Mervyn was my God Father and rarely forgot to send birthday cards to me and indeed my two daughters. I remember on one occasion we visited him in Islip and he was treated to a violin recital from my daughters who were quite young at the time. He was delighted that we all shared an interest in music. One aspect of Mervyn for me was that he was a great letter writer. I always took pleasure in receiving correspondence from him in his flamboyant but characterful handwriting. They always conveyed a sense of emotion and enthusiasm. It is clear he lived his life to the full.

latterly we shared a common interest in family history research and he provided me with the copious information on the research he had carried out - particularly on our Devon-based 'Voyzey' ancestors who typically started out as copper miners but, probably out of economic necessity, emigrated to far flung places of the world. As mentioned to Ben I had recently re-read some of Mevyn's notes since we are planning a trip to that part of Devon later this week and intend to visit some of the ancestral haunts. It would be a delight to share any new information with Mervyn - sadly not to be.