Brian loved steam trains.  As a young boy he would be found trainspotting at North Station. He would often bunk the sheds and although often chased, was never caught by the railway police. Later he would travel to London trainspotting at all the main stations. This love lasted his whole life with many holidays based around preserved railways. 


The other obsession was motorcycles. Encouraged by his parents he had his first motorcycle in his teens. When he met Gill he had a BSA B33 and later his pride and joy was a BSA road rocket. This bike took them to Wales for their honeymoon.


Then family life took over but in retirement he went back to motorcycling and had 15 years on his beloved Triumph Bonneville. Brian and Gill spent many Sundays with Roger and Gay sampling various coffee shops.  It was a family joke that he spent more time cleaning it than riding it.


Brian was apprenticed to Davey Paxman at 15yrs and worked there for 44 yrs. He loved his job travelling the world selling diesel engines and made many friends in many countries. When Brian retired he became a ‘house  husband’. Never having completed a household chore it was a steep learning curve. He enjoyed cooking and even wrote Brian’s wonder book but he never understood ‘parboil’!


Brian and Gill were married for 54 years, thirty of them living in Langham where they brought up their two daughters, Eleanor and Sophie. He was a very proud grandfather to Alicia and was delighted when Sophie married Nathan, our No 1 son. He was always there for them when things went wrong and could always find ‘something in the stores’ to fix the problem. In later life he would say ‘you should be looking after me not the other way around’! At the end they did just that.


Brian was a big man, strong, honest and kind with a great sense of humour.  We miss him.