John Spinks 1956-2002

Chop
Sara (Heading) Bettsworth

To John, I was known as Peg (Pastey Essex Girl). His nickname was Chop (as in when he eventually had his 80s hair style which was very similar to Doyle from the Professionals chopped off).

I've tried to follow your lead in clips of stories...

The Aston Martin Days

I decided to step out of the world of Human Resources for 3 months and work for John. What a disaster this was, neither of us liked the day to day drag of Parts Sales & Marketing, so we had many visits to suppliers, including ficticious ones. A lot of this time involved drinking, so cannot recall actually tell you what we did in that time, but we had a lot of fun. Including visiting Little Chefs all over the country and asking if they would provide a cheese only omlette instead of the one stated on the menu that had cheese and mushrooms. We never found one Little Chef who was prepared to deviate from the menu and be customer focused. Their reason being that the omlettes were brought in already made up/frozen and the Chefs in the establishment didn't know how to make an omlette from scratch!!!

Chipped Tooth

At one of John's local pubs one summer evening I managed to knock his Guiness glass which he was drinking out of and he chipped his tooth or so he claimed. He did try to show me but I never saw anything. So for a while he was called Chip instead of Chop!

My 30th Birthday

Chop came along to this do at the New World Hotel in Brentwood in Essex, it is where we discovered Black Russians was the most fabulous drink. Once the party was over, we opened the many bottles of champagne I'd been given as gifts. In the morning, not one bottle was left and everyone came to around mid afternoon.

Cafe Sol - Leamington

Chop and I decided to catch up at a Mexican restuarant. Can't remember what we had to eat, however, we attempted to drink the cocktail list. I think we did quite well and reached 'S'. The down side was it took us a long time to walk back to my flat and I managed to push John in one of Leamington's pride & joy flower beds.

An Honest Cheat

Another night on Black Russians which ended in us playing strip poker. Unfortunately, John ended up starkers and part of the deal was he had to run up and down the communial stairway which he duly did. I hadn't the heart to tell him I'd cheated and he hadn't noticed because he was pissed. So, I sent him a postcard letting him know later on which he never quite forgave me for but I found funny.

The Hen Night

Sometime in June 2001 I had my hen night. At that time John was living downstairs from me in the ground floor flat at Leamington. He and 15 of my best girlfriends went out for a night on the tiles. I'm sure this made his weekend, all those women!! What I'm most grateful for is the loan of his flat and bed during the afternoon to sleep off my first round of heavy drinking. I don't think he every found the sick pile.

Post Marriage

Mine of course, not John's! We only lived 15 miles away from each other and met up many times in the Red Lion, Adderbury, my local. No funny tales to tell here, just two friends catching up, laughing, enjoying each others company and being glad that we'd made the effort to continue our friendship.

I miss you very much Chop. Love Peg (Sara Bettsworth, formerly Heading)