Slate Grey Skies

On a quiet road just up from the local pub in Stoke Gifford lies a playing field, in front of it there is a car park, a children’s play area, a trust hall, a single basketball hoop and some tennis courts. Just beyond the tennis courts stands a large white building, a clubhouse used by players from the local football and cricket teams. Today there is something else. A large and growing floral tribute to a much loved friend who is no longer with us.

Under slate grey skies and an occasional drizzle, a steady stream of people come to lay flowers, to embrace whoever else happens to be there and to spend some time in reflection. There is one common thread that joins everyone in thought: the sheer unfairness of it all. Why him? He was one of the good guys, the really good guys. Yes, he was a rascal – “a loveable rogue” someone called him the other night, in the nicest possible way – but that was what made him the man he was.

Above the beautiful flowers, photos of Ben Hiscox have been pinned to the building and there are messages, heartbreaking messages, so achingly sad that you can almost feel the writers’ pain as you read them. I looked around the field and almost half expected Ben, wearing some ghastly cut off jeans and a very loud shirt, to stroll out of the gloom and ask what on earth this was all about. I wonder if anyone else felt that too? Because this was where he was at home, playing for the team he loved with the mates he had come back to after a successful spell at Bristol Manor Farm. I knew how much he loved his time at Bristol Manor Farm – he told me often enough! – but Stoke Gifford was truly his manor.

I cannot begin to tell you in mere words about the effect Ben’s passing has had on the village. The emotion is still red raw and shows no sign of abating. But I know others are sharing the pain. Bristol Manor Farm, showing enormous class, paid Ben a minute’s tribute last night when their reserves played, there is a message from Little Stoke Football Club, our local rivals, in the tribute and I am delighted that Bristol Rovers Football Club will be holding a minute’s applause for Ben tomorrow, the club that meant so much to Ben and means so much to his family. And make no mistake, this is a rarity at the Rovers because normally a tribute will be for an ex player or official. The club has recognised that there is an exception to every rule and I know that a packed Memorial Stadium will give Ben and his family the tribute they so richly deserve. Well done the Gas.

I left the field this afternoon, my legs and heart feeling heavy, my spirits low. I sat in my car, windscreen wipers swishing the drizzle away, gazing into the middle distance, and there was one of Ben’s many friends carefully placing his flowers in the floral tribute. I know him as a fine local footballer, hard as nails on the pitch, but today he was silent in remembrance. I left him in his thoughts.

As I drove away, I knew that things would never be the same again. Soon, after the grieving process is over, we must move on and perhaps then we can remember Ben with a smile. But until then, we stand together to support each other, especially the family, during the worst time of their lives.