University life comes with many opportunities and new friendships and meeting Trev in 1971, through Rog, has been a great privilege. We have all remained good friends for over four decades.
We enjoyed the usual undergraduate experiences - including visiting the occasional pub and sampling London’s finest ales.
After graduation we shared a flat in Champion Hill South London with other friends Jon, and Steve the English, not to be confused with me, Steve the Welsh.
I particularly remember our Saturday trips to Sainsbury’s in Forest Hill, followed by a pint, or two, in the Shepherd Neame pub nearby. There we concentrated on selecting our “certain to win horses” and filled in the betting slips collected from the bookies opposite. After buying chips for lunch we would go home to watch our certainties lose on TV.
One of the most memorable features of our shared flat living was brewing our own beer - working together to achieve the perfect pint. This activity involved quite a lot of time, effort and organisation but together we produced a very palatable, cheap beer, whilst having a lot of fun. We even ventured into the specialist field with our Winter Warmer – not for the faint hearted and with hindsight perhaps not one of our better ideas!
We naturally followed our own career and family paths and moved to different areas but managed to keep in touch, in part thanks to Rog’s annual Christmas Party.
The 80’s saw the old flat mates regularly meeting for beer followed by a curry at The Dil Chad near Liverpool Street. The hotter the curry the better but often Trev would declare it to be “zero” that is “zero heat”- which it usually wasn’t to the rest of us of course.
Trev loved quizzes and had an excellent general knowledge. One of Trev’s most admired skills was his ability to recognise any song immediately and in the days before Smart Phones and music recognition apps he was The Human Shazam.
Rog and Fin’s Christmas Parties, as mentioned earlier, have been an important part of keeping our friendships going over the decades. Down to the village pub for pre-lunch drinks, enjoying wonderful Christmas food with friends followed by games was hugely enjoyed by Trev. He loved all these festive traditions and one that he really delighted in was beating us all at snooker. For me a good break was potting a red rather than the white but Trev would pot several balls - in the right order.
Over the past few years Maggie and I have been fortunate to spend more time with Trev and Denise and witnessed an incredible couple supporting each other in the most challenging of circumstances.
I would like to pay tribute to Denise who enabled Trev to enjoy a huge range of experiences and get the most out of life. Together they explored the World through cruise holidays and attended sporting activities including Wimbledon and The Olympics. Trying to keep up with Trev on his mobility scooter was quite a sporting challenge in itself and often left us all panting. Trev loved a good meal and fine ale and trips to restaurants and pubs were enjoyed with his family and friends as well as weekly cinema visits. All these were made possible because of Denise’s love and devotion as well as their determination to live life to the full.
It was a great privilege to have been at Trev’s 65th birthday party at the beginning of December. He was surrounded by family and friends thoroughly enjoying his birthday beer, blowing out candles on his cake and making a moving speech.
Trev was a great friend, husband to Denise and father to David and Paul.
He will be sorely missed but never forgotten.
Cheers Trev and Rest in Peace!