Stephen Robert Tovey (25 Jan 1953 - 18 Dec 2017)

Derek and I are so sorry that Steve has passed away. Our thoughts are with Linda, Jennifer and William.

Very sad to hear the tragic news. Steve was such a kind, gentle and well-respected colleague. May he rest in peace.

Dear Linda,

Please accept our heartfelt sympathies on the loss of Stephen.

Stephen was a long serving and loyal employee at Bravura who was known to many and will be sadly missed.

Our thoughts are with you and the family at this time.

Everyone at Bravura

Happy Memories will stay forever xxx

From Keith & family

A sad loss of a respected nephew.

I first knew Stephen from the time his mother, my bigger sister Bet, brought him home from the maternity hospital. His mum and dad, my mum and dad and my younger sister Gwyn, all lived together in a council house in Kingswood. Yes, we were over-crowded but this helped his mum and dad up the council house waiting list. One of the things I remember is his mum holding his washable nappies up to an electric fire, and then to check that they were 100% dry she held them to a cold mirror to check for condensation.

When Stephen was about 18 months old they moved into their own council house, in Hanham. I did not see that much of Stephen after that. Later there was some council house swapping in the family. The swapping ended with Bet and Ken and Stephen living next to my other big sister, Doreen and Ray and family; two sisters housed next to each other. It was here that Stephen’s brother, Jeff, and later his sister, Lindsay arrived. When Stephen was about 7 years old I joined the Royal Air Force and again, we did not meet that much.

When I left the RAF in September 1971 I met Stephen that following Christmas. I asked him what he was reading at Swansea University and he told me he was reading inorganic chemistry. Now, apart from finding the half-life of some unknown atomic isotope, I asked him why he would want to read that, as very few jobs called for a degree in that subject. And in any case, it would be no help in the beer or winemaking that I was trying to brew at the time.

I have not seen much of Stephen over the years. We went to Stephen and Linda’s wedding with the rest of the family from Bristol. He came to the funeral of our daughter Maria, after her accident in 1985, and also to my mother’s funeral later in the same year.

I do remember one memorable BBQ at our new house in Warmley in 1987 when Stephen & Linda came with their children. A voice from the heavens suddenly proclaimed that the food smelt very good and looking up we could see a hot air balloon that had just come over our house and was very low, just above our rooftop, heading for some waste ground to land.

Stephen had some jokes with the chap in the balloon as it slowly drifted over our garden about a cunning way of gate-crashing our party, all to the great amusement to all present and the delight of the children, who thought it was magical.

Since then, it would appear, we have only met at weddings and funerals. Sadly, no change there.

Uncle Frank

Remembering my dear friend with the happiest of memories.