I knew Ben at uni and ever since
I met Ben at uni and we instantly hit it off and had many fine adventures in Manchester. Ben had such a boundless enthusiasm for life and spoke with such honesty and openness that would occasionally leave you exasperated, but more often than not he would leave you with a poignant memory as he touched on an emotional or intellectual nerve you didn’t realise you had.
I’ll never forget how he opened up on his departure from Alstom one lazy summers day in a Manchester beer garden in front of a group of mates. No bravado and no shying away from how it had made him feel. There wasn’t a single person round the table who wasn’t moved by Ben’s honest assessment of what had happened. He wasn’t down for long of course and he soon resolved to turn a negative into a positive by using the redundancy money to travel the world. I was gutted to see him leave these shores but delighted when he told me he had found a job and a lovely new girlfriend in Australia. Despite my frequent attempts to persuade him to move back I knew there was no chance.
Some of my fondest memories were spent in Australia with Ben trying to teach me how to surf. Unfortunately I lacked Ben’s trademark persistence and resilience and was pretty rubbish at it. My heart goes out to Carolyn and Isobel at this time. If I only knew what went in them I would raise a glass of chapels to you big fella. RIP Ben. You will be missed.
Charles.. this says it all “honesty and openness that would occasionally leave you exasperated” Ben would often have a way of making things make sense although you didn’t want them too. He was the king of being able to throw the elephant in the room out the smallest window. On a side note in the 1990s when I reconnected with Ben after many years he would often talk about you and the adventures you got up to at uni.