A hard working man
A funny storyteller
A real Jarrow lad.
How can you thank or say goodbye to
Someone who gave so much to you
& was always there, for all your life
& now has passed?
Ah Dad, Ah Trev!
You were a fine, praiseworthy man
Who bent your hand faithfully
To the many tasks of life;
Family & wife;
Much more to that than all those weekends of overtime
& all those many duties you fulfilled
To support our family!
You met Mam at the youth hostel
& then, aged five, you took me there
& again & again!
So I owe to you my love of nature & the coast
Fossils! Birds! The hills & mountains
Of our land & those glimpses of the ancient world
We shared in places of power on our journeys;
This made me the man that I am
& set me off on the life less ordinary.
So when I remember that you are gone
I think of Charlton Mires;
That bus stop on the A1 by the road ends
& I see, in the evening light
A man & boy walking down the road
With their rucksacks & their boots on
Past the little grey stone house
& down that lonnen through the woods
To Rock, in search of adventures.
Lastly I call to mind great mystery,
The Odeon Newcastle, 1968
2001: a Space Odyssey
The wild ride through the star gate at the end:
We couldn’t make head nor tail of it!
You leant over & whispered in my ear:
“ Some things just can’t be understood,
That’s the Great Unknown.”
& that is where you have now gone:
Beyond our sight,
Returned to the mystery of life!
Thanks Dad, I love you & am proud to be your son.
Dad passed away peacefully on Sunday 1st November with my mam & his sister Deidre at his side. We would like to thank everyone who has held us in their hearts at this time & sent us messages & tokens of love & support. His funeral was on Wednesday 11th & family or friends will be able to watch a recording of the service, which was live streamed, for another month or so. If anyone has any photos of Dad that they would like me to add to the slideshow please send them! I'm not in many of these because I took a lot of them! Barry.
