Steve Irving
We are very sad to announce the passing away of Steve Irving.
Steve joined the club in 1991, aged 40. He had played many times as a ‘guest’ in Grant Lazarus’ 3rd Team, but his membership application had to be timed carefully. Joining the club at Vets age was not usual then, and certainly not unless for those who were automatic qualifiers by having attended an Arthur Dunne School. Apart from his age, the fact that he did not go to the right school, that he was ‘another bl**dy lawyer’, and the odd reservation that Steve wasn’t going to put anything back into the club, some Lazarus guile (if that is not an oxymoron) engineered a successful application.
He certainly put something back and served as a distinguished secretary (though some might say his P.A. did!) for a decade until 2010 and played several seasons for the 4ths, before becoming a mainstay of the Vets, appearing in Mallorca for the first time in 1995 where a hard earned point was earned in a 1-1 draw on the old shale pitch. Despite retiring from playing in about 2006, he was still touring up to 2018, often becoming world champion in fishing, boules and tennis.
Tough though the role of Honorary Secretary is, Steve had greater challenges yet to face. In recent years he had successfully survived chemotherapy, surgery for bowel cancer and so many operations for secondary tumours in the liver that it was difficult to keep count. It is often said, and sometimes tritely, that people suffer such setbacks with bravery or equanimity; Steve just carried on being the really decent, kind, friendly and funny bloke that he always was.
His funeral is at 2.30 pm on the Friday the 1st November 2019 in the South Chapel at Landican, Cemetary and Crematorium, Arrowe Park Road, Birkenhead, CH49 5LW, followed by the opportunity to share memories over food and drink in the Torintone Suite at Thornton Hall, Neston Road, Thornton Hough CH63 1JF. There is no dress code. Please be as formal or casual as you like. Any charitable donations as you wish.
