I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for you Nigel, as when I was thirteen you saved my life by coming home instead of going to the pub!
Not only this but you taught me so many life lessons that you just don't learn without a father figure, and although you were not my birth father; you were damn sure my Dad!
You were not material man but Mum found the two cards which you had held onto all this time, the first Fathers Day card that I ever
got you, and the card Mum gave to you, to be opened on the morning of your wedding day.
A wedding that took eleven years after you met again, thirty-six years since you first met her!
You were a loving Husband to Karen and when you started bringing her home flowers after you were married, it scared us both as we only ever associated it with when you did something wrong.
You were so well known for being in the bars and playing pool, and somehow coming home with a new trophy almost every other weekend! But that was part of your competitive spirit and desire to 'Crack On' and achieve more greatness, and you did just that at County and International Levels.
Even at home, your competitive nature made things more fun, our week long chess matches, you taking on Kiera in Charades or even going head to head with Mum in the annual guess the song competition.
Even Wii bowling with Mick, where you managed to break the TV and have to take Mum out the next day to get a new one! (Much to Mick's amusement)
You certainly were a handyman who could fix almost anything! Unless it was that Garden wall that only took you fifteen years to fix those three bricks!

There are so many things i wish you'd still be here for, for my wedding, to take your grandkids down the pub and show them off like i know you would.
I promise we'll always come and visit you even now.

I'll always cherish our memories and everything you did for me.
Love you always Dad x