Goodbye to a great man and a good friend

Last week was not a good week for the demolition industry when we all learned of the tragic early death of Richard Comley.

Richard's death was reported in full on the NFDC newsfeed on it's website and on Demolition News from where we reproduce the lovely picture of Richard in this post.

I do not intend to repeat the words on either of these sites but I do want to remember a few hours spent with Richard, Julia and their son Toby in Monaco at an NFDC Convention a few years ago.

We had all sat on the terrace most of the afternoon before the black tie ball that evening in the Monte Carlo Casino talking to the then sales rep for Genesis attachments (before Arne Marx got the job). And as the beer flowed the Genesis rep became more and more chatty and told us that he had only packed one pair of shoes and flipflops for the trip and he was intending to go to the black tie ball that night in the black shoes currently on the terrace next to his feet.

Richard looked across at Toby and myself with that devilish twinkle in his eye that appeared on a regular basis and leaned across to me and said "keep him talking" so I then asked a number of very technical questions about shear jaw sizes and operating pressures whilst Richard carefully used an umbrella to slide the shoes across to Toby who then legged it to the roof terrace of the hotel and positioned the shoes poking over the edge in full view of anyone who chose to look up.

The conversation continued to flow until Richard then said to us all "Right I am off to get changed into my suit, see you at the Casino" and walked off into the hotel followed by Julia, Toby, Jill and myself where we all turned round and watched through the window as the Genesis rep overturned all of the terrace furniture in a frantic search for his shoes.

Having all got "suited and booted" we returned to the terrace to see the rep asking everyone if they had seen his shoes only to be told "No". Richard then said to him "Are you sure that you didn't go up to the roof terrace earlier as they may be there" but the rep confirmed that he had not been to the roof.

The black tie ball was a great success but we never saw the Genesis rep again as he never showed up to the ball and left the hotel the next morning.

If you do go to Monaco at any time in the future go up onto the roof terrace of your hotel and you may find a pair of size 10 black shoes to fit you!!

Richard's sense of humour was a joy to us all with his quick wit and infectious laugh and boy will we miss him. I consider it an honour and a pleasure to have known him, spent time in his company and listened to his ideas.

I will miss you mate and will raise a glass to you on Thursday.

Details of the funeral arrangements will follow in a separate post later today.