I dont think Ive quite forgiven him yet for forgetting to come home early enough to take his little sister to see “Annie get your gun” at the local cinema. To be truthful - he was very upset too!

I dont know how we aquired an old Austin A 30, but Brian & Richard used to take it out to a disused aredrome ( & on the quiet roads I think) & come back boasting about how they could spin it around & make it perform dramatic skids!!! Our parents seemed unphased!

Brian wanted to be a doctor, but sadly he didn’t make the grade in one of the subjects required. However he was VERY knowledgeable about the workings of the human body which meant that those to whom he later taught weight training were in very safe hands. His passion for weight lifting began when he was 17 or 18 years old when he demanded that our mother should supply him with plenty of steak & Milk! i have no idea what triggered this weight lifting passion. I have no doubt that the weight lifting fraternity were not only his friends but his second family. At the age of 50 he won a world weight lifting championship.

After Jane sadly died He was eventually quite “ chuffed” that he was getting some female attention!

He took an interest in cooking & he favoured Armenian ( mother’s influence !) & Greek style food. He was always very proud of Sara. He was a real family man & travelled to see & to keep in touch with our relatives in Canada. He was very fond of them.

He organised a party in Northern Ireland so that we could meet the Irish side of our family & try to piece together our Irish history. It was a wonderfully musical & happy time.

His home is full of framed family photographs.

He once said to me thar he would have liked more children , & he was very sweet with MY grandchildren.

I’m SO very grateful that he met lovely Welsh Margaret. Suddenly he was being fed like a king, & they enjoyed travelling together & spending time both in beautiful Wales & in Surrey. He taught himself to speak Italian & given the chance he would display this skill whenever they were travelling. with Margaret his life was full.

He was my big brother & I loved him

I met him when he came down to Pembrokeshire to help a colleague of mine with her weight lifting. She asked me to meet him as he was such a lovely man who had lost his wife a few years earlier. I had been divorced for about ten years and had not been out with a man in all that time. He picked me up and I took him to the Fishguard Bay hotel for dinner. At the end of the evening he took me home, we shook hands and I thought that was that. He came down several times after that and we met up on each occasion.

One day he phoned to ask if I would like to go with him to Spain, as he was going out to buy peppers for Birds Eye. It was in the school holidays so I thought- why not. That was the beginning of a beautiful loving friendship that took us around the world.

Italy was the country Brian loved. He spoke the language like a native. We visited the lakes, Venice, Verona, the Amalfi coast, Rome, Lucca and Pisa, the heel of Italy, Sicily, to name but a few.

We both loved skiing which took us to Spain, Andorra, and of course Cervinia and Courmayeur in Italy, usually for Christmas. We went to Kefalonia to a veteran weightlifting competition, Istanbul to help me get over a cough (which it did), Brussels by Eurostar and Budapest where I met his true friend Gabor who Brian helped with sales in Britain.

I retired a year early because Brian wanted to take me on a long journey to America. We flew to New York, went over to Ellis Island and he found several Hamills who had emigrated to America back in the day. We drove north from New York through Vermont and New Hampshire, Killington and Stowe. We stayed in a place called Grimsby before heading to Niagara Falls. I begged Brian to do a helicopter ride over the falls which he was petrified to do but we did it together of course. From there we flew down to Florida and met up with Dave and Martha (Brian and Dave had worked together in the food business). We continued on up through Savanna, up the Blue Ridge Mountains to Washington and, after a fantastic trip, we flew home.

Our next big adventure was to South Africa. We flew to Cape Town and hired a car to take us around the Garden Route. One of our stays was in a luxury tent complex by a lake. I took a bath with a hippopotamus swimming just by me. Needless to say we met up with some more of Brian’s friends, John Crook and his wife. We went up Table Mountain and crossed to Robin Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years.

Another fab holiday took us to Montreal where Brian’s mother’s family had emigrated. His uncle Vrej and aunt Alice were great people and their children Marise, John Jack and his wife Sossi were a fantastic and loving family. After celebrating the wedding of John Jack and Sossi’s son Kevork, we flew down to Calgary where again we hired a car and went to explore Canada. First stop was Banff then Lake Louise and on to Jasper. We hit snow on the way to Whistler on the Columbia glacier but travelled safely on to Vancouver. A visit to Vancouver Island was essential to have the famous afternoon tea.

The next holiday I will never forget was our trip to New Zealand. I could write a book about it. The highlights were bungee jumping, dancing with the Maori, watching Brian do the haka and sand surfing at the top of North Island.

Our holiday on the west coast of America was also memorable. We drove from Seattle to San Francisco and met a lot of fantastic people on the way. The most memorable part of the trip was that Brian moved us up to first class for our flight home. My birthday present he said. Wow, what an experience!

Our last holiday together was to the heel of Italy He loved it and although his memory was going a bit we both had a fab time.

I have probably gone on for too long and in too much detail but it has helped me come to terms with my great loss. I write this with tears in my eyes as I realise it's over.

I said at the start that he was my teacher as he was so clever and intelligent. I called him the font of all knowledge, not in a sarcastic way but because he had a great knowledge on so many levels.

I loved him so much and will miss him for what’s left of my life.

There was one time when Brian put me and Sandra Smith up for the night before driving us to Belgium and back, to attend a Masters Weightlifting competition. Not many would have done that, but Brian did. Both Brian and myself were committee members of the South East Counties Committee for several years organising competitions which in fairness Brian did most of the work. Brian put in a tremendous amount of work on these committees running and coaching at his club as well as his full time job and having a family. Brian was instrumental in many ideas in weightlifting coaching writing many papers on the subject and was always open to new ideas. His passion was weightlifting and his club concentrating on youth lifting, schools etc. Brian set up the Postal Clean and Jerk Competition and I believe had around 400 entries. This was extremely successful in encouraging participation in the sport. He was also a trustee on the Weight Lifting Foundation that helps clubs and lifters of U 23's . He approached me several years ago to become a trustee and it was a pleasure working with him. The foundation has helped many young lifters and clubs over the years and this is a result of Brian's hard work and dedication. Brian was intelligent, had a great sense of humour, but more than that Brian was my friend and I will truly miss him. My sincere condolences go to his daughter Sara and friend Margaret. Now Brian our journey has ended.

I gained in enthusiasm if not ability and entered 3 competitions, in the last of my competiions (due to an arthiritic Knee) there was a huge guy in attendance, he didnt fail in capturing Brians and myselfs attention, as we walked past him I said “Brian, I’m not fighting him!” When I has the operation on my knee the surgeon said if you go back weightlifting the arthritis will return. I was very sad not just because I couldnt weightlift anymore and I was just starting to get strong , but that I wouldnt be able to attend training which was always hard but enjoyable and cerebal I still squat and think of Brian and duplicate weightlifting movements I have his training programme also,the knee isnt too bad !

It was my pleasure and good fortune to know him,R.

I.

P Brian x

Brian was a great man. A man who dedicated his life to supporting and developing others. A generous man who would put his hand in the fire for his friends. A man with wit and warmth and a sparkle in his eye. Cantankerous at times but always fair and kind.

Some in the WL community didn't give him the respect he deserved but those who were close KNOW. We saw the commitment, the passion and the dedication he gave to everyone who came within his sphere. And it was never just about the sport... he made us better men.

I once knocked on his door unannounced after a fight with a girlfriend and slept in the spare room for 2 days. On many occasions I would randomly drive round and spend an hour reading his journals and shooting the breeze. His door was always open.

RIP Brian. I love you.

Unfortunately because of his ill health he had to give up his involvement with weightlifting but it did not stop his passion for the sport. Brian you have done your work RIP