Myself and Mark have been best friends for many years and Mike and Betty have always been the most genuine and friendly couple towards me through all those years, always happy and welcoming whenever we met, Lovely people.

My favourite memory of Mike is of Mark's stag weekend in Brussels. Mike was the life and soul of the weekend joining in with all the celebrations and festivities and along with Mark's brother Carl helped make the weekend very special for Mark and us all.
We all stayed in a youth hostel which locked their doors at 1am, of course being a stag weekend this was far too early to stop the party. Mike offered to go back early so he could be on the inside to unlock the door when we returned. I'll always remember him opening the door and sneaking all us very inebriated loud lads back into the hostel at 4 in the morning. He was the one laughing though at 10am when we all had to be out with the biggest hangovers.  Happy times!

We will all miss you very much Mike .

~ Written by Felicia Kraft, Elicia Orsbourn's Mom in PA, USA ~

I met Betty and Mike on a visit to the United States. They came over for Christmas with Carl and Elicia from England. It was a magical trip to Pennsylvania with plenty of snow and Christmas festivities. Betty was so gracious, beautiful, and the true meaning of a lady to me. Mike was so kind, soft-spoken, and such a gentleman. Our children were planning a future together. Christmas traditions began and they eagerly celebrated with the family. We spent our time reminiscing with my Mom and family over tea and memories of Europe. We were family from that point on. We met again in Italy for Elicia & Carl's beautiful wedding. I will always remember the love that we all shared that day and memories for a lifetime. I wish had more time to spend with Betty and Mike. Mike, you have touched so many lives. Thank you for being Elicia's Mom & Dad through the years in London and loving her. I have been blessed to have the honor of knowing and loving Betty and Mike. 

Mike, you will live in our hearts forever. 

Love,
Felicia Kraft

Mike was a true gentleman and one of the nicest persons we have ever met,  which was on a cruise, some years ago, when 8 of us, Mike, Betty, Janet, Stewart, Chris, Steve, Clive and me (Chris) sat on the same table (no 49, hence our title), and hit it off immediately. Ever since that cruise, to The Black Sea in 2014,we have always tried to book the same cruises, and have had many good times and laughs together. Even if a year may have passed since we last saw one another, the first thing Mike always did was ask how you were doing, how are the family etc. never forgetting names and matters discussed the last time we met. On our cruises together, always sitting on the same table and imbibing in one or two, or more, gins and tonics after dinner were the highlights of many a get together. The last time we managed a full get together was due to Mike's organisational skills in arranging a long weekend at Warner's Thorsby Hall, which was, as always, full of fun and laughter, and which each of us will remember with love. We will, of course, stay in touch with our lovely Betty but, in the meantime, rest well dear friend. Chris and Clive xx

When myself and Carl were renovating our house we had to confront the prospect of installing built in wardrobes  for the first time.  It's fair to say that neither of us really knew what we were doing.  Mike and Betty then swooped into support with Mike taking the lead in advice and construction of one of the two wardrobes.  The end result was one wardrobe looking absolutely perfect and one looking a little rough around the edges, no prizes for guessing which one Mike built.  Mind you, without his advice and guidance I have no doubt the one we were in charge of would have looked even worse!  We only met him a few times but his memory to us in clear and we remember him with fondness.  He was a generous and kind person who will be greatly missed.  Love from the Minards

I remember when Carl, Elicia, Mike, and Betty came to visit us in Pittsburgh PA. We had a ham dinner, cocktails, and played games. It was a very nice visit. We had just bought our house and still had many projects to complete. It was a very old railroad home built 130+ years ago. It was a very cold winter  Mike and Betty stayed in our guest room that evening. We did not know the walls were not insulated in that room which made for a cold sleep! So In the morning we discovered them sleeping with all there clothes in there luggage on! It is now insulated with a space heater! We will miss you dearly mike. Rest well 

Our mutual friends, Janet and Terry Day, have an apartment in Denia, Spain and many years ago several of us went there and all stayed for a couple of weeks holiday including Betty and Mike. We had so much fun but the one event that we have talked about many times over the years was the evening we were having our evening meal and a storm started with thunder, lightning and torrential rain. The power went off in the restaurant and the backup generator was fired up and it wasn’t too long before everyone started singing and this carried on for quite a while.  The atmosphere was great and we finally left after a lovely evening to drive back to the apartments, only to find everywhere flooded. Our gallant gentlemen had to give the ladies piggy backs from the car to the entrance so we remained dry. Lovely memories of a fun filled holiday and with a lovely couple, Betty and Mike. I will forward a photo which was taken at a Rotary Ascot event which was a charity fundraiser which Mike and Betty were happy to support and you can see from their faces how much they were enjoying it