Memories. Hide and seek. We are very small children hiding; huddled in a cupboard together. Excitedly waiting for sounds of the seeker.

Next, we are gleefully (and then anxiously!) chasing a giant dog round and round Sandy Brow Park.

These are two of the most vivid early memories I have of our friend, Stroph. 

From then it doesn't Seem long until we are bored teenagers in school. Laughing about the mayhem we either had caused, or were about to cause. Stroph wasalways at the centre of these escapades. Always with that huge smile and wicked laugh. I really loved that about him. First in ..... Last out! 

Before long we discover music can be used as an outlet for teen angst. We are in his bedroom. He is teaching me to play the guitar. I am embarrassed. He is patient. Hours were spent learning and writing songs. Stroph loved the guitar from the moment he first picked one up. It always sounded to me like the guitar loved him back too. He was a great guitarist.

Later we became 'Rampant Nasties' .... Bored kids with guitars and drums playing punk and sticking two fingers up at ordinariness, rules and adulthood. 

Fast forward and a 16 year old Stroph is grabbing a guitar at a holiday camp talent night before going on to sing an expletive strewn punk classic in front of a crowd of unsuspecting holidaymakers. Hilarious to his friends .... Not so much for the holiday making families!

College beckons and our band becomes 'Abnormally Square'. Five friends playing gigs in clubs and pubs that we were not actually old enough to go in. There are gigs in tents in fields and trips to the recording studio. Stroph is there, at the heart of all these memories.

The Captain Pugwash experience were formed from the Ashe of Abnormally Square. A comedy musical riot that was undoubtedly 100% Stroph.

Other bands and creative moments followed and, of course,so did the laughs.

It wasn't all plain sailing from then on, but our friend will still always be seen smiling and usually laughing like a naughty boy.

Finally,  there was The Dinz. Forty something punks playing guitars and drums and sticking two fingers up to ordinariness, rules and adulthood. Nothing changes in the bubble of a band.

Our true friend Stroph, has been a gift in our lives. Wickedly funny. Out for fun and up for ..... anything. He was a creative spark. Patient and loyal. Kind and loving. Never hard, always undemanding and easy going. A lifelong friend. One of the lads! We miss him already.

His guitar gently weeps, I'm sure.