Christopher Malcolm Cooke (2 Mar 1949 - 12 Nov 2024)

In loving memory of Christopher Malcolm Cooke who sadly passed away on 12th November 2024

Dad was definitely ‘being Dad’ when he had the accident that led to his passing.

He was outside, surrounded by nature and he was fixing a problem that needed sorting out.
Unfortunately but not surprisingly he was also up a ladder in a tree.

When Dad fell the first thing he tried to do was get up, if you know Dad this won’t shock you at all.
This was a man who once dropped part of a railway line on his foot, then drove all the way home and swapped the cars around on the drive way, before casually suggesting to Mum that he might need to go to the hospital.

Several metal pins and plates, and numerous other accidents later, Dad never really learned his lesson.

The next thing he did, after falling, was phone Mum and tell her he loved her and he might be home a bit late.

Dad was someone who always worked hard. He worked long hours and sometimes we all missed him.

When he did get home at night, it was often bed time for my brother Robert and myself.

So I would shout downstairs that I was ready for bed, and despite probably having worked a 12 hour day and only just getting to sit down, Dad would come up and as I fell asleep the last things I would feel and hear would be his whiskery beard brushing my cheek in a kiss and telling me he loved me.

Mum hated that beard but I loved it.

When I was little, if I had a splinter, I would go to Dad because he would try to take it out gently.

When we were on summer beach holidays at Burnham Overy Staithe, if I needed a poop, I would tell Dad and he would take a spade and dig me a hole in the sand dunes.

Probably much to the horror of anyone here who ever heard Dad’s singing voice, when I was small he would sing to me,

He sang: “you are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey”

Sometimes Dad would take Robert or I to work with him, when he was a lorry driver. I loved those times with Dad and they are the reason I chose the last song you will hear today.

Then when I was older it was Dad who held me hand as we walked the dog, in the rain, after a break up. Not talking, just being there and in his quiet, letting me know how much he cared.

The one who took me to the vets when my cat needed putting to sleep and the one who buried it at the bottom of the garden.

He answered my questions about the world. Like why do deers antlers fall off each year and why do people drop bombs on each other.

He knew so many things about nature and about life.

My Dad was my safe place, I knew he would always love me.

My Mum and Dad’s relationship has been an inspiration to me. Sometimes things were hard and money was tight but I never doubted how they felt about one another.

Always holding hands, Dad pinching Mum’s bum in the frozen aisle of the supermarket and the way he would stay calm when Mum was fuming, give her time to cool off, then just hug her.

I knew that if I was lucky then one day I would find a love like theirs.

Accidents happen and you never know when you might lose someone.

So please remember to hug the ones you love, I will miss my Dad’s hugs the most of everything.