Happy Wanderer - Rest in peace 😢😢

[Alf Hartigan]

Never felt as upset as this about someone i have never met. As others have said, what a legacy Neil has left. Rest in peace Neil

[Burndens Bogs]

My heart sank when i saw that the thread title had changed, a very sad day - thoughts are with Neils family.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Burndens Bogs

[Wullie]

Many people have an impact on your life, some far less then others. It seems to me, that from a very simple idea, creating a message board for Wanderers fans to have a voice, something we hadn't had before, grew into a community of like minded folk. Very few people have such an impact on so many. If there is one thing to remember a fellow wanderer for, it is this simple thought, he brought us all together. Cheers Neil.

Edited November 6, 2021 by Wullie

[victor meldrew]

RIP neil , as many others have said , you have made a community of wanderers fans who might not of made friends.

thank you for the euro trips.

heart goes out to your family at this sad time.

i will definitely be there for your final journey , if the family let us.

god bless you.

[Elvis]

RIP Neil 💙

[radcliffe white]

RIP Neil 

[TrickyTrotter]

How sad.

Condolences to Neil's family.

[L/H White]

Awfully sad

I've probably visited this site nearly every day for about 16 years because of him, which resulted in meeting some great friends 

RIP Neil x

 

[Carlos]

Rip Neil, this site had had a huge effect on so many people. Happy Wanderer, a BWFC legend.

[Smiley]

Sorry to read this tragic news. Lost count of how many friends I’ve made through this website. Great times meeting up with other posters, European travels, WWs 5-a-side and 11-a-side matches, that memorable FA Cup trip to Arsenal, using folk’s trades off here, etc, etc. And not forgetting the Sportsman’s Dinners. They were legendary. 

Thank you so much Neil for all of these superb memories that you ultimately created. Rest in peace now. Condolences to his family. Take care. X

[whoareya?]

RIP Neil. Condolences to his family  

[Spider]

Just to add 

As many have said, we all come in here bickering, laughing, debating, moaning, taking the piss and generally sharing our time with each other.
 

We all have at least one thing in common and we’ve been thrown together because Neil had a vision and the determination to make it happen.

It’s difficult to overstate his influence on this particular collection of ne’er do wells, deviants and - ultimately - friends.

Genuinely gutted tonight. And I never met him in person.

I’m happy to contribute if there’s a WWays wreath or something at his funeral.

 

[Blondi]

RIP Neil.

[Ani]

Just reading some of these posts and remembering the many great trips with people off here. 
Originally on Rivals, getting a coach to Southampton with Miami and a slightly  rowdy group, trips to Prague, Euros trips, losing my car for a week, losing 24 hours after sportsman's dinner. Someone shouting dogfucker at Swanny, seeing Garp grow up, . I could do a massive list.

But the real legacy of this site are the many people who now know so many more people at the match, some who travel to games together, some just on nodding terms and others who might well avoid each other 😎😂. The site has raised £000s for charity over the years and time after time people have rallied round to help each other from vouchers and match tickets to sponsorship and giving folk work.

I hope Neil's family read this thread and realise the genuine difference he has made for many years. 
 

And yes there once were budgies in the Arndale Centre. 

[Winchester White]

I have never met Neil but sat next to him at the footy once but only found out afterwards.

RIP Happy, you are a true Wanderer.

[wanderer1984]

RIP Neil 🤍 💙

[London Wanderer]

Such sad news.

Who'd have thought a forum could turn out to be so special and to create so many memories. What a legacy. Sounds like a proper gent.

Love to all his family and friends at this tragic time.

[Baba O'Riley]

Really sad news. RIP Neil and thanks for this place.

[BobyBrno]

I first met Neil at a Sportsman's dinner at the Reebok. I met him many times later at various functions. The last time I saw him was at Bents Garden Centre just before lockdown. 
We are able to express our views on this site because of Neil. 
I could go on but, RIP Neil. 
 

A little edit. He was one the nicest people I’ve ever met.

Edited November 6, 2021 by BobyBrno

[Ani]

I just remembered I met Neil totally at random at Eureka once which is the National children's museum in Halifax, I was there with Yoof and sister, must have been at least 10 years ago, he was there with his kids.

If his family do read the site, hope they remember that day. 

[tkonion]

I'm sorry to say that I never met Neil, it's clear from those that have just what a lovely bloke he was. What a legacy he has left  for all Wanderers fans,  I'll be eternally grateful for this wonderful online community that he created which was my main source of info regarding BWFC when we were in financial dire-straits and I was in a foreign land with no other way of keeping informed. 

My condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time. 

RIP Happy Wanderer.

[Horwich]

From Stockports twitter

👏 If you are attending the game against @OfficialBWFC tomorrow afternoon please join us in a minutes' applause at the 18th minute, in memory of 18-year-old County fan George Thompson, who sadly passed away recently.

Rest in peace, George 💙

———————————-

Hope we can all join in tomorrow in memory of George and Neil.

It would be great to see the whole of the ground on their feet.

[SatanGreavsie]

2 hours ago, victor meldrew said:

RIP neil , as many others have said , you have made a community of wanderers fans who might not of made friends.

thank you for the euro trips.

heart goes out to your family at this sad time.

i will definitely be there for your final journey , if the family let us.

god bless you.

Sums it up for me - as well as I could ever have put it  😢

[ex_midlandwhite]

Legacy is the first word that came to my mind and I see lots of people have already used it. When he set up wways from rivals HW couldn't have known what it would have become.

I've made some close friends through wways over almost the last 20 years of my life, and lots of other people that I've enjoyed bumping into over the years too.  

Thank you HW and RIP

[Marc505]

23 minutes ago, tkonion said:

I'm sorry to say that I never met Neil, it's clear from those that have just what a lovely bloke he was. What a legacy he has left  for all Wanderers fans,  I'll be eternally grateful for this wonderful online community that he created which was my main source of info regarding BWFC when we were in financial dire-straits and I was in a foreign land with no other way of keeping informed. 

My condolences to his family and friends at this difficult time. 

RIP Happy Wanderer.

I echo this, often think to myself what a great community this must have been around the Euro away days, I even have a look through the archives now and again from around that time, can almost feel the buzz of excitement.

I joined the site later and have met some great lads through it, had brilliant days at games and the odd Blackpool meet - and that's down to someone I've never met.

Very sad news, rest in peace Happy Wanderer.