Today is a sad day with the funeral of John Brooks who is father to my fiancee I may have only known him 4 years but in that time he has been a great influence on me and today is rightly about his family. However, I would love to share the John I knew and celebrate this great man.


Anyone who knows John will know Mary as they came as a package John and Mary wherever you found one you will find the other close by, often at football Mary would be in the queue for the next drink while John was mingling and chatting to someone telling them what is wrong with Chelmsford City. John and Mary actually got together via a flip of a coin whilst on both were holidaying on the Jersey John and his friend had seen Mary and her friend and it was the flip of the coin that led to John choosing Mary and the rest was history the world now had the great partnership of John and Mary their bond was stronger than batman and robin! They got married in Bideford in 1969, John started work as a courier and this led to his work for the royal mail as a postman and latterly for Hussey and Greaves as a delivery driver.


In 1981 they moved to Chelmsford, shortly before the birth of Debbie, you will note Debbie's birthdate of 14 November 1981, anyone good at maths will know what John and Mary got up to on valentines day that year! Joking aside this was the start of John's true love, his family. His daughter Amanda followed in 1985 and his son Ian in 1988. John was never happier than when all the family was able to gather together, this led to Christmas becoming his favourite occasion, he would love getting all the decorations up to give his home that lovely feel and spirit of the occasion, he would also keenly tell you about all the neighbours decorations and what was wrong with them. A big tradition was 'the counter' he would gather a good selection of snacks and have the counter which he could open to allow his children to eat from, he loved traditions and at no time was this more obvious than at Christmas where he liked the day to be as he planned.. Church on Christmas morning was something he loved, and this followed by a pint up the pub before getting home, John would love to cut the Christmas turkey and when it came to opening presents everything would end back in its paper put away until when it was needed, this I feel as Christmas to him was more about sharing and everyone elses happinness above his own. John was the ultimate host and wanted to ensure everyone had a good time, one thing he took pride in is ensuring everyone had a drink they enjoyed and was catered for, he would also find a receipe and create his Christmas cocktail. Christmas caught the essence of the man, family and sharing which is what I found to be true to the man.


These are a lot of the facts behind John, but who was the man? Well most of you will know him from football. He has always loved football, firstly West Ham where he was a season ticket holder, and most recently Chelmsford, you will note some likenesses yes both play in claret but also both teams love to steal defeat from the jaws of success, this suited John though he would always be the first to tell anyone what was going wrong, in recent years he actually made Dave Rainford start to to avoid the eye contact after a defeat that would lead to the inevitable conversation about what went wrong, well it mostly John telling Dave. Maybe this is why recent management teams have taken to going out the back door. John has gained so many new friends in football some have known him for many years since New Writtle Street, some will know him from his years coaching Chelmsford City Youth and some are more recent from Melbourne Park, everyone will all have their own memories of him from these days. He had his spot at both ends of the ground where you will always find him, he has spent many of his happiest times there including the 2012 win against Colchester in the FA Cup, I am told Mary celebrated to elaborately and knocked the barrier over leading to John having to pick her up from the floor. John has many friend at the club who he would speak to, I always remember him saying about Dave Selby and his historian and Dave always caught him on the day of release to sell him the latest copy. John though always did what he could to support the club, this went from buying a brick, attending to help get the snow off the pitch to latterly becoming a member of the supporters club committee, which gave him a huge sense of pride. Once the game was on he would often become known to the linesman as he would not hold back at telling him the errors he had made, John would also keenly avoid Fruity who would be keen to tell him the racing results and his latest winners...and most likely John's loser!


John loved an away trip and none more so than a trip to Truro which took him to his beloved Cornwall. He had some great trips recently, and I am told by Debbie she remembers on the first trip of one night out in which rather a lot of alcohol was consumed John was left with Mansell and Steve Woolnough, all were suffering but a taxi had been found to get them back to the hotel, Steve got in but he was so keen to get back to town he got in and back out the other door! This led to them both persuading him to come back to the hotel. This just tipifies John, he would always be the centre of the entrtainment when there was a night out. The result on these days was often secondary, it was the enjoyment of the weekend away with friends and family that made the weekends and what John loved.


As stated Cornwall was one of his true loves, the planning often started early in the year with John using his time to research and find the perfect location for his holiday. In recent years when Debbie and I have gone away with him I have to say his choices were always perfect....and if he were here he would be first to say ' I'm always right!!'. John had so much he loved about Cornwall, he loved a cliff walk with Mary exploring the coast line, he loved the beach and many days were spent relaxing on the beach with his family, in recent years he had become a keen body boarder and he and Mary would often be found out catching a wave, though of course there were times he left that for others and he was happy with the cricket on the radio and the newspaper. John loved a few cornish traditions, pasty's, ice cream and a real ale. He would always seek the latest new beer from the Cornish breweries, and as with John he would not hold back his opinion on the quality of the beer. He and I both enjoyed Point Break this year, when I brought back a polypin this year he was very keen to come round and have another taste. When doing his research for his holiday he would always research the best restaurants in the area as he would love a family meal to end the holiday, this would bring everyone together which is what he loved and he would take great pride in ensuring the restaurant was very good so everyone enjoyed themselves.


He also loved his boat, John loved the broads. He and Mary would take the boat and explore the broads. It led to many great weeks and weekends away. He would always be keen for other members of the family to come and visit and being the great host he would give up the bed so his guests had the bed and John and Mary would sleep on the chairs. He wouldn't mind as it meant he had his family with him and it would be opportunity for him to host and share stories with those around him.


John also loved his weekends, as it had football, horse racing and chance for family to gather. Most Sunday's he would have myself and Debbie around for either dinner or for tea and cakes. Again this was him hosting you could always count on him greeting you offering a cheese savoury when you got round to snack on whilst he sorted drinks, he would always find a sense of pride when he had found a new beer he could share and enjoy and have a good wine that others enjoyed. He would love to tell you about the events of the previous week and was always a entertaining storyteller, he also would have a opinion or two on tv programees such as Strictly and would be convincd on certain things being fixed! He would always have chosen some cakes in the week, so we could sit in the evening and share a cake or one of Mary's home made scones, John would always have a touch of his own, if there was a forthcoming event such as holloween the cakes would be themed, or if we had scones John would disappear and return with a chutney he had bought on a recent holiday to have with the cheese. Once it came to leave we would always greeted with the quote 'Eat my cake, drink my drink and leave' it was always meant with humour but then I think he was also a little tinged with sadness as he could not get enough of having his family there around him.


I know he was very excited about becoming a grandad, I popped round one lunch time in May to get his blessing to ask Debbie to marry me, and it was with great pride he gave me his blessing, this led to a conversation you could never just ask John something it always led to a conversation, during this I could sense his excitement so much so that he told me about presents he and Mary had bought for our forthcoming child. It is such a great shame he will not meet them as he would have been a fantastic grandad.


John had great pride in all his family, he and Debbie were very close and she would see him most weekends, she and I would share football trips away with him and Mary and he loved still having family close to share life with. Debbie and John recently also took a trip to Upton Park before it closed and I know they both loved this opportunity and he showed her the areas and shared some of his memories which I know Debbie will always cherish. He had great pride in the success Amanda has achieved in Cornwall and developed a successful career down there and met James and the pair of them have turned their house into something amazing, given the opprtunity John would happily tell you all about it. He was also so proud of son Ian who has graduated from university and qualified as a teacher, but also has passed his coaching qualifications with the FA and is a goalkeeping coach, he presently works with the youth at Plymouth Argyle. John would always tell you what Ian has been up to with tremendous pride.


There is so much to John everyone will all have their own memories and stories of the man, my favourite one of recent times is when Simon Brewster invited John and I to join him on the stag do. He would often say in the lead up he was too old to go and go up to London, Debbie and I persuaded him to come, and he and I went up to London and he had a whale of a time as some of the photos would give evidence to. The events included him losing his glasses somewhere, which I take full responsbility for, and he joining the curry when we got back to Chelmsford this being a great surprise to Debbie and Mary as he didn't like curry, though the way he ate it you would never have known, its amazing what drink can do! After finishing we got ready to leave and I suddenly noted John was gone, I asked where he had gone somehow he had gone into the kitchen he obviously wanted to tell the chef about his cooking. We then joined the hen do and went for a drink, John and Mary were found to be dancing in The Ship that night, and as usual he was the last to leave. This night to me showed the true John, a young at heart man who always ended up being the centre of things due to his big character.


I hope I have caught the essence of the man, John Brooks, a family man, a fantastic host and entertainer. A man that loved Cornwall and his boat, a man that loved sport, and a man that enjoyed life. You will be so deeply missed and leave a hole in mine and Debbie's life and that of anyone who knew him. Rest in Peace.