A Farewell

This is only a brief one, but it’s one I’d like to leave here.

Since starting to play Ice Hockey and going figure skating, I’ve met an outstanding bunch of people from both. One of them was Antony Morris, a young (to me) bloke who was good on his skates, had good stick control and knew where he had to be. He played for the Widnes Wildcats, and also attended some Raiders skrimmages when he could get off work, and attended the Hockey Basics sessions on a Thursday night. He was a welcome part of the hockey family.

Throughout this time, and like many of the hockey skaters I now know, he gave me advice on how to improve, pointed out where I was going wrong and pushed me to try and go further. He was a genuinely nice guy.

A couple of weeks ago, he had an accident, and guttingly, he died from it. Yesterday was his funeral, and myself, and a couple of other Raiders, a fair few Wildcats and a guy from the Deeside Demons attended his funeral. Forming two lines with sticks raised, his coffin was carried beneath the sticks and into the most packed out church I’ve ever seen.

The volume of people in attendance was truly unreal, and it spoke volumes about what a nice guy he was, and how missed he’ll be. I know I’ll miss him, his hints and tips, the laughs and the banter. The Earth has lost a genuinely decent human being.

It’s with sadness that I can say, rest in peace big fella, you’ll be missed.