselves out of masses of snow and people were shouting from the rooftops about how we were on the verge of dropping into a new Ice age.

This year its the rain that is causing many families untold misery and in many cases the heartbreak of loosing not only your home but your livelihood as well. The poor people in the Somerset levels live in some of the most resilient rural communities in the country and the community spirit that is present in most of the villages and towns will be in evidence.

If only the media would look hard enough. They would find that communities like our own come together when the going gets tough and individuals and organisations will be trying to help those in most need and sharing what they can.

According to many news organisations these communities have been carrying on as best they can with very little help from local councils and organisations which I find very hard to believe. The scale of the clean up operation is mind boggling and more importantly the planning will have to be robust enough to stand up to the obvious scrutiny of the critics that will undoubtedly heap on the shoulders of these individuals.

Disasters happen and if we think we can control every eventuality then we are deluded. Nature will always find ways to challenge us and we need to remember that when we start looking for someone to blame. I don’t know enough about Dredging or what has caused this other that that the weather has been dreadful and we have seen storms almost on a biblical scale.

It does however seem a little strange to me that Central Government and Ministers only sat up and took notice once the problem came up in the Thames Valley. The speed at which the great and the good of Westminster bought a pair of hunters and a waterproof Jacket (Obviously on expenses) and leave Westminster in search of a deep puddle to stand in and be interviewed was unbelievable.

If I thought that the Prime Minister or the Leader of the Opposition could actually make a difference I would applaud them whole heartedly, however the cynical person that I am I think it is more to do with electioneering, all in the cause of getting the electorate to believe that they will sort it all out in a jiffy no matter what the cost.

Now I know we have little chance other than localised flooding here in Saddleworth but the prospect of loosing everything, being dropped on by Broadcast Journalists stood in puddles in front of cameras and Politicians doing the same would be enough to drive me over the edge. Couple that with the Insurance industries past performance on paying out to these people I hope that the rest of the year will be a little kinder to these unfortunate individuals.

I hope I am wrong, I hope the Politicians make a difference. I hope that the insurance companies pay out and make it easier for these affected areas to recover as quickly as possible. Then I will hold my hand up and say I was wrong.

We should judge these organisations on the speed and effectiveness of the cleanup operation and on the changes they make to the infrastructure to make it harder for this to happen in the future and that would be a great start.

So by this years standards next February we should be in the middle of a drought and a host of balmy sunny days to laze around in, that’s if the global warming phenomenon I was promised years ago comes to fruition. So all that leaves me to say is that I had better get my factor 50 sunblock bought, its better to be prepared than be sorry I didn’t bother.

17/12/201317/06/2019

I think I will become a Lighthouse Keeper Its less trouble than working in the Media

Social Media, what a term. It does exactly what it says on the tin, its social and its media with a very big M!

Used in the right way its phenomenal.

Only this week I have been contacted by someone who shares our strange name. Sammy Eccles who lives in Aberdeen who like me works in the creative industries, or a few months ago Mr Ed Eccles a Sheriff in New York who like me now and again takes a punt on contacting a namesake and saying hello.

Its mind boggling to think that only 10 years ago that this type of activity would be beyond anyones imagination. Of course that is the fantastic end of this world wide phenomenon.

There are however other strands which are far less appealing.

Social Media allows you to make an online persona which is often an image that reflects what you would like the world to see, which can be entirely different to the reality. We share thoughts, aspirations and even make our lives seem a little more attractive than they may be just to massage our fragile egos.

Even Companies and Charities are using Social Media to promote themselves as warm friendly organisations. So what harm can it do?

In reality it can do a great deal of harm in the hands of people who are not in the business of communicating to the world in a professional capacity.

During the past couple of weeks there have been cases in the press in which people have come unstuck by tweeting and publishing material which is not only infringing our existing laws but is damaging some very credible causes that needed fighting in the right way.

We all at times blame PR companies for spinning stories and Journalists for using unscrupulous methods to get a story, but the truth of the matter is that these people rarely come unstuck because they know what and how to say what needs to be said. More importantly they know what not to say.

Bloggers of which I am one, often blog about subjects which are less than contentious, the latest recipe for cupcakes or what restaurants offer the best value in and around the locality.

However every now and again individuals and groups use the medium to start campaigns about local issues that are both worthy and heartfelt. These campaigns are started by people who have the interest of the community at heart but have little knowledge of the laws that control traditional media.

Newspapers and Broadcast Media are governed by strict codes of conduct that are based on existing laws that protect individuals from unfair treatment by the Media Industry.

So this is the point I have been coming to. People need to be aware when using social media you can be judged to be infringing these laws without even knowing it. It was not long ago that Sally Bercow’s tweet found her on the wrong end of a £50,000 libel lawsuit filed by McAlpine.

So here is my advice to these people:-

Make sure your facts are facts and from a reputable source, preferably two.
Never state your opinion as fact.
Never distribute unsubstantiated gossip.
Never exaggerate your case.

And finally never criticise in print local mainstream media because they haven’t given your story what you consider to be the coverage that you think it deserves. (In my world this is called biting the hand that feeds you).

One more point I feel needs mentioning, if you have a comments facility on your blog, never post something from anyone else that contravenes any of the above points because it is you as the publisher of the blog who will be pursued through the courts.

So be careful out there, the internet as they say can be a dangerous place, so thats this months rant over with and in the New Year I will be back to being a more mundane Grumpy Northern Bloke.

So all that remains for me to say is that thankfully we are about to start two weeks holiday, so can I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I hope Santa delivers everything you wish for, but don’t be to disappointed if he doesn’t. I cant see him delivering me a new Jaguar, even I don’t think I have been that good!

20/10/201320/10/2013

My Grumpy Guide to a Happy Marriage

Ann showing me her take on downsizing when I retire.

Sorry for the lack of a recent post but it has been a little busy on the work front. This usually means early starts and long days, hardly a recipe for a happy and balanced lifestyle (whatever that is).

During the past three weeks I have been trying to sort out a balance between home and work, something I didn’t quite manage. I am thankful that my wife Ann is a very patient person who likes her own company because sometimes we don’t see very much of each other.

We have been married for thirty eight years and miraculously we are actually still together. Now that doesn’t mean that we have always been blissfully happy, it just means that the good times have outweighed the bad times. In fact when we are asked how we have managed to stay together (yes people actually do ask us on a regular basis) we have a couple of stock answers ready.

My personal favorite is “for the first twenty years we were that busy paying the mortgage that we hardly saw each other”. whilst Ann’s favorite is “John’s Grandmother said it would never last, we are trying to prove her wrong”.

Now my Grandmother died about twenty years ago and we are still going strong. So I guess its just the fact that we are still best friends and we know we can rely on each other to be there when needed. Now this doesn’t mean we live every moment in each others company or that we do the same stuff together.

Anyone who knows us will tell you we are as different as chalk and cheese. I am the mad workaholic creative whilst Ann is a methodical accountant type, so I suppose opposites do attract.

Its all about compromise I do stuff that Ann likes, like going to watch Michael Buble (with several thousand women of a certain age) and she (grudgingly) does stuff I like, I can’t think of anything at the moment but I am sure given enough time I will think of something.

Now this coming week is yet another busy one, I have two live events to televise which will soak up the biggest part of the week with setups and rehearsals. The light at the end of the tunnel is that next week I am on holiday which will enable me to catch my breath and get ready for the busy run up to Christmas.

So my advice to the young couples out there who are starting out together, this is what I think makes for a happy marriage.

Both of you need to find a career doing something you enjoy, because you are working for a third of your time, life’s to short to be miserable! Find someone you want to spend the other third with who makes you laugh and is great to be around and finally this is really important, someone who doesn’t snore so you can sleep for the other third.

Now I know that I haven’t mentioned sex in all that so If you can fit in great sex with each other in between all that then that’s as good as life gets.

15/09/201315/09/2013

Cupcakes and Reminders of the Past

Its Sunday night at Eccles Towers and its ten o clock and for the first time this week I have the lounge to myself.

Its a rare occurrence these days for me to sit quiet with a brew and the TV remote in my favorite chair I can tell you. Saskia has been with us now for two weeks and last night was joined by her younger brother James who has been lucky enough to have been born with a cheeky smile and fantastic red hair.

The only issue with the kids staying is that they expect to be entertained and kept busy every waking minute. Now Ann was up early with them which gave me a little time to gather my thoughts before I had to give offspring number one a lift to work because of his continuing car troubles and living in the hills buses are a rare on Sundays.

So a couple of hours later I walk in the house to find that Ann, Saskia and James had been baking. It was as though I had been transported back to my childhood with the smell of fresh baking wafting through the house.

I hung my coat up by the door and immediately the pair of them came running through very excited and dragging me through to the kitchen. Now Saskia apart from a little bit of flour on her cheek looked like she had been sat reading a book rather than baking but James was a whole other proposition.

He had chocolate all around his mouth and flour in his hair and on everything he was wearing. That should have been a clue to what I was to encounter in the kitchen. I think it would be best described as looking like a grenade going off in a flour factory.

I was dragged to look at the cupcakes that these to mini bakers had made and they presented me with my very own cupcake and they stood whilst I ate it, waiting patiently for me to tell them how good it was. It tasted even better than it looked.

So whilst they jumped up and down they got one each and made all sorts of sounds that one makes when eating something delicious, Ann was busy trying to sort out the kitchen, (somehow they had managed to use every bowl and utensil in the place).

“We are going to make biscuits next time granddad and we will save you one”. James said with a bowl and spoon in his hand busy scraping the remains of the mixture they had used.

By two o clock when we took them down home we had almost managed to clear up and put a cupcake in a bag for mum and get them in the car for the journey.

So spin the clock forward Six hours and Saskia is back with us because we have the school run in the morning. She is sat on the settee in her pajamas and dressing gown watching XFactor and smelling of bath time and looking like she has been scrubbed until she shines.

Again for some reason it took me back again to my childhood, its strange but it was the smell that instantly transported me back fifty years to Sunday Nights at my parents house, watching Sunday Night at the London Palladium after having a bath and everyone sat around having a brew and a piece of Victoria Sponge.

Its strange but now I am getting older I have started to remember things I had long forgotten and the strangest things make you think of the people who you loved and who are no longer with us and when you think of them you miss them instantly.

I suppose we are fortunate enough to be in a position that enables us to let the grand kids enjoy the simple pleasures that we remember from our childhood. I hope they remember days like today and do them with their children. I suppose that this has been going on for centuries but we never have time to sit and think about it.

So that’s this weeks ramble out of the way. Just enough time to try another cupcake with my brew, my excuse is that I am saving Ann from herself, she has weight watchers on Tuesday and if she hasn’t lost weight I am in for a very hungry week.

06/09/201329/12/2020

It’s no big deal! Oh yes it is!

Retirement Road Sign with blue sky and clouds.

In this world driven by the search for celebrity, fame and money sometimes we overlook people who have had a huge impact on the lives of other people because they quietly get on being brilliant at what they do without any fanfare or big gesture!

I have been fortunate to work with one such individual on and off for about twenty years and this week I have learned of his retirement. Without doubt, he is a person who will be missed, not only by his colleagues but more importantly by the young people who he has taught over the years.

In a town like Oldham news travels very fast, we have a grapevine that is very impressive and this news traveled faster than most.

Now I have not named this individual because he would be mortified by the fact that in his eyes I had actually wasted valuable time writing this but more importantly he probably doesn’t think that his retirement doesn’t warrant any attention because its no big deal. To everyone who has worked or been taught by this person it is!

Normally it is not in most young peoples makeup to have a genuine affection for Lecturers however I have been bombarded by phone calls, Facebook messages and all the other manner of social networking paraphernalia asking me if i was true and what are we going to celebrate the end of an era (their words not mine).

It is obvious to anyone who has worked with him he has rare qualities that make him special. He is virtually unflappable and in all the time I have known him he has never had a bad word to say about anyone. His greatest quality is that he has the ability to see the best in people and make them feel like someone actually cares about what they achieve.

By my calculations (and I am not very good mathematically, other than invoicing and filling in expenses forms) In the time I have known him he has personally been responsible for the pastoral and educational needs of over 150 students a year, for the past twenty years.

By my reckoning that’s about 3000 individuals who have directly benefited from this mans experience and most of these individuals have gone on to become very successful in their chosen careers.

No matter were you travel to work in this country, when you tell them were you are from, nine times out of ten this mans name will crop up in the conversation, followed by the phrase “a great bloke”

So I hope we can pin him down and give him the send-off he deserves and give some of the people he has helped over the years a chance to say thank you.

28/08/201328/08/2013

We are about to be Space Invaded

Next week if you listen carefully you will hear the collective sigh of millions of parents knowing that their little darlings are back in school for another year. No more hunting for cheap things to do to keep the kids occupied.

I had almost forgot what it was like to keep kids occupied, ours fled the nest years ago. I can only imagine that in this day and age it is even more of a challenge. In this age of instant everything kids have forgot what it is like just to sit and do nothing. My granddaughter can manage about five minutes before she visibly starts twitching looking for the next thing to do.

Now she will be staying with us for the next couple of weeks whilst her mum goes into hospital so I can expect my workload to quadruple during this period. On Saturday she came with her list of things she needs to do just to survive for the couple of weeks at our humble abode. Bearing in mind she thinks we live in a technological black hole and she questions how can we survive without what she considers essentials.

Its the amazement in her voice when she found out our shortcomings. “What do you mean you don’t have Sky catchup”, “Isn’t your broadband slow” and the unforgettable “When you die Granddad and can I have your Mac”? All this from an eleven year olds lips.

She will arrive next Monday with various iPads, iPods, hair straighteners and enough clothes to keep her going for six months. Also she will bring her beloved Saxophone which for some unknown reason she likes to practice when I am watching something.

Now I know I am sounding very grumpy but the plus side of having young people around the house is the energy and laughter it brings and that is no bad thing. I think I am lucky in the fact that the job I do brings me into contact with young people everyday and it’s fantastic.

Just to sit and listen to them and try to work out the reasoning behind some of the discussions they have is brilliant. The what colour should I have my hair done this week conversation is a personal favourite of mine, mainly because I have hardly any left and if I did I wouldn’t dye it anyway.

Now I know that you will find this hard to believe I was once young and can remember a particular conversation I had with my dad after another weekend of treating his house like a hotel and not letting them know I was staying at a mates.

I can remember turning to him and saying “dad, I am eighteen and you just don’t know the pressure I am under”. To this day I don’t know why he didn’t batter me senseless. I am now at the age he was then, and if I knew what life throws at your average fifty odd year old then, I think I might have kept very quiet.

So think of me this coming fortnight, bringing in horses, running her to guides, listening to her playing her Sax, homework and not being able to use my computer because she will have commandeered it like she does every time she comes.

The surprising thing to me and my wife is that we wouldn’t have it any other way because when she is here she is great fun and at our age being around that is priceless.

11/08/201312/08/2013

Hi Love. I Have a New Hobby.

This weekend has been another in a long line of special weekends in Saddleworth. Its been the annual Yanks weekend were hundreds of people gather in all sorts Second World War uniforms and get together and have a great time and find an escape from everyday life for a little while.

Whilst I was waiting for the Parade to pass by at lunchtime I was lucky enough to watch the real veterans march past looking very smart in Blazers, Berets and Medals gleaming and worn with pride. They were greeted with a huge round of applause, not that this surprised me because like many I believe we owe these people a great deal and we don’t show as much appreciation as we should.enough.

Shortly after the parade three of these veterans came into the beer garden and had a well deserved pint or two. These guys were laughing and joking and had more life in them than most thirty year olds. I stood and laughed with them and had a great half an hour listening to them recant various tales about colleagues and events that left me slightly in awe of them.

However it was what one of the veterans said that made me think. He pointed out that he could understand these people getting dressed up and having a good time and looking back with affection, but what fascinated him more than anything was the guy who turned up with a Tank Transporter complete with Tank!

He said “What would you tell the wife when you turn up at the house with that lot”? His mate calm as anything says “He just told her he had a new hobby”.

Priceless!