A collection of stories and memories, contributed by her family and friends.
She could make you roar with laughter.
She would poke fun at herself, never other people.
She was the person you called when a boy had upset you.
She would swear like a trooper.
She loved a gin and tonic – always slimline.
She wasn’t fussed about chocolate but would kill for cheese!
She always made sure we got home safe.
She secretly wanted to be an archeologist.
She was always first on the dancefloor.
I first met Sally in 2004. Mark and I were living in Spain, and I had arranged for a surprise visit from Peter, who had been Best Man at our wedding. Pete asked if he could bring his new girlfriend – Sally. The visit was meant to a surprise for Mark for his 40th birthday but there turned out to be a bigger surprise in store for Peter and I.
We arranged it all in secret and when they arrived, I went to meet them at their hotel. It was the first time I met her, and we got on like a house on fire from the very start. She was so bright, and bubbly and I felt like I’d known her forever.
We concocted a plan to surprise Mark. I would bring him to the hotel, on the pretext of having some pre-dinner drinks in the bar. Sally would wander over and sit next to us at the bar and try to freak him out by saying something along the lines of ‘are you Mark?’ He wouldn’t know who she was and would be trying to rack his brains, at that point Peter would turn up and surprise him.
We duly turned up at the hotel, sat in the bar and I waited for the fun to begin. Sally walked in, looking stunning I might add (she really knew how to dress up!). She spotted me and came over, as planned. She stood at the bar, next to Mark and suddenly blurted out “Bloody hell it’s you!” She was acting REALLY surprised, and I remember thinking “blimey girl, you should get an Oscar.” Mark turned to her, and this is where it got freaky. Instead of being confused about who this stunning blonde was, he shouted “oh my god, Sally what are you doing here?” They started hugging and greeting each other like old friends. At this point Peter walked in and Mark nearly fell off his stool. He was literally speechless. It turned out that unbeknown to everyone, Mark and Sally really did know each other! They had worked together years before. So not only did he have his best mate turn up, but we also inadvertently reconnected to old colleagues.
The four of us had the best weekend together. Sally and I ended up at 3am, jumping up and down on the massive bed in their hotel room, singing along to Nina Simone “Ain’t Got No – I Got Life”. The next day we had a huge party on the beach and of course Sally made new friends out of all of our friends. Her openness and spontaneity were as infectious as her smile.
By the end of the trip. Sally and I were firm friends. Whenever I visited the UK, I would stop off and stay overnight with her in Manchester. She was always a great hostess and made the best bacon sandwiches in the world.
She LOVED the band Take That and whenever I hear their songs, I think about the time we went to see them in Manchester.
She was having her first round of chemo by then and had decided to shave her hair off, before it fell out. She went to the concert wearing a stunning blond wig, but it was a really hot day. The gig was outside, and we were all getting hotter and hotter as the day went on. All of sudden she just said, “oh my god I can’t bear this anymore, it’s so itchy” and just like that she whipped off the wig! She then proceeded to wave it around, like a flag and then lobbed it at Gary Barlow– we were crying with laughter. She just didn’t care.
Sally had the most beautiful blue eyes, and actually when she went bald her eyes looked even bigger and bluer.
I really miss her Facebook posts. They were legendary. She used to drive into work every day and whenever there was a traffic jam she would post a rant as ‘Sally Traffic’ (who was a wellknown traffic reporter on Radio 2 at the time). Whenever I’m sat in a traffic jam, I think of Sal.
Another post I will never forget is a photo of her dad, hoovering her head! When her hair started growing back, it would be a bit patchy so she would get him to clipper it to a grade 1. The hair was really fine and would stick to everything, so she devised a method where he would have clippers in one hand and the hoover in the other. She had that knack of turning what could be a sad situation, into a comical one.
Our first girls’ holiday was in 1988. We were only 17 but somehow we managed to book ourselves a Club 18-30 to Ibiza. Our parents must have been tearing their hair at the thought of the 4 of us being let loose together. It was a time before mobile phones and WhatsApp so once we went through departures at the airport, we were on our own.
We had a really crummy hotel room, but we didn’t care. It was hot, we could drink and more importantly there were boys there! Every day we were either out on a trip or lazing by the pool. Every night we would hop from bar to bar and club to club. We’d fall in the door as the sun came up, have a quick sleep and head out to the pool or the beach.
She loved that holiday. She would talk to anyone and made friends with everyone. By the end of the first week, we were part of a huge group of boys and girls, mainly all down to Sally. She would be the first one up to do karaoke or line dancing or playing pool games.
One day we went ‘champagne diving.’ We went out on an amazing boat and the reps would throw bottles of fizz over the side, into the clear water. We would have to dive down to retrieve them. Sally stayed on the boat and every time someone swam up with a bottle she’d say ‘let me hold on to that for you. You go get more’. Then she’d hide their bottle in our stash!
We used to slather ourselves in baby oil – no one used factor! She got so burnt. The blisters were huge, but it didn’t stop her. Getting a tan was the main aim.
That was the first of many girls’ holidays together. We might have got older, but we never got wiser, and we never stopped laughing.
Sally was working away in Greece when Lu and Gavin’s wedding came around, but she flew back for the weekend. She had a long journey home. She landed in Amsterdam at midnight, all the shops were shut at the airport, and she had to wait 6 hours all on her own, with her luggage. She was scared of falling asleep in case someone made off with her bags, so she laid on top of her luggage with her arms threaded through the handles. She settled down next to the BA check in desk. She was awoken a few hours later by an armed police officer, nudging her with his boot. She woke to find she was looking straight up at a gun! Her flight was delayed, which meant she got back to Guildford.
d Friends are the Best Feb2002 night away. She loved any excuse to get away with the This photo was from a weekend at a beautiful Spa hotel in Surrey, celebrating her 50th. We drank bubbles, laughed, ate too much, relaxed in the pool, had massages and more bubbles. We didn’t stop talking all weekend long.
She was the organised one – the one who would get a date in the diary and find something fun to do. We had so many great weekends away together, all thanks to her.
The first time I met your mum was at infant school, in the dinner queue. We both hated school dinners, but we loved the puddings. We would devise ways of disposing of the horrible meat and boiled veggies. Sally tried putting it in her pocket once but was caught by the teacher. She was made to sit in the dinner hall until she’d eaten everything. We were in the school choir together and she always said that she only joined to get out of double maths.
She LOVED to dance. I remember one end of year party, there was a dancing competition. We must have been about 10 or 11 years old. We all had to dance in the middle and the teachers came round and tapped people on the shoulder. That meant you were out. I was rubbish and was out pretty quickly. It ended up with Sally and one other girl – a dance off! I remember her dancing her heart out – everyone was amazed at how good she was, but I’d spent hours watching her learn dance routes from Top of the Pops, so I knew she was going to win – and she did. She was SO HAPPY, I can still see her jumping up and down in excitement when she realised she had won.
Dancing was always a big thing for her – as was music. Your grandad loved American soul, Tamla Motown and Bluebeat – there was always music playing in their house. That’s where she got her love of music from. She always had music playing. She would be the first to play a new song and she had an awesome vinyl collection. I’m pretty sure that all of her pocket money went on buying records. She loved all types of music, but if she could dance to it, she loved it.
When we started driving, she had a really beaten up old Fiesta. She bought a portable cassette player – twin deck – so that we could have music in the car. It would roll around in the foot well and was always running out of batteries.
When we started going to clubs you couldn’t get her off the dance floor. We’d be hanging around the edge, trying to talk to boys, but she would be the first one up there and the last one off. I’ll never forget the time she was dancing on a small podium. I called her over and she jumped off, missed her footing and fell face first, in spectacular fashion, on the dancefloor
skirt right over her head. She might have been mortified but she picked herself up, shrugged and carried on. Needless to say, we never went back there.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.
Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem. In porttitor. Donec laoreet nonummy augue.
Suspendisse dui purus, scelerisque at, vulputate vitae, pretium mattis, nunc. Mauris eget neque at sem venenatis eleifend. Ut nonummy. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.
Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem. In porttitor. Donec laoreet nonummy augue. Suspendisse dui purus, scelerisque at, vulputate vitae, pretium mattis, nunc. Mauris eget neque at sem venenatis eleifend. Ut nonummy. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.
Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem. In porttitor. Donec laoreet nonummy augue.
Suspendisse dui purus, scelerisque at, vulputate vitae, pretium mattis, nunc. Mauris eget neque at sem venenatis eleifend. Ut nonummy.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.
Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem. In porttitor. Donec laoreet nonummy augue.
Suspendisse dui purus, scelerisque at, vulputate vitae, pretium mattis, nunc. Mauris eget neque at sem venenatis eleifend. Ut nonummy. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.
Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
A collection of stories and memories, contributed by his family and friends.
I grew up with Thomas on a council estate in Shepherds Bush. We lived three doors apart and we went to the same school, St Peters.
This was us during a school summer holiday.
All the kids on the estate were friends and we would play out together, all day, only coming home when the street lights came on – that was the rule!
We had no mobile phones or tablets. The TV only had three channels and there was no such thing as day-time telly.
Thomas would knock on my door each morning and we would walk to school together. It was only a 10 minute walk, but we could hang it out for at least half an hour. What we talked about during those walks changed over the years, as we got older - football, music and eventually, of course, girls. The walk home usually involved a stop off at the sweet shop or the chip shop (he couldn’t say no to a Saveloy!).
As kids we were football mad. We were lifelong QPR fans. I’ll never forget the ‘75/’76 season where we were top of the Premier League all set to win, when Liverpool beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in the last match of the season and clinched the title by one point. I distinctly remember us sitting indoors, listening to the match on the radio. Thomas was proper gutted, he had a couple of quid on at the bookies and he would’ve had a tidy win. We drowned our sorrows that night over a few pints at our local.
He was a season ticket holder his whole life and Loftus Road was his second home. I don’t think he ever missed a home game.
We shared the same surname and if we were out and about on a Saturday night, he’d often tell girls that we were brothers. He’d be chatting to some girls at a bar, and suddenly I’d see them all turn round and look at me, and then look back at him. He’d be stood there grinning from ear and ear, chucking me a cheeky wink and I’d know what he’d just told them. It was ridiculous cos I’m 6’4” and 16 stone, and Tom was 5’ 7” and was barely 10 stone wringing wet! You’d see the girls looking confused, but he was so charming that he could always get away with it.
Thomas loved his music, and we couldn’t ever go out on a Thursday until Top of the Pops had been on. He spent most of his pocket money buying 7” singles (we couldn’t afford the LPs back in those days).
I remember him getting his first guitar. He saved up for months to buy it. It was from Anderton’s, the music store. It was second-hand and battered but he loved it. He learnt to play on that guitar and a life-long love affair with music was born. He used to learn a new song and he’d make me sit down and listen to it – he had a great singing voice.
He was best man at my wedding. I didn’t find out til after the service that he’d got hold of my wedding shoes. When me and the wife were kneeling down at the altar, everyone could see “H E L P” painted on the soles of my shoes! Git! He was always a joker, but he could take a joke as well as dish one out.
I worked with Tom at the bakers. We delivered bread from the factory in Shepherds Bush to shops all over south London.
He took me under his wing when I started and showed me the ropes. It wasn’t exactly rocket science, but he was a good teacher and he made me feel welcome and part of the team. We became great mates.
I remember clear as day one particular Monday morning. He came into work and his grin was wider than usual. He told me about his ‘blindin’ weekend’ and how he’d met a girl. On the Friday night he’d spotted her at the bar and decided to be brave and go and buy her a drink. They hit it off straight away and agreed to meet for a coffee on the Sunday. Coffee went really well and turned into an all-day walk round the park. He was literally walking on air that Monday morning. He didn’t stop talking about her all day, or the next – he was totally smitten. The girl was Carol, your mum!
A few months passed and one Friday afternoon, while we were out delivering he confided that he was going to propose to Carol. He was so nervous! He was always so confident, but I’d never seen him as jittery as he was that day. He’d bought a ring and was going to propose that night, after dinner in a romantic restaurant.
Being a bit old-fashioned, he’d asked your grandad’s permission beforehand. He told me how he’d stopped by the house on a day he knew Carol would be out. He said he was shaking in his boots when he asked Brian if he could have Carol’s hand in marriage. Apparently Brian made him really squirm, didn’t say a word. He let him sweat for a bit before shaking Tom’s hand and giving him his blessing.
Monday morning rolled round and his grin was even wider than before – Carol had said yes and the rest is history as they say.
The wedding was great fun. Your mum looked beautiful, and your dad was so handsome in his navy blue suit. Carol was really late, and Tom was petrified that she had changed her mind and wasn’t coming. I honestly thought he was going to faint with nerves. We later found out that the wedding car had broken down and your grandad Brian had to hotfoot it home and get his own car. So instead of arriving in a Roller, they turned up in Ford Cortina!
We met at secondary school and hit it off straight away. We were in the same form room and had a few lessons together. He was proper cheeky, and the teachers loved him. He often backchatted them, but he had a way about him that meant he usually got away with it somehow.
He loved football but he was rubbish at sports and was always the last to get picked for a team – he didn’t care though, he’d just laugh.
I remember one day he wasn’t paying attention during a match and the ball caught him right in the face – knocked him clean out. He wasn’t out for long but oh my god the black eyes the next day! Tom being Tom, he turned that to his advantage, and he had the dinner ladies giving him double helpings of crumble and custard.
We lost touch after school because I went and worked abroad. Whenever we bumped into each other though, it was like I hadn’t been away. We’d reminisce about school and where everyone was now. He always seemed to know what everyone was doing, and he had a great memory for the things we’d gotten up to. He used to have me in stitches – he had the best laugh ever, a proper belly laugh.
Something I don’t think many people will ever forget about Tom, was his adoration of Elvis Presley. ‘The King’ wasn’t the coolest singer but Tom loved him. Any excuse to listen to him, sing his songs and even dress up as him. Tom rocked up at many a fancy dress party dressed as Elvis. Not sure how many fancy dress outfits he actually had, but I always thought he must have had a secret wardrobe filled with wigs and outfits. The sight of him at my 30th, in the white fringed jumpsuit, slit to the waist is something I won’t ever forget!
He was always the first one up at a karaoke singing, yep you guessed it, Elvis! To be fair he had a great voice and did a really good impression of Elvis
He loved all the films as well. When we were kids, during school holidays there would be an Elvis film on TV most mornings. You couldn’t ever get him out to play football until the film was over. He always said that Blue Hawaii was his favourite, and he could pretty much quote it word for word.
It was always easy to buy him birthday presents – if it was Elvis related – you knew he’d love it. Whenever Elvis comes on the radio, even now, it makes me think of Tom.
I first met Tom in 1994. My boyfriend at the time was in a band called The Beautiful People and they were touring that summer and Tom was their Roadie. His job was to load their equipment in and out of venues and set it up. He quickly became a friend, and he was a regular visitor at our house in Brixton. We had mad parties and crazy nights out and he was an integral part of our gang.
Tom had the most infectious smile you ever saw. It could draw you in and cheer you up in an instant. He was thoughtful and kind and at the same time raucous and mad as a box of frogs. He was quick to laugh, and he had a sharp sense of humour. He could laugh at himself, and often did.
He was given the nickname “Dr Ominous” cos he could be a total nightmare once he’d had a few. Never mean or nasty – just a right handful! That nickname eventually got shortened to Ommi – and that’s how I still call him and think of him.
He was a great guitar player and after gigs or parties there would often be jam sessions way into the night. I remember that his wake was held in a music venue and there was the session of all sessions that night. His guitar was front and centre. He would have loved that – music was a real passion of his.
He always noticed what shoes the girls were wearing and would go out of his way to compliment you if you had a particularly fine pair on. At his funeral, all the girls (without any planning) turned up wearing beautiful and outrageous heels. At any other funeral, our footwear would have been wholly unsuitable – but for our Dr Om, it was totally appropriate. We sat there in the pews, each giving the other a sisterly wink, pointing out their heels and giving a thumbs up. He would have loved that.
Ommi and I shared a passion for Paul Weller, the man, the dress sense, and his music. I remember we went to see Weller at the Royal Albert Hall. We had seats in the choir, which means we were slightly behind the man himself, but looking out into the main part of the Hall. It was an acoustic set, and it was MAGICAL. Tom often worked evenings, in music venues
around London, in one capacity or another. Shortly before the RAH gig, Weller had played at Fairfield Halls in Croydon. One of the guitar tecs had left something behind (I can’t recall what it was now), and Ommi had got in touch with him and said he would bring it with him to the RAH gig. An hour or so before the gig started, he disappeared backstage.
He came back GLOWING, having met the man himself and shared a beer with him. I was always too shy to meet Weller, but I got to bask in the reflected glow. I remember Ommi taking my hand and saying “you’re touching the hand, that touched Paul Wellers hand”.
At his funeral, we played “You Do Something to Me” when his coffin was bought it. It was one of our favourite Weller songs and to this day it reminds me of Tom.
I asked him to play at my wedding reception and we agreed he would sing “Wild Wood” by Weller. Problem was he was very drunk! He had to be held up by a friend, Joanna, whilst he played, and she had to hold up lyrics cos he was too plastered to remember them. He pulled it out the bag – drunk or not he was an excellent musician.
Later that night, he thought it would be funny to pull my skirt up over my head on the dancefloor – exposing my bottom to my new mother-in-law! He was mortified later, but we all knew it was just Tom being Dr. Om.
Ommi was a joy to be around. When I think about him a smile appears on my face, just as it is doing right now as I write this.
He satnext to my 92old great auntie Joyce during the reception, and he charmed her – she was a little in love with him by the end of the night.
I love this photo of the two of them together, smiling and enjoying the day. I’m so glad he was part of that day.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem. In porttitor. Donec laoreet nonummy augue.
Suspendisse dui purus, scelerisque at, vulputate vitae, pretium mattis, nunc. Mauris eget neque at sem venenatis eleifend. Ut nonummy. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.
Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem. In porttitor. Donec laoreet nonummy augue.
Suspendisse dui purus, scelerisque at, vulputate vitae, pretium mattis, nunc. Mauris eget neque at sem venenatis eleifend. Ut nonummy. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem. In porttitor. Donec laoreet nonummy augue.
Suspendisse dui purus, scelerisque at, vulputate vitae, pretium mattis, nunc. Mauris eget neque at sem venenatis eleifend. Ut nonummy. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem. In porttitor. Donec laoreet nonummy augue.
Suspendisse dui purus, scelerisque at, vulputate vitae, pretium mattis, nunc. Mauris eget neque at sem venenatis eleifend. Ut nonummy. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.
Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna. Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.
Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Proin pharetra nonummy pede. Mauris et orci. Aenean nec lorem. In porttitor. Donec laoreet nonummy augue.
