Brian Gardner,  “family man” who will be missed very much.

Brian was born in Wallsend Northumberland to Jim and Gwendolyn on 8th September 1952, the year of the Queen’s accession. He was the youngest of four children, two brothers, Alan and Colin, and a sister Brenda; the fact that he was last in line to a girl had its drawbacks in the days when children’s clothes were usually “hand me downs” at least that was what Brian told his wife and children. Whilst Brian could conjure up a northern accent when he wanted to,  he left Wallsend for Bath and then Nottingham fairly early on in his childhood: by the time he was 11 he was settled at Redhill School in Arnold.  Memories of Brian’s sporting achievements seem to have commenced after he left school and as for scholastic triumphs these remain something of a mystery----however he had an amazing gift for mathematics and truly believed he was better than Carol Vordeman!. On leaving school Brian became a groundsman for Nottingham City Council where he remained for 25 years. Then followed 5 years at Nottingham University finally ending up as head groundsman with Bingham Town Council in 2001,  Brian had a passion for football, “growing things “ was not just a job to him; his flowers, the greenhouses, his garden at home, all his life he has been thrilled by nurturing beautiful things; he has even passed this on to his sons.

He wad a football enthusiast player,  trainer, match reporter and lifelong Sunderland supporter, this was Brian’s passion. His amateur football career started at 16 when he joined the Robin Hood Football Club and in the eighties enjoyed some success winning the Sunday League tournament ; those were the days when everyone called him Dougal from the magic Roundabout because of his long hair and bushy sideburns. Was he any good? Well according to Brian he had a mean left foot and was a useful left back. 

As he got older Brian channelled his footballing energy into training youngsters or into writing match reports for the Post in fact his contribution to local football over the years has been immense.

Brian met Diana Carol Wheat in the Robin Hood she was 15 at the time. They courted for a couple of years then married 27th September 1975 at St Judes Church Mapperley. First home was the Parks House, Basford where Sarah was born in 1978. The other 3 were born when the family moved to Langar Close ending up in Sherwood Vale in 1996.Like many wives Diane looked to Brian to complete the DIY tasks around the house; on the whole he achieved a degree of success despite never reading instructions and always ending up without fail with a spare screw left over; if it held, what was there to worry about? The family’s lasting memory was of Brian’s attempts at installing a new fireplace in the living room at Sherwood Vale; his head in the fireplace his bottom stuck out into the grate and the chimney collapsing on his head.------it took him sometime before he saw the funny side even though his nearest and dearest were in fits of laughter. Brian had a dry sense of humour  and was not averse to making a fool of himself deliberately at parties , embarrassing the kids with his dancing or  persisting in wearing blue Speedos instead of proper Dad swimming trunks and swimming butterfly instead of the crawl.He loved his Saturday night Chinese and was always asking if the kettle was on...”thanking you” was a regular expression.