Today has been the first Fathers Day where I haven’t given you a bag of sweets. Me and William were visiting grandma earlier. William was running around your garden...the kid never walks anywhere! He’s was up to mischief, he made soup with rainwater, stones, compost, grass and leaves. He made it for the Great Grandad Tree...even caught him trying it. He then went on to use the hose to suck up water then blow it out...narrowly missing soaking me. Definitely think you may have been behind that one!!! Think if you had been about you’d have been showing him how to blow it harder and actually soak me!

Today has been the first Fathers Day where I haven’t given you a bag of sweets. Me and William were visiting grandma earlier. William was running around your garden...the kid never walks anywhere! He’s was up to much mischief, he made soup with rainwater, stones, compost, grass and leaves. He made it for the Great Grandad Tree...even caught him trying it. He then went on to use the hose to suck up water then blow it out...narrowly missing soaking me. Definitely think you may have been behind that one!!! Think if you had been about you’d have been showing him how to blow it harder and actually soak me!

On Monday 4th May we said our last goodbyes and farewells to one of the best men John Geiran - soulmate to our mum Rosina Geiran, brilliant dad to Denise Gerian, an amazing step-dad to me, Bill Moloney and Susie Dolman and a loved and doted on Grandad and Great-Grandad. Due to COVID-19 restrictions only 6 people were allowed to attend John's funeral so I thought I would post his eulogy on here for those who don't use Facebook. There are many, many things that can be said about John and memories of him it is really difficult to know where to start. John was a kind, considerate, gentle and loving man who was never afraid to tell you he loved you no matter who you were. There are so many people who wanted to be here today but the current circumstances has made this impossible but John knows you all loved him. We especially think about John’s daughter Denise and her children who could not be here with us today. We know that they would have wanted to be able to say so much about John. We hope that the letter that Denise has written to her dad will bring her some comfort at this difficult time. Ben, John’s Grandson who lives in China wanted to say: Grandad, there’s a lot I want to say to you and I could go on for a long time about the influence you have had on my life but we’ll have that conversation another time, privately!! What I will say though is thank you for being a moral compass and for the role you took in teaching me right from wrong. As a child, you were they type of man I aspired to be when I grew up. You are a well-respected, loved and amazing man and I love you. John came into our lives quite late really so I can’t really talk a lot about his childhood or his early life. I know that he was born in Dublin to Eva and Dennis and was an older brother to Tony. We know that he was much loved by his family in Ireland and had many happy memories shared with Tony in Ireland and Coventry. John joined the British Army as soon as he possibly could in 1958 aged 17 where he made some lifelong friends such as Brian Farrelly and Bill Chamberlain just to name a couple. His favourite posting was Hong Kong where he and his army mates had some adventurous escapades which are far too many to go into except to say that they were often hair-raising, frightening, exciting and exhilarating. Some of these can viewed on John’s Tribute page at -johngeiran.muchloved.com After leaving the army his adventures did not stop there they just went in a different direction particularly when he became a father to Denise. John was a builder for many years and later in his life was the Deputy Clerk of Works at Coventry Cathedral where more adventures were had exploring the huge tunnels that ran under the Cathedral and the city centre and discoveries made including the unearthing of a gloved hand!!!! Mum and John first met in 1980 in the Brewer and Baker pub where rock ‘n’ roll music was played when John was celebrating what he thought was his 40th birthday but it was actually his 39th. He used his best chat-up line of “you got a jiving licence?” and the rest is history and they have never looked back. Mum and John were married for 38 extremely happy years. They were soulmates. In 1981 we all moved into a small house in Oliver Street where we had some hilarious times. The one that really sticks in my mind is when myself, John and Susie had a water fight. Susie was wearing a candlewick dressing gown and was running a bath when it started. The 3 of us were charging around the house trying to soak each other when Susie ran into the bathroom with John hot on her tail. She was standing by the bath and the temptation was just too much and John pushed her in. I swear that that dressing gown pretty much sucked up all the water in the bath, we couldn’t help her get out as we were laughing too much. John was well known for his love of all creatures great and small and would give a home to any of them. In fact one day he came across a baby crow which was injured – he took it home and nursed and cared for it. He even gave it a name – Russel and he taught him to fly. Another time Mum and John went out to buy eggs and came back with 2 baby goats in the back of the car - as you do. They used them to keep the grass short which worked well for a good while They would even come into the house to be petted by us all - but, they came to an untimely demise and ended up in the freezer. John told Denise they had gone on holiday and would be back soon!! When the grandchildren came along that meant lots more adventures could be had from long nature walks ( and yes John I do know about the poo), teaching them to play the mouth organ, stroking bees and even helping Emma to wrangle a horse that was running down the street. John also had a great love of gardening which earned him the name of Grandad Greenfingers courtesy of Laura. There was always a stream of children knocking on the door coming to call for John – they saw him as one of them. They would bring their new toys to show him and bring their bikes when they needed fixing. John always treated and loved Billy, Susie and me like we were his own and we all truly loved him. John always told Billy he saw him as the son he never had. John will never be forgotten and will definitely be loved and missed every day.