I'm afraid I have some very sad news to relay to you all.

Many of you will have met Godfrey (boxer) at meets and events over the years, his daughter has sent me a message this evening to let me know he has passed away today.

I don't have any more details at this point, but as the family supply them I will pass them on.

Godfrey was certainly one of the most unique and interesting people I have had the pleasure of knowing. And although I didn't spend as much time with him as I would have liked to I always enjoyed our conversations and his amusing tales.

I know the Empeg crowd was really important to Godfrey, it seems fitting to arrange some kind of tribute to him. I am willing to facilitate this, and would welcome fitting suggestions. If anyone would like to pass on any thing personal please PM me and I'll supply the details.

Cris.

So sorry to hear that. I look forward to hearing how we can help. My condolences to his family.

Shocked to hear this news! I've had the pleasure of meeting him twice at an Amersfoort Empeg meet. He was a very nice guy, as you say, full of interesting tales. My condolences to his loved ones.

Jen and I are both sorry to here that. Our condolences to his family and friends. He was always a welcome sight at empeg events, and he and his stories will be missed.

Such sad news, I'll miss hearing Godfrey's tales of life in London in the sixties. My thoughts are with his family.

:-( Definitely sad to hear the news. Glad I was able to meet him personally years ago at the 2004 empeg meet.

I'll miss you, my friend.

For some reason every photo I have of Godfrey involves a plastic mac...

All our pictures seem to be about the empeg boat trips...



Edit - I should point out this is Nicola's favourite picture of Godfrey, and she has asked me to post it up. I think this was following a trip through the willow tree

The first meeting, it went something like this... "Did I ever tell you I met Rod Stewart....."

So, so, sorry to hear that.

Ditto



He was an amazing bloke, never short of a story.

Hopefully he's up there, fiddling with God's train set and telling him (or her) about the time he met Rod Stewart.

Thanks for sharing. That's really, really sad news. At times like this I recall the "Are you my friend?" thread about this community. Even though I haven't met many here in person, I feel that you are my friends and I will miss boxer quite a lot.

Oh dear.

I'm very sorry indeed to hear that. He will be missed. Good bloke, generous, and a lot of fun.

pca

tanstaafl.

Looks like he was with us right up to the end too. Last On: 06/18/11 02:19 AM

Yes, Sad Sad News.

I am feeling really fortunate that I met Godfrey.

Seemed like a really decent fellow. Would have liked to have gotten to know him better. RIP boxer.

never met him in person, only interacted here. sorry to hear it tho, seemed a nice chap!

I have some more information from Natalie his daughter. I think it's best if I just post what she has written...

I know that he really enjoyed spending time with you and the other Empeg guys. Thanks so much for the link, as the pictures show, he was so happy at the meets and I know he had a great time. He always came back and chatted about it. It's great to see so many pics of him, especially in the plastic macs! It made us smile. Also the lovely comments that people have left, we laughed that most people have commented about his 'my mate Rod stories'!

As you are probably aware, David, Ruari and I were due to leave for Oz soon, Sunday in fact. We had been all over the place visiting people before we go and yesterday we went down to Pool in Dorset to visit David's uncle. Dad had a mate - 'my mate Dave' (of the Rod Stewart gang) - that lived in Southampton and he asked if he could hitch a lift with us down there to visit him for the night. I spoke to him this morning to arrange to pick him up from the train station on our way back and he sounded absolutely fine.
When I rang him nearer the time to find out where to pick him up from, a woman answered the phone, she turned out to be the sister of a&e and told me that he had collapsed and was very unwell and the doctors were working with him.
We were only about 10 minutes away from Southampton Hospital so we made our way there. Unfortunately there was just nothing that they could do, they had worked on him for 40 minutes but they think that it was instant death by a heart attack. He had collapsed in a train station and the doctor said that he was probably dead before he even hit the floor.
We are taking solace from the fact that he wouldn't have even known it was coming and that he didn't suffer. Also that he had spent Father's Day in the back of our car with his grandson grinning at him, Ruari gave him so much joy. He spent his last evening with an old friend from the 60's who he used to hang around with and play music, so he would have had a great time.

There was no history or indications of heart problems, it was very sudden and completely unexpected. They are due to do a post mortem tomorrow or wednesday as it was a sudden death.

So it sounds like he didn't suffer and it was very quick. I think it's only this morning that I have realised how upset I am about this news

Cris.

Claire and I both thought he was a lovely, fun gent, with some excellent stories - both on- and off-line.

We are very sorry to hear the news, he will be sorely missed.

R.I.P. Boxer, and condolences to his family.

Although I never met him, I will miss his posts, it really is like a big family here.

So sorry to hear!



I think there is a lesson there for all of us - about enjoying life to the full while we can!

Julf

Such sad news. Boxer (Godfrey) was always a lively character and friend to all of us.

Over the years, I've accumulated a number of photos of him, from 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2008. Here are some of the better ones (plus more in the next post).



Amersfoort 2003 (above and below).

And two more, from Cambridge in 2006 and again in 2008:

This is such sad news. I always enjoyed his posts and hoped one day to meet him.
Condolences to his family.
Bless you all for being such good friends.

That is very sad news. I'd never met Boxer in real life but I've always been interested to hear his stories and other posts on here.

Condolences to his family.

Never met Boxer in person. Shame I won't have the opportunity. R.I.P.

I don't know what to say. How could this happen?

Ditto. My most sincere condolences.

Sorry to hear this... I remember him having the best stories at all the meets, the sort of guy that's great to sit next to in the pub for the entertainment

Condolences to his family; his friends both here and irl will miss him.

I'm pretty upset to hear this. While I don't post here that often, I do read the posts here on an almost daily basis. I'm going to very much miss his contributions here.

This is terribly sad. Godfrey was a great character of the empeg community and will be missed very much.

Rob

Sad news. He will be missed

We will be celebrating Godfrey at the empeg party in a special way, Saturday 9th July.

I'm so sorry to hear this. I've met him several times at Empeg meets since 2003. My thoughts are with his family.

Peter

It will be Godfrey's funeral this coming Thursday, I'm going to attend and represent the empeg crowd. I think AndyM will also be coming.

I'm planning to make a gesture to the family on behalf of myself and the empeg community. I'm not sure if his family want flowers or a charity donation yet. If you would like to contribute to that then you can paypal me at(@) crismatthews.com

If anyone would like to send a more personal message, or in fact would like to attend then please PM me and I'll supply the details.

Edit - Just family flowers, all donations will go to The British Heart Foundation. If you would like to make a donation please PayPal me, I'll collect together and make sure Gift Aid is applied to maximise even international donations.

Edit 2 - To clarify, I will be making a donation from my own funds to the value of the amount collected (which is coming along thanks to those who have already sent) plus my own donation to meet the rules of gift aid, this makes a big difference to the charities.

Cheers

Cris

I'm another who only knew Boxer through the his posts here. They were always a treat to read, and I'll miss them. My condolences to the family.

Last chance to make a contribution if you'd like to. I'll be putting them all together this time tomorrow.

Big thanks to those who have already.

Cheers

Cris

Well Godfrey had a fantastic send off in his local Church. Standing room only !!!

Really nice to see so many people, and a great set of pictures on the wall back at the pub.

In total we made a donation of £187.50 to the British Heart Foundation in Godfreys name, so a massive thanks to all that contributed. I know his family will be touched by the gesture.

Cheers

Cris