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After a long period of ill-health Jeff passed away on 27th July 2022. I was asked by Steve Bellis to write some words for the Club programme. This I did and the issue for the Colchester United game (13th August 2022) contained my thoughts. These are reproduced below.

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After a long fight against the ravages of Parkinson’s Disease Jeff finally lost his battle on 27th July. A lifelong County fan, through good and bad times over 70 years, he will be missed by all his friends at Edgeley Park and particularly those in Block E of the Main Stand where he enjoyed the banter as well as the action on the field!

Jeff first went to EP in 1951, taken by his father, and in later years he was to introduce his own son, Tony, to the roller coaster experience that following County always is. Close friend, Martin Frost, was his travelling companion over the last 30 years, and they certainly experienced the highs and lows. Martin reflects back on those times:

“I was introduced to Jeff by another long-standing County fan, Arthur Brotherton, and our first away trip was to Huddersfield in October 1991. On a gloomy, misty evening County came out on top courtesy of a Jim Gannon winner. That trip to Leeds Road was the first of over 600 away games that we went to over the next three decades in which we visited over 120 grounds. We experienced trips from Gateshead in the northeast to Plymouth in the southwest, and from Brighton to Carlisle on the opposite diagonal. Those trips encompassed the highest of the highs – promotion at Wembley; FA Cup heroics at Goodison; League Cup ecstasy at The Dell; the victories over City – but also the lowest of the lows – the gloom of dropping out of the League; the fiasco that was Kidderminster; defeat at Vauxhall Motors and many more besides.

At the onset of every trip Jeff would say, “Do we travel in hope or expectation?” During our travels in the 90’s there was much expectation as we saw County rise to the second tier, but for much of the new millennium it was more a case of hope, and that against the odds. For the first six seasons in non-league, we never missed an away game. It was hard graft, but as Jeff’s health increasingly failed he very much enjoyed seeing the renaissance from 2016 onwards, and was thrilled at the promotion in 2019, and the return to the League just a couple of months before his passing.

Whilst our friendship was based in County it extended beyond that and I valued his ability to act as a sounding board for me in the early 2000’s when I was in the process of helping to create a large-scale business from scratch. His own experience in business was invaluable. He was a loyal friend, and I will miss him hugely.”

Jeff leaves his wife of 56 years, Diane, and his daughter, Suzanne, and son, Tony, and their spouses, together with his four beloved grandchildren. The funeral will be held at the Rowan Chapel, Stockport Crematorium at 10.45 on Tuesday 23rd August. In keeping with his lifelong support of the Hatters his life will be celebrated by the wearing of County scarves … “The Scarf My Father Wore.”

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September 2022