……If you think that a Sports Club needs people who understand that playing sport is simply not enough, that the social and non-playing requirements are just as important and without it, there just wouldn’t be a club, then you would want Mike Weston as a member.

Not that he had much choice – his father, Geoff had been Timperley Hockey Chair between 1972 – 74 and so it was no surprise that in the mid-70s Mike himself would follow the same well-trodden path into the old shed, but it wasn’t solely for Hockey. As a teenager, Mike volunteered to be the scorer for our Cricket First XI and quietly did this job week-in week out for a number of years. He also played Tennis (there were once grass courts where the green astro pitch now stands) and so his weekly diary was built around whatever was going on at Stockport Road.

Like many hockey players from that time, he played as the game transitioned from Grass to Astro; from the vertical stick stop to the horizontal and from a pre-match sneaky beer to the pre-match warm-up. His playing career covered 500+ games from about 1977 to 2002-ish during which he was a prolific goal scorer - usually from a yard out ! - for the 2s, 3s and 4s or anyone else who needed a player. After a brief spell away, he returned to action for our various Masters team teams in the 2010’s, as wonky knees and back allowed. Around the same time and in the early days of the new clubhouse his two children, eldest Chris, and youngest, now Sasha, also started playing Hockey, stretching the family connection to three generations over 50 years.

Mike was perfectly unassuming; his sporting career was never fuelled by an ambition to analyse or be in the highest side he could, he just wanted to play on a Saturday afternoon, have a beer with his friends and support his local sports club, whenever and however he could. Maybe in return, we should remind ourselves that clubs like Timperley are built on the shoulders of people like Mike Weston. Sadly missed.

Thanks, Mike. Sending our condolences to Mike family, friends and hockey family mates.

Mike Weston’s Funeral will take place at Altrincham Crematorium on Monday 9th February at 12.45 and thereafter back at Timperley Sports Club. All welcome.

Thanks to John McGuire and Col Taylor for a fitting tribute to Mike.