It's not easy to say what having a big brother meant to me, it's something that I always took for granted. It meant always having someone there who stood by me when I needed it most. Sometimes without me even knowing it. It meant always having someone there who listened and who would tell me things that sometimes I didn't want to know but needed to hear. It meant always having someone there who I didn't have to explain myself to, who knew me as well as I knew myself, who knew what I meant and why. As a kid growing up I suppose I learnt as much from my big brother as I ever did at school. Amongst other things how to run, how to fight and how to stand up for myself, important lessons in life that no-one else could teach me. After leaving school my big brother taught me that to get on in life you have to work hard. If a job is worth doing then it is worth doing right. My big brother was always a busy man. More recently my big brother taught me that whatever comes along in life, family and friends must come first. If a man can be judged at all then judge him by his friends. My big brother leaves behind a lot of friends, all of them are saddened by his passing but that bit happier that they knew him along the way. He was one of the good guys in life. I just hope that my big brother was half as proud of me as I am of him. I will miss him every day, but when I look at his three children I see him and that is a small comfort that might help me to bear this pain. My friend. My mentor. My hero. My big brother.