On the 8th October 2015 at 6:53pm, my father Laurence Leslie Sly passed away at the age of 80. He died due to a cardiac arrest causing brain damage.

He was an exceptional man; very intelligent, well travelled, a very high knowledge of politics and how the economy works. If you ever needed any question answering, he was the man to ask. Born on 25th September 1935, he survived bombings in the Second world war, he served in the army for five years as a Corporal before moving to Adelaide in Australia where he and his first wife had their first child and my half-sister: Mary-lee Sly.

He stayed there for ten years working in a bauxite mine and driving Mack trucks on the roads before moving back to Britain where he eventually became one of the most successful travelling stationary salesmen in the country despite falling for the gold-digging temptress that was his second wife who almost bled him dry of his assets until their divorce in the early eighties.

After that debacle, he decided to spend some time in Jamaica where he met his third wife and my mother: Sharon Elizabeth Sly. She was just 21 and he was 48 when they met in 1984 but despite there still being high disproval in Jamaica over mixed marriages (especially when a white man marries a black woman) they married just a few months later until death did them part, 31 years later. The result was his survival of prostate cancer, my loving brother Ryan and myself and a battle with Parkinson’s Disease over the last 20 years.

You were an incredible person Dad, you have been my emotional rock, my life role model, you've helped me fully conquer the social problems of Asperger's syndrome, you taught me to cook, to be strong, fight for what I believe in, you taught me the ways of the world but most importantly, you've helped me to make the most of my life and for that, I thank you. You were an exceptional father, truly one of a kind and cannot be replaced and on that note, I and indeed all of our family and friends will never forget you.

I love you Dad, and I always will.