Huw Thatcher: a shining light forever. Memories of Huw Thatcher: the boy with the beautiful smile, by Nick Thatcher

Nick has written a book of memories and colour photos about Huw – it is now available to buy with any surplus from sales going to the Huw Thatcher Trust.

The cost is £8 but Nick wrote it to share lovely memories about Huw not really to raise funds – sorry about the price but they were quite a lot to get printed due to the relatively small numbers.

If anyone would like a copy please let Nick know either from Contact Us on this website or any other way.  It can be posted if you want too.

Thank you for the lovely memories Huw – and everyone else who share them ♥♥♥

The Contents and Preface are shown below.

Contents

1. Spring 2011 – I know you’re somewhere out there, somewhere far away
2. The teenager and 2008 to 2011 – I am utterly thankful for the memories
3. 25^th November 1995 and Huw’s early years – I will think of that sunny carefree day for all time
4. The young schoolboy 2001 to 2007 – that cheeky grin; was I really wrapped around his little finger?
5. The sportsman – a reliable, gifted, hard-working, determined and committed team player
6. Huw and Hepworth United – I will never leave Hepworth United
7. The Cardiff City thing – whoever said ‘football is just a game?’
8. What Huw’s friends and family say – I feel honoured to have been just a small part of your happy life
9. The Huw Thatcher Trust – I know you’re looking down on us, doing all these amazing things for you

Preface

I have written this book to capture forever those lovely and amusing things about Huw that I want to share with others – and those that other people have kindly told me about.  Writing it has been helpful for me, and hopefully reading it will be positive for other people.  I don’t want it to be an imposition on anyone but figure that (like Huw’s web site) people can make the choice themselves whether to read it.  I have included things that I have chosen to share but excluded private things that will remain that way forever.  Many of the stories and much of the content is already known by various people – in some cases by quite a few.  But there are more beautiful and personal memories that I have not repeated, than those I have mentioned in the book; these will stay just with me, Carys and Jenny.

I have anonymised some of the content that refers to other people – and checked the specific references to named people with the individuals concerned.  I have also checked the whole book with family members.  I hope references to incidents and other people are felt by those involved, to be appropriate.  Many of them are in the public domain already in that they have been said in public at fund raising events, put on Facebook by various people, or put on Huw’s web site.

By coincidence I started the book on Good Friday 2011, and over the following year noted my own (and others’) memories, feelings and anecdotes about Huw.  Easter 2011 was unseasonably bright and sunny, and was an appropriate time to have started this book for many reasons, including the fact that the Huw Thatcher Trust had just started.  Whether we are spiritual or religious or not, we can all recognise both tough times and hope in our lives – which is what Easter is about.  The tough times may either be life changing times, or the ups and downs of every-day life.  These times are at the core of our lives.  Experiencing the knocks and rising from them; maybe recovering differently, but recovering nevertheless.

Three of the chapters have a sporting theme; the Hepworth United and Cardiff City chapters are based around football but that’s just how it all came out on paper.  Part of the reason for that is because football is one of the things Huw loved and because it’s something we did together.  But on reflection part of the reason must also be down to the fact that Huw was playing football at that moment on 13^th March.  I do hope it’s clear however, that sport was just a part of Huw’s life, and is just a window through which I can see Huw.  The sporting stories say much about Huw and that’s the important thing.  Most of them are more about Huw as a person than sport itself – his caring side as well as his humour, energy, ability, sense of fun and relationships with others.

The chapters are not in chronological order but in an order that seems good to me.  The book includes a few brief moments of introspection, which would have been difficult to avoid but it is not about me or anyone else – it’s about Huw.  Many parents like to tell stories and anecdotes about their sons and daughters and I love hearing them; and like most parents I like to tell stories about my children.  The purpose of the book is to share memories about Huw and to record some of the things about Huw and his life.

The book contains some of my experiences with Huw and my interpretation of things that he and others told me.  It is much about what he means to me, but is not intended to portray how others may or should, remember him.  Others will have their own memories, but they might also be able to relate to what I have said.

The book is written totally in my words, without professional help.  So I apologise for any grammatical errors, clumsy attempts at putting things across, or unconventional style.  I am happy for there to be such imperfections because it is what the book says about Huw that matters more than anything else.

Some of what I have written is evocative and emotional.  If parts of this book cause emotional responses for people, I hope it is taken in the way it was written.  I have not deliberately sought to make it emotional, but the truth is that things are emotional, and some of that comes out in the book.  In fact things always will be emotional, but I figure that the experience of feeling emotions is a natural response, and in my experience it allows some release and relief.  For me, emotion and the expression of it can sometimes be uncomfortable, but it helps to make the future something that can be faced and something that will have many moments and periods of brightness and happiness.

That said, this book is not about closure; there will never be closure.  Huw is far too important for that.  Huw will continue to be ‘that star up in the sky…..that mountain peak up high’……………..

I am a mountain
I am a tall tree
Oh, I am a swift wind
Sweepin’ the country
I am a river
Down in the valley
Oh, I am a vision
And I can see clearly
If anybody asks u who I am
Just stand up tall look ’em in the Face and say

I’m that star up in the sky
I’m that mountain peak up high
Hey, I made it
I’m the worlds greatest
And I’m that little bit of hope
When my backs against the ropes
I can feel it mmm
I’m the worlds greatest

I am a giant
I am an eagle
I am a lion
Down in the jungle
I am a marchin’ band
I am the people
I am a helpin’ hand
And I am a hero
If anybody asks u who I am
Just stand up tall look ’em in the Face and say

I’m that star up in the sky
I’m that mountain peak up high
I made it
I’m the worlds greatest
And I’m that little bit of hope
When my backs against the ropes
I can feel it
I’m the worlds greatest

In the ring of life I’ll reign love
(I will reign)
And the world will notice a king
(Oh Yeah)
When all is darkest, I’ll shine a light
(Shine a light)
And use a success you’ll find in me
(Me)

I’m that star up in the sky
I’m that mountain peak up high
Hey, I made it
I’m the world’s greatest
And I’m that little bit of hope
When my back’s against the ropes
I can feel it
I’m the world’s greatest

Taken from the lyrics of ‘World’s Greatest’ by R Kelly