A poem for our dear friend Luke Appleby

By Nikki Aston

A page I will steal from James Copp’s book

To tell you about our dear friend

Please don’t panic, A rapper I’m not

Don’t worry, not long till the end!

Nearly 2 years ago

When I came to Buckles

‘You’ll be working with Luke’ they said

Little did I know, The journey we’d take

And the things that would lie ahead

Polite he was, Right at the start

And his character soon shone through

A joker, a wine snob, a dry sense of humour

Always up for fun too.

M&S walks at lunch A trip to Philpotts

Were the normal routine of our day

An afternoon cuppa, An emergency biscuit

That’s how we rolled – Ok?!

A few months ago, He wasn’t quite right

In our heart of hearts we knew it

‘Don’t worry’ he said ‘I’ll go to the doctor’s’

‘I’ll be back to work in a bit’

Fast forward to now, And here we all are

With a gaping hole that is left

Luke – if you were here

If only we could say

We are nothing short of bereft

But sad we can’t stay 

Let’s think of the good times

And what a hero you are

Always so brave Always a gent

From our hearts, you’ll never be far.