I was taken aback by the notice in the Times and it brought back memories of times together at Thornbury Grammar School and out of school.  I have a memory of his first day at the school in the same class as me (he was about 14 I recall) and English was not his first language, but he came near top of the class by the end of the school year. By 6th form years there were more memories out of school, particularly a group of us used to meet up in the Red Lion in Thornbury to play dominoes and cards with the locals. I once gave him one of my pipes to pay off a lost card game bet as I hadn't got enough change left on me at the time.  Another memory was being out with him in the old Austin 7 he had bought when it spluttered to a halt on the way to Clifton in Bristol (another favourite pub by the Clifton Suspension Bridge!) and having to just clean the carburettor to restart the engine.  When out taking his driving test in the same car the passenger seat came off its fixing when the Test Inspector ordered the emergency stop and ended up on the floor, bringing the Test to an abrupt end. His next car was the envy of many.  It was a 1940's 4 wheel Morgan and we had quite a few events out in that, often with 4 of us in the car.  It was unfortunate when he took it to university and one dark rainy night it hit another car in avoiding an oncoming vehicle on a bend and the chassis disintegrated.  That was his story anyway.  As with many, we did not keep in touch during our working careers, but on moving to the Portsmouth area for work in the 70's I did later pick up on his role as an MP for the Lib Dems on the IOW. 

With those memories, my heart felt condolences to all Peters family.

Peter Harding (known to all at the time above as PBH)

Hayling Island