Stuart Griffin - Cheltenhamlion

[dave shelley]

Sorry to hear about your Mom, Lee.

Please accept my condolences too, sad times for you all.

[Louzie0]

My condolences to you and your family, Lee, what a sad time for you all.

[Jane]

Whenever a sentence begins "Jane & I" you know what's coming next.

Never like to disappoint, Dave! Also want to echo what everyone has said, the service was lovely and Dave, you did a cracking job - as Frank said, you don't often get a round of applause for a eulogy.

Despite the circumstances, it was lovely that our H&V family came together as one, and was nice to catch up with people from near and far.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I wished I could have stayed longer at the wake it was gearing up to be a good one.  It was brilliant that some of our overseas Villains came over to be present. That was a great gesture by you lads and sorry Mark, I’ve met you once before but didn’t twig it was you. Please don’t feel I was ignoring you, my memory isn’t what it once was or you’ve got younger. 

I've got younger, Bren. I did see you, first in the chapel when I took you as one of the undertakers - you do scrub up well, then later thinking the undertaker looks like a tall, younger Tony Morley. Only later did I find out it was you. Next time, fella, it's a promise.

It was a wonderful day with tears and laughter for a very special person. Anybody who can have '(I'm a) Rock 'n' Roll Star' blaring out as we all entered the chapel without it being questioned most certainly is and what a brilliant, intelligent, amusing and crazy artist Stuart was. He was also a loving husband and father to two great young lads. On that I'm lost for words..

RIP Stuart.

[wince]

Reminder we are all brothers and sisters on here. I love all of you, including Rory “2am”, especially Axl, Brazilian Villain and fellow maiden fan CT Villain and Legion who have helped me personally. Saw fb post and shocked at his age. UTV and what divides any of us is not the same as what unites us on here. Love to you all

[dave.woodhall]

I've spoken to Vicky today and she said how much she appreciated the support they received at the funeral. She also said it was okay to reproduce the eulogy. A lot of it has been said on here already but this is roughly how it was spoken.

"First of all, if there are any Albion supporters here, they might be as well to skip this bit.

I can’t remember when I first met Stu. I don’t think many of us can – he just arrived in the Barton’s and from then on he was a part of our lives. A lot of the things that happened in there on matchdays were probably best glossed over but there were one or two that bear repeating. When we heard the awful news a lot of people chipped in with memories and their thoughts about Stu, so if I can just recall a few here.

“Had many an argument with him in the Bartons.”

“One of my outstanding memories of him is us nearly getting thrown out of The Barton’s for singing fu…. actually I’d better not say the rest, after beating them in that  quarter final, and then when they told us they would throw us out if we didn’t shut up, Stu singing ‘We’re not singing anymore!’

“A genuinely likeable man. We always chatted in the Bartons after a game. He often told me proudly of his son’s progress playing the game, he too played at a very decent level, he really knew his stuff.”

“Being such a sociable person, he had a very good relationship with my family and Villa-supporting friends, but I had no idea how many people he connected with. It is a great tribute to Stu, who many of you felt you knew without ever having met him.”

There was a time when the Swiss Cottage near Wembley became the Barton’s South and Stu was in his element there, possibly because he didn’t have to go home that night. Again, a few recollections…

“The semi-final against Liverpool where we nicked some bloke’s Liverpool flag who dared to venture into the Swiss Cottage after the match and walked into a wall of Villa fans. Stu loved the fact we had a pet Liverpool fan to play with.”

“And let’s not forget the burning of the half and half scarf after the final. Got very lord of the flies, that. Blurry memories of some mildly concerned Arsenal fans. Then it got even more blurry.”

“The Swiss Cottage the night before the FA Cup semi. He decided it would be hilarious to sing that godawful “Aston Villa that’s who” nonsense as a chant right in front of a load of Liverpool fans. The scruffy, scrawny so and so. Then at the Man City final he seemed to be wearing a weird three piece suit get up for some reason.”

“I first met him before the Derby playoff final. He didn't remember me, but there's no way I could have forgotten him!”

But it wasn’t always around pubs that Stu enjoyed himself.

“Him requesting The Liquidator as the final song at my wedding just so he could sing Fu… again, I’d better not say the rest, at my 17 year old Albion-supporting step son! To which a heavily pregnant Vicky said “I wouldn’t mind but he’ll be asleep and snoring before we get off the car park.” And he was.”

And his writing, which I had to edit. He loved doing something called 'I’ll tell you what else I don’t like’, to which the short answer seemed to be just about everything.  When it came to writing long and glorious rants, Stu had few equals. Or as someone else said, “He was funny, intelligent, opinionated and a bit mad on paper, and that's just what he was like when you met him.”

It was Stu who revealed that Frank Pattison’s membership of about fifty overseas Villa supporters clubs and his extensive foreign travel was in reality a cover for an international crime network involving seemingly-innocent members of his family. He also had an uncanny knack of knowing what was happening at the Villa although he never did reveal his source.

But there was also a serious side to Stu. People who knew him through work said how good he was at his job, how he would always help his colleagues, particularly new arrivals and as was also said, “How he made life in an insurance office sound like working for MI5”.

The great side of Stu came to the fore during lockdown, when he made it his job to keep in touch with everyone he knew, to make sure we were coping and to help anyone who need helping. Afterwards he carried on ringing us all regularly and while it was always great to hear from him, those of us who had early starts would sometimes wish he perhaps hadn’t rung quite so late. 

But that was Stu. Funny, friendly, a downright decent person and totally off the wall. I can’t not relay the best Stuart Griffin story of them all, and of course it’s after a match in the Barton’s. Stu was off on holiday with the family and was asking everyone he knew for loose change for the amusements. Nigel Kennedy was at the bar and Stu decided that he was going to ask Nigel as well. Now, picture the scene. Stu often wasn’t the most sartorially elegant of men and this was one of those occasions. Nigel’s taken one look at this scruffy sod and bearing in mind this is in Newtown, and he’s being asked for loose change, you can imagine what he’s thinking. Now, Nigel’s musical genius is only rivalled by his generosity and he starts handing over a load of pound coins to this bloke, who’s desperately trying to tell the world’s most famous classical musician that he’s not some homeless vagrant, he’s just trying to get two pence pieces for his kids to play on the slot machines, while at the same time trying just as hard not to burst out laughing.

That was Stu. As was also said, “I can clearly hear his voice in my head saying ‘How absolutely bloody typical that I should die just when the Villa are starting to do well’.”

We’ll miss him. We’ll certainly never forget him."   

[Legion]

Excellent.

[Clampy]

That was a wonderful read.

Well done Dave.

[Somniloquism]

Thanks for asking and posting Dave.

[RamboandBruno]

A lovely eulogy Dave. My condolences to all of you for the friend you’ve lost.

[Sexual Ealing]

Beautiful.

[dave.woodhall]

This could do with a bump as well.
https://stuartgriffin.muchloved.com/

[Jane]

Such a privilege to read that again, Dave. Still doesn't seem real.

[Gareth]

Lovely eulogy Dave

[Legion]

Such a privilege to read that again, Dave. Still doesn't seem real.

It doesn't. I still remember having the longest telephone conversation of my life with him when he went out of his way to help me find alternative employment when my teaching contract was not renewed in 2017. A class act and gesture. Somewhere on my laptop or back-up HDD I have a full copy of his interview with the BBC for the FA Cup feature we were involved in. Could someone ask his family if it would be appropriate for me to upload it to YouTube if there is any interest and I can find it?