My memories of a great uncle, a good mate and a superb boss ... Calling me "buddy boy". I can hear him now "Hi ya buddy boy"! Being proud of my "rich" uncle. Al and June always had the biggest house, nicest cars, and Dunc & Ellie always had the most presents!!! Al was the heart of our family. We owe him so much for having such great family memories. Giving me a job at Regus as a Trainee Analyst/Programmer when I had absolutely no IT experience. That decision has changed my life. I will never, ever forget what he did for me. Spending the next 7 years working with Al, June and Pete was by far the happiest time of my working life. One of the most generous people I knew - just after taking delivery, he lent me his brand new Merc. That was a huge thrill for a bloke in his early 20's! Whilst at Regus Al paid Gary and I a fortune to be "on call" to a customer in Asia / Pacific over the millennium - God knows what we would have done if the pager went off!!! Being a Gooner. His love of cricket and trying to teach me the names of the field positions - they never did sink in! Introducing me to country and folk music. Al bought me my first ever Nanci Griffith CD. Al's love of brass band, country and folk music and him telling me about the huge number of songs on his ipod. Blowing the bugle (The Last Post I think) late at night across the valley on my stag weekend in Wales. The following day some of the locals were asking if we'd heard a strange trumpet noise. Of course we denied it!! Swapping songs we liked over e-mail. Al always already had the songs I sent him! Al's love of gadgets. I was always trying to keep up with him! He always had the latest bit of kit but was never materialistic. Al's brilliant Christmas calypso at Mill House - waiting anxiously to hear what he was going to say about you when your chorus came round. Orchestrating our carol singing at The Lifeboat on Christmas Eve. His quick temper! On one holiday in Rhodes we arrived at our hotel and but they had no record of us. As my dad tried to negotiate, we heard a commotion and turned around to see what it was. Al had the hotel manager by the scruff of the neck and was pulling him across the desk. Needless to say we got our rooms. Classic! Being so patriotic and having a big St Georges cross in his garden at Clavering. Only a short time ago I explained to Al that we had these small insects appear by the cat food in our kitchen. I was having trouble describing them and could only say they were like small silver fish. Al handed me a book called 'British Insects'. I opened it and the first page I turned to was headed "Silver Fish". How we laughed! Sitting in Al and June's conservatory with Jack and Libby watching the deer and seeing my first woodpecker eat worms off the grass. Until that moment I only thought they pecked at trees! Sharing a few last special moments with him in hospital. Boney, Al, buddy boy ... it was a privilege to know you mate. From Greg Andrews