I have fond memories of buying my very first snowboard from a bubbly smiley shop assistant called Stefan in Newcastle in the late 90’s. There started a friendship which in recent years had grown more faded as time and distance tends to do, but with Stef you always knew no matter how many years you hadn’t seen each other, you would be instantly welcomed with a hug, a grin and a comedy conversation for starters. We were both at Uni in Newcastle, and through the love of snowboarding we got to know each other. We would go weekly to the dry ski slope in Sunderland, and when I joined him for a mini season in the Alps he would give me essential lessons to my sketchy snowboarding. Always patient, and always ready with a funny story to cheer my bruised bones and ego at the end of a day’s boarding. More extremely fond memories of living in Sheffield in the 2000’s and of many nights in The Bull and carry on’s at School Road. Stef got me a job at Quiksilver in Meadowhell that he managed for a while, and then as a ‘buyer’ at snowboard trade shows when he and Andy had Slide, but that was really only so that I could get into the trade shows for research, he was always willing to help out someone where he could. The fun continued when I moved to London and the Sheffield Crew came down for the Shandon Tower house parties. One of which saw Stef embrace the Neon fancy dress theme in an all-neon pink outfit of tiny running vest and even tinier running shorts topped off with a pink visor. Classic Stefan. Time goes by so very quick, going through the photos of time spent with Stefan, life has flashed by in a set of images. In all of them it’s so clear that grabbing the very best, the very essence of the goodness of all the people and moments was what Stef did best throughout his life. The world will be a quieter, less fizzy place without him, and we will all have lost a hugely kind soul. Thank you for being the uniqueness you were Stef. With love and grateful memories. xx