A message from SLOWHAND

[clickerati]

This letter was passed on to me so that I could share it with all of you. It has brought me both joy and tears, but more than anything, it's confirmed once again how precious life, family, friends and loved ones truly are.

Thank you for your beautifully kind words, David. You and your family are always in our thoughts.

Dearest Leigh and all of the other wonderful members of this forum. Words fail me, I am absolutely overwhelmed by the kindness, support and generosity of you all.

Matthew was a great kid, tall, handsome, bright, but more than this he was kind hearted, generous, funny, loving and willing to help anyone in any way he could. He was happy go lucky and had a joy for life that only someone 18-years-old can have. It was rare to see him without a smile on his face, and as some of you will know, after spending a few minutes with him you usually had a smile on your face too. He hadn’t got the time for things like keeping his room tidy, doing the dishes etc. but all of this was unimportant after he gave you big hug and an even bigger smile. Some of my happiest memories are of us doing weekend tournaments together, we would drive down the evening before with Matthew navigating (we were frequently Late), shooting, camping, talking to the many friends we made and (don’t tell his mum) sharing a can of lager in the evening. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me saying this, but Matthew wasn’t a naturally gifted archer but he went on to become junior county champion and broke many junior county records all because he worked hard and had a love and enthusiasm for this great sport of ours.

Matthew put more love, joy and happiness into this world than most of us can manage in a lifetime. One of our friends said to me ‘a page is turned every day of our lives, some of us have many pages others fewer, it’s not how many pages we have that matters but what is written on each page and all of Matthews pages were full.’

We thank God for having Matthew with us for 18 years.

Leigh, thank you so much for your words of support and for the floral tribute, this was placed on his coffin for the last night he was with us.

John, thank you for the poem, it gave us great comfort and was read out at Matthews funeral by one of his old school friends.

To all of the other dear friends on this forum, some of whom I know and some I don’t, thank you from the bottom of my heart.

David, Chris, Tom, Nic and Joseph.

(SLOWHAND)

[Kae]

I spent a while trying to think what to write, but all I can say is that you're all in my thoughts and thank you for the letter.

Kae.

[John (OSF)]

I'm humbled by your thanks, and pleased that the poem was of some comfort to you and yours

John

[Thunk]

Words always seem so inadequate in circumstances like this; I wish my expression of condolence could have been as eloquent as your letter of thanks.
We haven't met but I do know what you are going through; I hope we can meet on the shooting line some day. Meanwhile, love and strength to you and yours.