At 12.50 I found myself first in the queue to speak to Pat, 25 min later Pat walks up and I forget how tall he is as I look up and up and up... Pat quickly had his photo taken with the Dutch people as they had made him some giant clogs.

I then took the Album out of the bag (were it had been carefully concealed in thick bubble wrap)

"Something else made of wood" says Pat... I replied "Wood is very lucky"

Before I had a chance to do anything Pat placed the book on the small stand next to him and started looking through it.

"Excuse me! he says then adds, I am just looking through it quickly and will look at the pages more later" that is understandable as there are 4000 people wanting to shake his hand and say hello.

Then six of us from the group got together for photo's,my friend took some but people kept getting in the way so they aren't that good... never mind that's okay...
I then asked Pat if I could say a few words, I was just gonna start talking when Pat give me his microphone and Ithink that's when My face flushed... My head went blank, what do I say,, so in good old Demson style I just opened my mouth and said the first thing that came to my head.

I can't remember much of what I said but it was to the effect of how the book was to show our appreciation and for us to say Thank you for eveything. All I could see was all the camera flashes going off and then a cheer.
I finished by saying that everyone and our horses to Pat and Linda say Thank you.

I felt I'd mumbled through it but mates said it was okay. I did have a proper speech wrote but realised it was too long so didn't read it. The strange thing is I have given speeches many times with no problems but standing there next to Pat my brain went to pieces lol

Still it is a nice thought to know that Pat and Linda now have the book.

There were two poems at the front of the book. If you would like to read the words, just scroll down. One is titled Kyle and the other is titled Love, Language and Leadership. Both written by Brian Hallam.

To view the photo's of the book and some extracts of the pages, click on the links below

PHOTO'S

POEMS

INTRO