My first encounter with John, shortly after our arrival in Kenya in 1971, took place on the 17th green at Muthaiga Golf Club, Nairobi. John, in the following group, chided us for not playing fast enough - and then introduced himself. There followed another 6 years of close and supportive collaboration as colleagues in the large Brooke Bond company, together with a total of 51 years of rewarding and memorable friendship, including both Patricia and myself, liberally punctuated until recent years by highly competitive, if not actually adversarial, rounds on various golf courses. John would come and stay with us frequently, and Patricia would greet us as we staggered through the door after a round, clutching the batteries of our trolleys as if our lives depended on them, 'like two astronauts returning to Cape Canaveral'. I want to emphasise the impact that John made on the Kenyan golfing scene. For many years he was Chairman of the Muthaiga Golf Club. This was the leading club in the country, many of whose members were prominent in local and national political and business situations. As such a certain amount of potential exposure went with the role, but John's calm authority and judgement stood him in good stead at all times. For the expatriate golfers returning to this country, John's position as secretary of the Kenya Golfing Society, and frequent competition organiser, made him an absolute figurehead and contact point for many people over many years despite the inevitable decline in activity and numbers as age took its toll on all concerned. We shall remember him with great affection and a true sense of loss.

I came to know John 7 or 8 years ago. John was the best mate of my cousin, Peter Taylor. John lived not far from Peter, in Hove, and they regularly met for a drink in The Cliftonville Inn, a Wetherspoons pub on nearby George Street. They would also often head off on cruises together and I have many photos of the two men, suntanned and handsome in a smart ensemble of short and knee-length shorts. Pete often mentioned John when i rang, or we met on my occasional visits to Brighton. I only met John, however, when Peter died, as John was the executor of Pete's will. In fact I first met John before Peter died. John had the foresight to see Pete was not coming out of hospital, sensibly thought we should get acquainted before that sad event. Knowing I was a vegetarian John suggested we meet for lunch in the sophisticated 'Terre a Terre' veggie restaurant in Brighton - and paid, when i would have been happy to go Dutch in a veggie-friendly pub. As you will all know, John was a man of great gallantry. I paid a couple of visits to Brighton to help John in sorting out Pete's affairs, including arranging the funeral. Then there was the day John drove us to a Woodland Trust site in Sussex to scatter Pete's ashes, which event was followed by a pub lunch.  After that we stayed in touch by (occasional)e-mail and (mainly) by 'phone, my calls to John tending to fit around his holidays which were taken alone, in Pete's absence. I was invited to John's 80th birthday party, which was well-attended despite the horizontal rain blowing in so fiercely off the sea that day.  We also met for lunch a few times, usually in London when John had another errand for coming to town. Covid prevented us meeting for some 18 months, but last summer we had lunch in Hove, at John's favourite Italian restaurant, Otello. I really did try to pay for us (my turn!) but then as ever my effort to tap the plastic was doomed to fail. I do remember that day John telling me over lunch that he had been retired for many years longer than he had been in work, which really amused me. Despite being a Conservative (albeit no fan of the current incumbent of #10), and a supporter of the establishment, this was definitely John 'sticking it to the man'! I doubt I knew John as well as many of you, and certainly for far fewer years, but it was a treasured friendship nevertheless. And i will miss his ebullient greeting ' Hello Linda' whenever he picked up the 'phone!

Dear John, A wonderful friend and colleague