Really sad news...

Craig Bainbridge passed away on Friday the 8th of April after a massive battle with cancer.
His spirit was strong, but his body was not.

The following is a message from his mum, Heather:

As promised here is a summary of Tuesday, the service to Celebrate the Life of Craig.


I believe Craig would have loved everything that took place on Tuesday, it was very appropriate for the person he was. In front of the church there were six vases of loose bright yellow sunflowers with yellow ribbons. I must admit they were not standing tall, looking up, but rather looked a little downcast and perhaps respectful of the occasion, but they were beautiful. In amongst the flowers we had Craig's Liverpool shirt hanging. It was specially made for him and on the back are the words Legend, which is what Craig was.

The service was conducted by Steve Pohlmann, Craig's friend and the pastor who married Craig and Kate. The church was almost full, I estimate in excess of 300 people, and at least half of them were dressed in Believe t/shirts, including Kate, the family and the pastor.
My sister and her husband created the most beautiful pamphlet for the service with a wedding photo of Craig on the front, and the scripture "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." Very pertinent for Craig.

The service started with Amazing Grace and Steve gave a short but very appropriate message on "where God was" when Craig was sick and dying, and he explained so clearly that God was there, present and that Jesus wept. It was beautiful and very understandable. He also spoke beautifully about Craig and where he is now, healed and complete.

There was then a time of tributes and as Steve said we could have stayed there for days. Craig's impact on people, friends, family and strangers reached far and wide and we've had dozen's of messages from people Craig didn't even know but who were inspired by his facebook messages. His brother Les then played a piece on his guitar that he had composed especially for Craig and during that time there was silent reflection on all that had been said about Craig.

Listening to his friends and family talk about him made us all very proud.

We then sang the very moving and emotional Liverpool song, "you'll never walk alone." There were many comments about Craig having a laugh at all his non-Liverpool friends singing His team's song.

After a brief tea at the church we went to the Sportsclub where Craig spent a large part of his life. Everyone was given a piece of paper to write a message on and these were attached to balloons.

We all went onto the middle of the soccer field and 120 red and white balloons were realsed together. Seeing them soar up to the heavens with messages of love for Craig attached was extremely moving.
Charlie had ordered a beautiful cake with the Liverpool emblem on and once again non supporters got to eat a cake they normally wouldn't have touched, and I'm sure Craig would have been delighted.

During the remainder of the day, the Parletones CD was played over and over again. The two main band members who had played at Craig and Kate's wedding had tried to get flights out of Germany to be there but were unable to. I'm glad they couldn't make it, that would have been far too emotional for everyone especially Kate, but what a tribute to Craig!
"You'll never walk alone" was also played over and over again, and you can only imagine the emotion it provoked in everyone, especially after a series of shooters!

Craig will be creamated and very fittingly Kate chose for him to be dressed in a favourite pair of shorts with his Superman T/Shirt, underneath a BelieveT/shirt. He really was a superman in the way he fought this fight. Marc and his friend Chris had written a beautiful message on a Liverpool shirt, which also went with Craig.
I got a very moving letter from Craig's oncologist today. He told me that the fact that Craig had lived these past 18 months, and that he'd been able to get married, cycle races and so on was in no way due to the doctor or to chemotherapy, but rather due to some higher power, as Craig had been incredibly diseased and sick from day one 18 months ago when he was given 6 months to live.

We know without a doubt that God graciously gave Craig more time to live and inspire others, and he was given to us for a little longer than we should have had him, and for that we are truly grateful.

He will be missed more than words can say, but we will continue to honour him and his desire to serve others and 'give back' by continuing with the Believe Project and supporting CHOC.

I find it quite significant that as Craig lay in ICU in his last half hour, a little girl with cancer, pushing her chemo drip, skipped along in the garden behind the window where Craig lay. I do believe because of Craig we can all make a difference in the lives of little ones with cancer.

Thank you again for your prayers, love and support over the past months.

Love Heather

Message from the stars...

Greetings fellow bloggers.


It has been a difficult week or so. As I wrote before, my great granddad passed away on Saturday the 21st of November, two days before my birthday (Mon 23rd) . The stubborn old fart wrote in his will that there was to be no service, no memorial, no funeral. This really bothered be because I really wanted to just say goodbye and have some form of closure.

People say that seeing the coffin at a funeral is probably one of the hardest things to do. Many have been reduced to puddles of tears at the sight of the casket of a loved one, but I really feel that that is what is necessary. You, as a person, need to break down and have a really good cry in order to have that finality of a real farewell. With his will in place, that seemed bound not to happen.

We gathered at the Botanical Gardens in Durban, a place where Pops and so many people had spent hours mooching around, searching for that giant snap-dragon flower that would respond to a careful squeeze by opening its ‘mouth’. We had tea and a snack and then left…


I battled with that, big time.


That evening as the GoodWife and I were doing the last bits of packing in prep to move house on Sunday I cam across some items in my bedside drawer.

Nana had given Pops a watch for their 25th wedding anniversary, which he had in turn given to me on my 21st birthday. It is a Seiko Automatic, one of those watches that has a pendulum thingy that winds the spring as you move. Obviously, if you don’t wear it, the spring will eventually unwind and the watch will stop. On the silver dial of the watch are two little windows, one that displays the day of the week and the other the date. I hadn’t worn the watch since our wedding day, over a year ago. When I picked up the watch and looked at it, I fell apart, sobbing. It was exactly what I needed, that last and final goodbye, now knowing that Pops is in the good hands of our Lord.

The watch had stopped, and the day and date on it stood: MON 23.



Pops had wished me a happy birthday for the last time.

The final tribute...

Greetings to all my avid followers, and again I must apologise for not giving you your regular dose of my blended brain. It has been a rather hectic week.


I was lying in bed with the GoodWife yesterday morning, just enjoying the snug-as-a-bug-in-a-rug feeling you sometimes get when its cold outside and o so comfortable in bed, when I got a call from my step father. It was bad news. My great granddad had taken a turn for the worse. He had been in hospital for the last two weeks for big old swollen legs that were giving him some real discomfort and things had just gone south in the last two days. We screamed the hundred miles down to the hospital. Nothing could have prepared me for the sight I would be greeted with. I don’t think anyone should have to see a loved one in such a state of disrepair. He was sleeping with his eyes open, oxygen pipes in his nose and really battling to breathe. He held on for another eight hours. Just long enough for my mum to drive the 350 miles to say goodbye…and then he was gone.

He was a father, grandfather, great grandfather, husband, friend and the greatest storyteller in the world. Everyone who met him will sorely miss him and his tall tales. It’s maybe time to take my own advice and mourn, but then to celebrate his life and this I shall do. I swam a one-kilometre open water race today, and yes, the water was cold but he wouldn’t have minded. You are an amazing man Pops, and you don’t have to stress you any more. We will make sure Nana is good and cared for. Just rest, you deserve it.



Robert Adam Law – 23 March 1916 to 21 November 2009.


Man of Moral…quacht tre moralacht.