Tony Walker recalls: "I'd known Stu for over ten years and with his quick wit and a brilliant sense of humour, he'd have me crying with laughter, especially after a beer or two down at our local boozer. Really, he was quite a shy person, but over the passing years I was to find out - not always from Stu - what part he played in the music scene of the Sixties, (the Koobas aka the Kubas), writing for Shakin' Stevens ('I Might') (title of which I heard a rough demo version of) also right up to the nineties (recording with Gary Sulsh), his work on the 'Fiddeley Foodle Bird' and cartoonist for the new defunct newspaper 'Today'...and a lot more.


"I had the pleasure of reading Stu's first draft of 'Lord Gilpin's Ghost.' Is there no end to this man's talents? Well, I did give him a rough draft of a project I was working on at that time - he was to tell me later that, 'yes, it's the sort of thing you'd find laying around a coffee table' (Stu's words). Stu being as polite as he could be. Or, 'It'll be better thrown in the nearest open grate fire - next to the coffee table (my words!).


"Back to 'Lord Gilpin's Ghost.' How can someone come up with a group of characters being taken home from a pub ('The Gilpin Arms' I think) on the back of a cart singing miscellaneous Abba songs when the impression I got when reading, was that the characters seemed to be from the Seventeenth Century! In one chapter of Stu's book, he had Lord Gilpin time travel, via Hampton Court Palace, and hitch a lift from a Pakistani driving a Reliant Robin!! Driving down the M4, they pulled into a midnight cafe. I must admit, I'd lost the plot here, but speaking to Stu about this particular episode, I said (because I drove a Reliant Robin once - OK, I've just admitted it!) Reliant Robins are not allowed on motorways. I wish I hadn't said anything now because Stu, in his final draft, took it out. It was hilarious!


"The last time I was to meet Stu was at our annual Christmas meeting for ex-band members and other muso's. Of course we'd always have a laugh and the obligatory piss-take. He will be sorely missed. 'well Tone, we've all got to go sometime,' I can hear him say, and with wry smiles we'd drink up and have another another pint!!"


Dave Standfast writes: "I knew Stuart, not as a musician, performer or writer, nor as a cartoonist, nor as a songwriter - but as a late night drinker. This portrait was drawn when we were sharing our common interest. Stuart was a modest man and sadly, it was only after he died that I came to know the contribution hinted at, that he made to the world of music and laughter."

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