Colin was a valued friend and neighbour to all who lived in Damocles Court. His generosity and kindness will be remembered with enormous gratitude by Brenda, Jean, Jenny, and Pat. We also greatly appreciated Colin's dry humour - which appears from other thoughts from friends and family to legendary. We miss Colin greatly.

I first met Colin "Boat" in 1978 when i joined Norwich Union. Most of my shift years we were on different shifts but i did have the pleasure of working with Boat when he was Shift Leader and i was his assistant. I will always remember him as an intelligent and articulate man with a wickedly dry sense of humour. I remember when i was his assistant that he was very relaxed and he spent many a happy hour on shift reading the Independent newspaper and doing the crossword. He would often ask me if i knew the answer to a particular clue knowing for well that i would not have a clue. I learnt so much about running a shift in those 18 months or so because of his relaxed attitude and incredible knowledge. My one regret will be that i missed the last Friday Beers session at the Kings Arms a few weeks ago where Boat and the lads enjoyed good company and great beer. Boat will be missed by all the people whose lives he touched over the years. Mark (Jermy)

I was pretty green when I started shifts at Norwich Union , in what today would be classed as a harsh environment. I will always be grateful to Boat for the support ,advice and protection he gave me in those early years. Now when I look back I had some memorial times both at work and sociably, and Boat featured prominently in most of them. After my escape from the union , it was always great to catch up with Boat as he added another dimension to the evening's discussions. I particularly enjoyed our conversations on British history and tapping into his knowledge on what ever subject I was skim researching. Recently with the euro referendum approaching , Boat said vote to leave and stand back and enjoy the ride .. How right he was !! Though retirement is a few years away , I had envisaged having more catch up time and longer insightful conversations with Boat, very sadly I will now have to rethink those plans. Andrew Hustler