By Garry Marchant Thank you all for coming today it is great to see so many people who mattered to dad gathered here. Dad was born and raised in London in 1927. He was one of seven, 3 sisters, 3 brothers. You might be surprised to know that he was a mischievous boy who often led his sisters and brothers astray. He would often tear his trousers fooling around outside and on one occasion my grandmother was exasperated with him because they could not afford another pair of trousers. My grandfather had to take a pair of his trousers and cut them down for dad to wear. Obviously living through the depression dads early life was not easy, and he always talked later in life about how this made him determined to provide a better life for his children. His teen years were marked by the Second World War and the blitz in London. He spent some time in his early teens billeted outside of London. He had the luck to be billeted in a manor house with a wealthy family. He would often tell stories of this time which was so different to his life in London Dad volunteered for service in the Royal Navy in 1944. He was called into service in May 1945 and joined the Pacific Fleet. It was during this time that he first visited Sydney and fell in love with Australia. He was demobbed in March 1948. He found it difficult to find work and was initially only able to find work in a wallpaper factory. The hand of fate was at work here as it was at this wallpaper factory that he met my mother. In August 1948 he saw an ad for ex Royal Navy personnel to join the RAN. He applied and two weeks later he was sailing to Australia. He was at sea for much of the next two years on the HMAS Barcoo and the HMAS Culgoa. He was missing my mother and trying to organise for her to join him in Australia but being at sea most of the time his efforts were frustrated. In early 1951 he was posted to HMAS Harman in Canberra and was finally able to arrange for mum to emigrate and join him. Later that year he was posted to the HMAS Sydney and sent to Korea. Luckily he returned to Sydney just a couple of weeks before mum arrived and he was able to be there to met her when she arrived. In July 1953 they were married and had a brief honeymoon in Coolangatta. Twelve months later dad left the Navy. Dad then went to work with Abbott Labs, where he eventually would manage the IT area. He spent the rest of his working life there firstly at Camperdown and then at Kurnell. He retired as the Group Production Planning Manager for Australasia. In the early years after retirement they were able to travel extensively and returned to the UK for the first time. He and mom moved to 44 Ronald Ave, Ryde in 1956 and lived there raising their family. They sold that house in 2009 and downsized moving to an apartment in Wentworth Point. Dad met his new best friend Ray, volunteered at the library and played bochi in the piazza. The late fifties was a busy time as the family grew with five sons born between 1955 and 1961. Dad was very focussed on his growing family. Dad was a very passionate soccer fan and lifelong Arsenal fan. He was please to see this was taken up by the entire family with even great grand children becoming part of the Arsenal fan base. As we were growing up dad played soccer well into his 40's and coached teams that we were in. We all have fond childhood memories of going to see Pele play soccer in Sydney and of watching late night/early morning games on tv. And in recent years mum was very grateful for advancing technology that allowed dad to record games overnight and watch later in the day. Dad was a strong believer in education as a way of providing opportunity but also because he and mum had been denied their chance because of the war like many others. He was supportive of me going to University and supported me when I wanted to go to the US for further study even though it meant I would be away for me years. I valued his support and it helped get through those years far from home. Dad was also passionate about dancing and much of mom and dads social life was around going to local clubs and dancing on the weekends. They developed great friendships doing this and were always on the dance floor when ever they could. Dad loved to dance and they were very good and the envy of many of those watching them. The doctor told dad to keep dancing as it would improve his health and extend his life. In recent years dad was very focussed on his grandchildren and more recently great grandchildren. They brought him great joy and he was very happy to have seen most of his grandchildren happily married and starting their own families. It brought great joy in his last few months to see the birth of his latest great grand daughter Luciella. In July 2013 he and mom celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary and the entire extended family came together to celebrate with them. Dad was so looking forward to this event and he and mom enjoyed seeing all the family come together to celebrate with them. While his last few months were difficult, he was heartened by the visits from his entire family with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren all came to see him from every corner of Australia. I vividly remember my last time with him a few weeks ago, he was sitting in a chair chatting away with us, mom and Paul were there with myself and Maria. We were teasing Paul about his tenpin bowling scores and dad said I would have to now take over for him now in teasing Paul. As we all leave here today, I hope we all realize the worth of the man we have come here for today, as I am sure that Ken Marchant has brought each one of us here many memorable moments to make our lives richer for having known him. He will be missed, but he will be remembered.