The passing of Mike is a great loss, not only to you, the family but also to us in the Emergency Planning world and I’m sure you will receive many thoughts from his peers and friends that he worked with over the years. I worked with Mike at Severn Trent when I joined as a ‘cocky ex copper’ who though he knew everything and having worked with Mike, realised very quickly that I didn’t – not by a long shot !
Mike supported me as a friend and a colleague through thick and thin, he mentored me and guided me through the transition from public to private sector and without him, my career wouldn’t have gone very far, for that I will be eternally grateful.
I remember his beaming smile, wicked sense of humour and there was a significant level of jealousy from our STW colleagues on the 5th floor of 2297, as they could hear Mike and I from our ‘corner office’ in fits of giggles and tears of laughter many, many times as we worked our way through one incident after another continuing David (Baldwyn) and Mikes legacy that still stands today. If we weren’t giggling about an inept corporate manager, I was laughing about his ‘gout walk’ which he didn’t mind and regularly threw me a glance that only made me laugh more !
Mike was one of a kind and I was incredibly proud and humbled to join Audrey and Mike Yates for lunch following Mike being awarded an MBE at Buckingham Palace, something very few in our profession have achieved and was well deserved
Mike was one of the nicest men I have ever had the privilege to work with and call a friend, I will miss him
Gareth Ellis