I'm Robert's younger brother, Gavin

During the last weeks I've found myself thinking, when do we appreciate the impact that others are having on us? Perhaps not at the time and I certainly didn't appreciate the impact that Robert was having on me as a child.

Growing up Robert was my playmate and friend, my buddy and guide, my sparring partner; we were inseparable … on many occasions.

On one occasion I recollect that Robert and I were having a friendly tussle in the back garden. When our elder brother, Jimmy, noticed us he started knocking on the upstairs windows. We heard him but carried on regardless. So he started knocking louder, to no avail. Until he ended up breaking the window, at which point we stopped and started rolling around the ground laughing.

Robert was always full of interesting ideas, from making rafts, go-carts and tree-houses, to games and activities; we put so many nails in the trees that the foresters complained about us. Robert was a driving force in my younger life, I recollect that he would challenge you and would also watch out for. From the testimonials I see that he continued to develop these skills.

It not unusual for children to take after their elder siblings and so it is not surprise that Robert pursued Football and Fishing after Jimmy, however he also developed other interests which I followed Robert into including: badminton, orienteering, "knock-door-run", …. and skiing.

So how did I get into skiing?

Well Robert had expressed an interest in skiing so my parents planned a holiday to Aviemore.

• Robert was going to go skiing
• Jimmy was going to fish
• And myself, being the adventurous type, I was going to go sight-seeing with my parents.

Being in primary school at the time we all went to the rental store to see Robert get kitted out.

After acquiring the full gear, salopettes, jacket, gloves, hat, goggles, … he looked so cool!!

So Jimmy decided he wanted to go to, and he got kitted out;

• Salopettes, jacket, gloves, goggles, hat … Everton beanie was it?

So my mum decided that she wanted to go to, and got kitted out;

• Salopettes, jacket, gloves, goggles, hat … Paddington Bear scarf?

In the end I decided that I would also like to go skiing. We never looked back, Robert and I had the opportunity to ski most years during our childhood, making some great friends, including Robert's best man, and we continued to ski in later life when we could.

Looking back I am starting to appreciate the significant impact that Robert has had on my life and given the testimonials it is clear that Robert has also made a positive contribution to many others' lives.

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These are just a few fond memories of

ROBERT BRUCE HENDERSON

A Brother, A Father,

A Husband, A Son;

He was Beloved Family,

and Dearest Friend;

To Robert.

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Note: the above is a close representation of my "Memories of Robert" given during the Thanksgiving Service at Emmanuel Church. If you recollect slight differences this is because it wasn't fully scripted beforehand and there was some adaptation on the day.