Celebrating Gary Wood Ever the modest man Big, beautiful heart Im completely floored by this exceptionally sad news. Gary was a great man both on and off the pitch. Back in the day he certainly set me up for many goals to tap in, and even more importantly covered me arse when I missed tackles. Of course its a sign of the man and his family that his organs are up for transplant. It does give me some comfort that soon there may be some jammy bastard out there in proud possession of Garys big beautiful heart. Paul Bowes Calm down love Gary was always goodhumoured at Monday night football. I remember once when an on-field argument broke out Gary smiled and told the perpetrators to calm down love. Not knowing how to react to being called love they just walked away looking bemused. Ingenious! Rick Brierton Great person, great player All of us from Cambridge Ambassadors vets team have been and are thinking about Gary and his family and send our sincere condolences. Great person and a player and will be sorely missed by all of us. Przem Szlachta A fine man Yes he was a fine man wasnt he? Quite passionate beliefs and principles, but still very unquestioning about how we should be living our lives. I never heard him telling anyone else what to think. He was loved and will be missed. Dave (Ole) Carter Friend, neighbour and long suffering teammate I have many humorous memories of Gary and in particular one night after a few drinks we left the pub to find Garys bike had been stolen. This is an occupational hazard living in Cambridge and despite many offers of backies the ever-youthful Gary decided he would jog home. This was after several pints of beer and although Gary was obviously feeling the burn (tongue out panting) he was too stubborn to stop or accept the generous offers of assistance. I sat through 3-4 weeks worth of gloating on how Gary was so fit he breezed the jog!!! Ever the modest man :-) Thats not to mention: Press-ups whilst in goal and letting in a shot while face down. His frustration at inaccurate dating profile pictures His general flakey approach to meeting in the pub (i.e. a few weeks of me trying to get Gary to commit to watch a game in The Portland with little success only to receive a text at half-time to see when Im going to be in the pub). Fred Langford He touched our hearts Rather sadly we had only known Gary for a couple of years through a shared love of football. We enjoyed playing with Gary and got to know him on the football pitch as a caring, supportive and generous man. From speaking to those who had known Gary for longer it is clear that our impressions of him captured the essence of a man who many held close to their heart. Our lasting memories of Gary will include a special equaliser from fully 25 yards in the last minute of our final game together. That, and him never accepting a lift home as he always wanted to run the short distance back from the five-a-side pitch. Gethin was only 14 when he started playing football with Gary and warmed to him quickly; he was great with his words of encouragement at a time when Gethin was falling out of love with football. We will both miss Gary he touched our hearts and will be fondly remembered. Nick and Gethin Watkins How was he allowed to choose the sides? Gary really loved his football, a real competitor on the pitch and difficult to dispossess a guy you know would give everything to his team. He was maybe a bit selfish on occasion, particularly if the keeper was off his line! Off the field he was always friendly, warm and interested in what you were doing and revelled in banter and taking the piss. He enjoyed a beer or two and was often responsible for organising social events usually involving curry and beer! It is a travesty that this apparently fit, friendly, sociable man was taken so early. How was Gary always allowed to choose the sides on Wednesday nights, invariably ending up on the winning team? David Steele Top-spin lob drove us to distraction Most of our memories of Gary are from of playing tennis both with and against him at Brentwood Tennis Club in Sheffield. (Oh, that top-spin lob that used to drive us to distraction!) On the few occasions we did see him when he was back visiting, it was lovely to catch up with his news (and latest romances!). Another memory we do have of him though is when he damaged his knee quite badly playing football at college and was stuck in the house. A few times after tennis on Saturday afternoon we would call round to see how he was, keep him company and fill him in with the latest club gossip! On one occasion, we took round a jar of brandied apricots I had made which seemed to go down rather well! Thank you so much Gary for your friendship. Anne Bonell and Bob Berry 24 Celebrating_Gary Wood.indd 24 01/04/2019 15:54