Steve was a kind and generous brother but always in trouble with Mum. Nothing serious but mischievous. When we lived in West Howe Close he would come through the back door, after being out all day as an eight or nine year old, smelling of smoke after starting fires on the common behind our house. Then with his mates he would watch from afar as the fire engines arrived. When chastised he would just use that smile that he had inherited from our Dad. He was quite an academic child and passed the first part of his 11+ that put him in the top stream of East Howe Secondary (Kingsleigh). There he came up against the Headmaster, Mr Hayter, who caught him keeping his dinner money for the purchase of ‘fags’. Later in his teens he discovered motor bikes and would often come in late at night with his clothes shredded after some minor incident. When the fair came to town he would work on the ‘wall of death’. Sitting on a chair smoking a cigarette as it sped round. Steve led a full and active life and is now thankfully relieved of the terrible pain that he had to suffer towards the end of his life. His Mum and Dad loved him greatly even though he infuriated them at times and he has left a loving and successful family behind him. Steve and I had quite different personalities and I didn’t have the nerve to become involved in some of his escapades. I did though enjoy watching them unfold from the sideline. Steve was one of a kind. He had an enormous heart and a real disarming charm that was always accompanied by the grin. That grin will always be with me. Chris xx