The John Hawley Pitch and Memorial Garden

Today was a special day as The University formally unveiled the John Hawley pitch at our Goodwin Sports Centre. John was a dear friend and colleague to many of us, and Deputy Director of CiCS until his untimely death in 2008. He left a substantial legacy to the University, which has been used to fund a number of initiatives around John's love of sport including he John Hawley Trophy and the John Hawley Trophy Cabinet in the Students Union. But, the majority of the money has gone towards a new pitch which has been specially designed, with soft grass apparently, for Rugby Training.

John was a keen Rugby League player, and would definitely have appreciated this. Also unveiled today was the John Hawley memorial garden, just outside the sports centre.

It's a lovely, colourful place where I'm sure many students will sit and relax, and if the weather gets better, it should get its first customers next week when many students will be taking exams up there.

It was lovely to see John's wife Pauline and children Andrew and Jennifer there, as well as friends and colleagues, representatives from the Student Union sports societies, and the grounds staff who had created the garden.

And, John's smiling face looking down on everything from the plasma screen in the centre. He is still sorely missed.

John Hawley Trophy

Last night I had the great pleasure of attending the Student Sports Awards dinner in the Octagon Centre. The reason for being there was that for the first time, The John Hawley Cup was presented to the best sports club. John was Deputy Director of the department until he sadly died 18 months ago. He was a great sportsman, playing Rugby League, and a great supporter of the University. He left a sum of money to the University, which is being used to support student and community sport by developing a new sports pitch, which will also have a memorial garden. Last night his family made a very moving speech about him, and presented a very over the top trophy (John would have loved that) to the Equestrian Club for being Club of the Year.

It was a brilliant night - great to be surrounded by lots of very noisy and enthusiastic students reminding us of why we're here!

JFH

Sad day yesterday - John Hawley's funeral. Not much to say really - very sad affair, but good to see so many University staff, both past and present, there.

Lots of memories of him were swapped - including his habit of juggling coins in his pocket, his colourful language probably picked up from the building sites he worked on when he was an engineer, his ever open door and overflowing bowl of sweets, his awful Big Mouth Billy Bass fish which annoyed us so much, but amused him no end. It was a fitting send off to a wonderful man.

John Hawley

Last night I was very sad to get the news that John Hawley, Deputy Director of our department, had died. He had been diagnosed with inoperable bowel cancer last February and had been off work since then. Throughout the last few months John had remained cheerful and positive, and was an inspiration to all of us who had been in touch with him. Even when his son died in tragic circumstances a few weeks after his diagnosis, he kept his positive outlook.

John had worked at the University for 26 years, originally as a Systems Analyst in the Data Processing Unit and then as Director of Management and Administrative Computing Services. For the last 12 years he had worked closely with me as Deputy Director of CiCS. As well as his work within the department, John was always keen to play a full role in University life, and got involved in a number of areas, especially those relating to HR issues. John loved dealing with people - his door was literally always open, and anyone who called in could be guaranteed a good listener and a sympathetic ear.

I last saw him a week before his death, and was shocked and saddened to see how ill he was - he was obviously uncomfortable and in pain, but chatted for a good half hour, and his sense of humour was still there. He has been a tremendous support to me over the last few years, through difficult personal times as well as through changes at work, and I've missed him terribly over the last few months. Since the news went out to the University, I've had loads of messages from people about how much they liked and respected him and how much he will be missed, and I hope that this will be of some comfort to his friends and family.