My first memories of Stewart take me to a very specific time and place:
the last week in September 1970 in Owen's Park hall of residence Manchester.


It was my first time living away from home, in a large city where I knew nobody.
Stewart, metaphorically, put his arm around me and ensured that I had someone welcoming to talk to. We soon found that we had much in common: sport, music and a love of walking in the surrounding hills (often in horrendous weather).


We played in the same hall of residence football team and a little later, when I was running a departmental rugby team, he would add his bulk (a little less in those days) to the second row, even though he had no direct connection with the Chemistry  Department but just for the enjoyment of the game and to help out if he could.


We also played tennis and squash together and I have particularly fond memories of one balmy summer's evening when, after a few sets of tennis, we retired to a the nearby, aptly named, Friendship Inn for a couple of pints of Hyde's Anvil Ales. The beer tasted particularly fine that night but, after 2 drinks we had exhausted our available cash. Stewart, not wishing the evening to end at that stage had the bright idea of contacting Louise, who lived with her Dad nearby. In a few minutes more funds arrived and the three of us were able to enjoy a perfect evening chatting and supping for another hour or two.


When, in my second year, I moved into the room directly across the corridor from Stewart my studies were frequently 'enhanced' by Stewart's choice of music. He did like to extract maximum sound levels from his HiFi system and I became very familiar with the works of Emerson Lake and Palmer! 


I also recall that, of the three times in my life I have been to A&E, Stewart was my makeshift ambulance driver on two of those occasions. The first was when I got knocked out whilst playing in the Owen's Park Football Cup Final. I recovered quickly on the field but, by the end of the game one eye was completely closed. I thought I would be fine but Stewart insisted on taking me to hospital to be checked out. So, still wearing football kit we rolled up at A&E and, after a couple of hours (waiting times were considerably shorter in those days) I was checked over and discharged. We were then free to head back to the Hall of Residence bar where we celebrated an eventful day and a victory that had narrowly eluded us.


So, there we have a vignette of Stewart:
friendly, caring, music loving, sporty, sporting, sociable and a reliable friend in an emergency.


I shall greatly miss him.





Martin Jones