Thirteen years ago I lost my Dad, Les Jones. At this time I was in hospital recovering from a mental breakdown & sectioned under the mental health act. I was drugged up so much I did not realise he was gone and had no input into his funeral. I did attend but can’t really remember. His was cremated and his ashes split up, a part of him was scattered at Goodison Park, I believe part given to my younger sister, part to my mother (his ex wife) and finally the last of him to his partner at the time of his death. No body thought about me his first born, his son-in-law and two grandsons.

My dad grew up in 10 Winslow St opposite the ground and was a life long Evertonian and season ticket holder. so much so he told me as teenager never to bring a kopite up our path! We’ve no grave to visit and I have recently taken up walking along Crosby beach with my husband each weekend. There are memorial benches all along and I would very much like to put an Everton Blue one amongst them. I want my dad to be remembered as much as I need a place to go and remember him. He was quite a character and the only time he never attended Goodison was when he was banned for walking onto the pitch in the 1990s much to my embarrassment I woke up on the Sunday morning to see him in the newspaper and he was interviewed on Granada reports. As you can imagine he was not a shy man! I‘ve looked into setting up the memorial and £1500 is way out of my reach. Sitting here on the edge if my seat watching the Derby with my hubby, his grandson watching in Goodison, I had a thought, if 3000 Everton fans donate 50p there could be a blue memorial bench on the shores of the river Mersey.

Thank you for taking the time to read this

lesley x