As many of you will already know, our friend and colleague, John Short, sadly passed away a few days ago at his home in Bristol.

After speaking with the Avon and Somerset Police, and subsequently the Avon Coroner's Court, they're happy for me - in the absence of an official next of kin - to take charge of arranging John’s funeral and wake. I’ll be working with a group of other people, who will each have input into the service itself, so we can make it as personal as possible for John and give him the proper send off he deserves.

Since the news broke, the outpouring of emotionally felt tributes from people all over the world has been amazing. I think it’s only been this year really that John had come to understand that there were more people who thought very fondly of him than he realised – a message very much reflected in the book of well-wishes and photos I put together for him earlier in the year, when the news of his cancer first broke. He was over the moon when that book arrived, out of the blue, and I’ll be doing my best to try and post some screenshots of it on Facebook later.

As a community, working together, wrestling can do some amazing things, so I’d really like to ask everyone to share this fundraising page far and wide, and let’s work together to give John the best send off we possibly can. Thank you.

Carl and Tracy Stewart