Cromer Hyde Farm – Cromer Hyde Lane ran behind the Crooked Chimney pub and was often a source of fun for young Graham. As a little boy he loved his little ‘Noddy car and suit’. The suit was a little bit too tight but he managed to squeeze into it and would pedal with absolute vigour down the lane, free wheeling from the top – pretty dangerous as there were blind bends and cars could be coming up, but in those days caution was thrown to the wind. In this lane there were big trees that he and his brothers climbed and threw eggs on to unsuspecting visitors. I remember Graham telling me how you didn’t eat the eggs on a Tuesday, as the chickens were feed fish scraps on the Monday!

Their horse ‘Dobner’ would be waiting for them after attending the village school in Lemsford, especially if it was raining and cold. Helping each other up, the horse would take them across fields and back home, but wearing shorts and in the rain his little legs would become sore and chapped. Socks were worn as gloves in the winter.

They later moved to Stonecross Road/Longmead in Hatfield and he attended Onslow Secondary school. Graham was a character and often found himself being called out in assembly for being mischievous alongside his best school friend, at the time, “Jimmy Kiff”. With cries from the Headmaster ‘Davis & Kiff in my office’ being an almost daily, if not weekly occurrence. During the school holidays, Graham and Jimmy were put in charge of the care of two of the Schools rabbits – with the strict instructions that they were not to be put together……..needless to say Graham and Jimmy thought differently – they thought they were lonely and need each other’s company. Shortly after the school holidays had finished and the rabbits were returned, lets just say there were a few extra unexpected mouths to feed.

He’d recall times visiting the local cinema and Saturday morning pictures, opening the ‘Fire Exit Door’ behind the curtains, so he could sneak his mates in ‘free of charge’, and watching ‘Ole Mother Reilly’ on the big screen.

The other antic he got up to was taking the bottles of ‘pop’ back to the off licence and getting the deposit back. These would be stored behind the off licence awaiting collection. So Graham and Co., would sneak back behind the ‘off licence‘ and reclaim the bottles so that they could get more money on ‘returned deposits’ – I think Graham would probably refer to it now as recycling!

Graham used to sell seafood from a basket – taking round pubs used to be quite popular in the 70’s. I can remember him featuring in the local newspaper having converted a vehicle to look like a fishing boat/Noah’s Ark and was at the local fete at Newtown School.

He also had a burger van and was at the Knebworth concert with it when the Rolling Stones were there. I think that was 1976. He also talked about knowing John Ilsey from ’Dire Straits’ although I don’t remember how he knew him.

Graham had the skill of being able to hold a conversation with him being the only person party to that conversation – so timing was absolutely key – he was very convincing. To get the timing right and to say the right thing was paramount but I got caught out many a time thinking that he was actually speaking to someone.

Most people hate it when they get those unwanted phone calls – Graham actually quite enjoyed receiving them, – always turned it around and by the time he finished, he had made them the ones who hadn’t wanted that call.

Graham often said if you didn’t ask All and I emphasize All the right questions then you may not get the truth. Cheryl having been caught out a few times at the start of their relationship subjected Graham to his own punishment. He once asked me if I could ‘cut hair’? I responded yes I could. But like most people who have a pair of scissors, they could also claim that they can cut hair. His hair ended up being an absolute mess. What Graham failed to ask was whether I could cut hair properly or to a professional standard, I couldn’t and he hadn’t asked the right question – I think I won that one!

When Graham and Cheryl met, sadly Graham’s parents were no longer alive, but Cheryl always said she would share her parents with him and in return Graham shared his children with her.

Graham was always very much the practical joker and loved making people laugh. Cheryl’s parent’s Ron and Stella often said how Graham should have been on the stage – he was a born comedian.

Graham and Ron were complete opposites but they got along remarkably well and Graham loved them as if they were his own. Graham being impressed by Ron’s love from entering competitions decided to ‘give it ago’ himself and was on National Radio, Gary Davies weekend break, and won an equestrian weekend at Gatcombe Park, then he went onto win a Holiday to Sri Lanka from the ‘Big Breakfast’ TV series’ ‘one lump or two’ with Chris Evans and Gabby Roslin. This was a once in a lifetime holiday for Graham and Cheryl and during the fortnight’s holiday they met so many wonderful people who have become life long friends.

When Ron was sadly taken ill, Graham and Cheryl took them away on holiday to Devon. Graham would often ‘Ham it up’ by pretending to be a drunken waiter – this routine had both parents in stitches of laughter. I think he might have also performed this routine during one of his Auctions. Which by all accounts were fun and enjoyed by many because of Graham’s wit and enthusiasm. He loved buying and selling, wheeling and dealing and finally being an Auctioneer with his friends Jeff (aka Gungadine – why he got this nickname I don’t know) and Ricardo (real name Richard**) and Dodgy Dave (Dave – can’t think why it was pre-fixed) was everything he could have dreamed for. He loved the thrill and excitement. And if he hasn’t already done so he’ll be trying to flog off the ‘Pearly Gates’! Family often referred to him being like Del boy and Steptoe for all the things that have been hoarded away in his garage. He could sell ‘Ice to Eskimo’s’, ‘Sand to the Arabs’ and ‘a three legged donkey’ – he just had the gift of the gab.

Due to ongoing health issues Graham decided to scale down his Auctioneering activities, but still loved attending them, routing through boxes to see if there was that one special ‘find’. Graham’s, main interest being Camera’s, pens and watches.
Not quite as good as Del boy and Rodney’s watch at auction, Graham picked up a bag of watches for £10 of which one caught his eye and went on to sell for about £30 or £40, but in this bag there were other old watch fobs, bits and pieces. He was surprised to find another watch which he thought maybe gold with an inscription – thinking it maybe worth something but not convinced on its provenance he decided to put it into our local auction. Well when the bidding started and it kept going up first in £5’s, then in £10’s and it got past £100 and finally achieved £190, Graham’s face was a picture ……not 6.2 million but to Graham it was ‘We’ve had worse days’! – a Del Boy moment

But Cheryl liked to think of him as the character from ‘Lovejoy’ – dark, mysterious, a cheeky Rogue with a twinkle in his eye. A little bit more sophisticated and with a good eye for a bargain.

Whilst out at a craft fayre Graham spotted a picture which he thought was a Rabbit (their former house was called ‘Lapiniere’ – french for ‘Rabbit Hutch’ ) and read the poem alongside. He loved the words and thought how true it was to his relationship with Cheryl and bought her the picture . He didn’t actually realise until later that it wasn’t a Rabbit but a Hare.

‘Always Hare’ ( poem).

Sometimes you know what I’m about to say
It makes you special in every way
You understand me and laugh at my mistakes
With ridiculous things I often undertake
You tolerate me when no one else would
You are patient and kind and far too good
Having someone like you by my side
Give me the wings on which I can glide
Someone to depend on confide and confess
Laugh and cry with, a friend to call best
And through it all we have the love that we share
So can I just say, I’ll always be hare x
(Sarah Reilly)

I can’t remember when it started because over the years we had so many hospital appointments, but the one thing that did seem to crop up with an increasing regularity was that instead of Graham going into see the Consultant he seemed to end up in the broom cupboard, with Nurses and Doctors saying ‘Mr Davis, where do you think you are going’? It ended up being a standing joke between us – he’d come back from seeing the Consultant – I’d look at him to see if everything had gone well and then there was this look …..a bit like Frank Spencer from ’Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘em’ and I would say ’Oh No, not another cupboard’ and he would sheepishly nod. Needless to say thereafter I started to accompany him in to the consultation room…. Well he was getting a bit of a reputation.

Graham’s first holiday with Cheryl was to Pefkos in Greece, a place that they returned to, many times over their years together. On this particular stay, they ended up chatting over the balcony to Richard and Nikki. Graham sipping vodka and coke out of a tea cup (this later became Ouzo and coke – The Greeks thought he was weird!) and playing to his audience. There was a lot of banter, laughter and merriment throughout that fortnight with accusations of lemon stealing and pranks with lemons being put down toilets and left in pigeon holes. And from there on they were known as ‘The Lemons’. On the last night of Richard and Nikki’s holiday, Graham managed to persuade ‘Tony’ the owner of the hotel to give him the spare room key to their room “You play another joke? – Yes?” Just hours before their coach was due to pick them up, Graham runs up the back stairs, enters their room, tips the entire contents of their suitcases onto the beds, puts the sun umbrellas up and then removes the lightbulbs – total carnage! Enter Nikki and Richard to their room, flicking on the light switch but not able to see anything, then discovering that they hurriedly needed to re-pack all their belongings and get to the coach before it departed. It’s surprising that we have remained firm friends for over 30 years since that event – that’s the Charisma Graham had – everyone loved him and his fun.

Another holiday, again to Pefkos, saw us with our friends Viv and Chris. It was Graham’s 40th Birthday and he managed to persuade the waitress in the Taverna that we should have a bottle of Champagne ‘on the house’ to celebrate. She was very obliging, the only problem was that Graham and Chris didn’t like Champagne (well cheap fake Champagne), Viv was pregnant and couldn’t drink. “It would be awfully ‘rude’ not to drink it” said Graham when he had gone on about getting a bottle ‘on the house’. So that just left one other person – Cheryl had to consume the whole bottle but not only that, she had to do it pretty quickly as the Men wanted to go on and get a ‘proper drink’. Needless to say Cheryl was a bit legless on exiting the Taverna – Graham thought that to assist in the transportation of one very inebriated girlfriend that a Donkey was required – Graham did manage to find one but I can’t remember what happened thereafter – perhaps too much champagne!

Graham loved all animals, he previously rescued Dillon and Dawn two ponies from Gypsies. He allegedly walked them through his house when it started to rain and there was no chance of getting them back to their stable, much to the dismay of his first wife Pam. Then there were our cats, Doughnut, Pavo, Dixie, Jelly and Noddy. Dogs Jason, Rosie and Oscar (who still is missing him terribly like we all are). Tottie our talking budgie and then there were his Doves. Well they weren’t actually Doves. They were Pigeons but he knew that he wouldn’t win Cheryl around if he told her that. So as Cheryl’s knowledge of avian birds was zero he was able to get away, albeit, temporarily with this ruse. He painted this Idyllic setting of turning their shed into a ‘Dove Cote’ eventually painting it white, with these wonderful birds gracefully and serenely flying around. A couple of months in and we must have had every stray bird visiting our loft. Not Doves but pigeons, Blue pieds, Meally’s, Red Checkers etc., They started to name them; Maggie, Gorbie, B52 bomber. It did begin to get a bit out of hand so Graham did finally give it up but at heart he was always had a love for the country and longed for when they would be able to retire and he would be able to keep Chickens…..something Cheryl had always promised him that he could do when; 1. they had the right property with space and 2. when they didn’t have a dog that would go beserk around them.

Cheryl and Graham finally found there dream bungalow in the lovely village of Grimston, Norfolk with space for Chickens. Graham loved the Bungalow, the village and surrounding area and often said how he didn’t know how Cheryl found such a lovely place. Cheryl always said it “found us”. It was perfect for them, it was on the flat, had a village shop and post office, a decent pub “the ‘Shoes”, a medical centre on the doorstep, the hospital was only 15 minutes away and it was on a bus route, they also met some truly lovely people to call friends. It was just down the road from Roydon Common, a journey down ‘The Valley’ that he loved. Graham always used to say as they travelled along this route “It’s not bad here is it Mrs Davis, is it, not bad” and this formed part of his last journey to the Crematorium. There a ‘Dove’ (not a Pigeon) was released in memory of our beloved Graham.

Graham and Cheryl had been together for well over 30 years and he’d been asking her to marry him for a very long time. Cheryl kept saying “don’t try to fix what ain’t broken” as she didn’t want to be cursed with another broken marriage. They had exchanged rings and promised all of the vows of being married and referred to their rings as being ‘non financee rings’, however, during Covid and when Graham had a diagnosis of Prostate Cancer they finally agreed to get married and on the 7th October 2021 at the Registry office and the beautiful setting of the Town Hall in King’s Lynn. It was a magical day, with the sun shining and Graham loved that day. I do too. But he cherished that wedding photo (he had a favourite one by his bedside) especially during the last few weeks and months of his life. Graham wouldn’t talk about dying, he was here to live, but a couple of weeks before Graham did leave us he said “you didn’t sign up to this when you married me – did you”? Well the truth is I did, because I knew he was poorly and had been for a very long time and it certainly wasn’t for the money. The marriage vows do not have the same tone if you take out the ‘for richer’ or ‘in health’ bit. But whilst he was sick and unfortunately got sicker, I do know that my life with him has been for the better – he has brought me so many years of happiness and laughter, I’ve got my beautiful ‘bonus’ children, their partners, Grandchildren and I thank them all for being so thoughtful, caring and supportive and the only sadness is from Graham, being so poorly – so Rest in Peace my darling husband – until we can be together again. This is a celebration of your life.

** Richard Gibbs attended Springwood School, King’s Lynn, before moving to Letchworth Garden City. Graham and Richard met through their love of car boots/auctions – Ricardo became our gardner, but he was more than that, he was a very special person/special friend as he saved Graham when he had a massive heart attack in December 2016. Richard always wanted to return to King’s Lynn. Sadly, he didn’t get to do that as he sadly passed away December 2024 aged 50.

Graham and Ricardo may your spirit always live on in our hearts. RIP.