For a long time, whilst I was at Bristol, Rhod and I kind of had a wknd time share on my childhood room at Green Ave. Him and Jack were playing long, long days at RPGC and only coming back to the White House for some nourishment and then heading back to the tee. Looking back, how they ever fitted in School, Uni, Jobs and CIMA, I’ll never know. Of course, my parents thrived on it! Walking the course with them whenever they could, following their matches with sheer delight; they loved nothing more than being the gallery to our two sporting hero’s.
The great thing about being a junior at RPGC (I’m 42 … still a junior) is that we are all interchangeable ... it’s never really mattered which one of us was around, which set of parents were around, we’d pile out on the course ‘en masse’ and then have a super time on the lime and sodas in the lounge later. The bond we all share is far reaching and as Maf said in his unbelievably amazing tribute to Rhod, we have all taken this bond for granted. I genuinely believed in my heart, that one day, when we all eventually come back ‘from doing our thing’ that we would all grow old together, that our children would have the same opportunities to bond at RPGC as we have had, that as parents we would travel the circuit with our own sporting hero’s and become our own gallery. The truth is this ideal is now shattered forever, because the biggest cheerleader of them all will now be missing.
Like so many, the memories I have of Rhod are endless, so many of them include Jack, the de Lloyds boys and the Naysmiths of course, but I am lucky to have had so much time on my own with him. Talking about everything and nothing. He never stopped being a big brother to me, regularly challenging me, guiding me, offering words of encouragement when needed... even shaking his head at me in despair! When Trev came along, Rhod welcomed him with open arms ... he and Jack must have spent painful times searching for wayward balls all over RPGC (places their dream shots had certainly never landed!) but neither of them ever gave up on him, that’s testament to the team that they were.
When it happened that we were both working in London, we got to see each weekly, for Salsa. Which I have to say, I am rubbish at, but ever the gentleman, Rhod never told me that I was the worst in the room and always encouraged me to continue! So many of my memories include us dancing – at my wedding to Tom Jones, at Alix’s (when I was nearly 9mths pregnant) to the Tumpa, in Streets on Matt Sant’s 21st, in Cardiff on so many occasions … both of us stone cold sober but having a ball! These memories combined fill my heart with love, they remind me of some of the best times, with the best people.
I believed Rhodri was unstoppable; his love of life; his love for his wife and daughters; his love for his parents and brothers … the passion was breathtaking. This World has lost one of its greatest assets.
Rest in peace my beloved other brother, thank you for the memories.
xXx
