Firstly, on behalf of my sister and I’m sure I speak for our brothers from down under as well, when I say that we would like to thank you all for taking time out your lives, to join us in celebrating the life of our brother, Connor.
I had both the pleasure and at times disdain of sharing a room with Connor for the first 16 years of his life. Although some of the earliest memories are a bit hazy, there’s some that cannot be forgotten and we hope to share just a few of those with you.
If you asked Connor what kind of life he lived, in his own words he would more than likely say, “It was kinda good, kinda bad, kinda shite but it was awrite” in the nebulous way that he so often described his weekends.
Connor, as the man you know today, has always lived his life authentically and been 100% himself and that is just one of the many aspects of him that we admire and respect. He never changed himself to fit in with any group, crowd or individual. He ripped up the rule book of life and how society tells you to live and followed his own…
One of these rules was, if you see a pool of water you jump in it. Many of you will have seen countless videos of Connor jumping off various platforms and swings into lochs, ponds, pools, shorelines the list goes on; which is why we feel it is important for us to do our water dips, plunges and jumps as tribute to the bold and beautiful boy he is.
Connor, from start to finish, lived a life without fear. When we moved from Barrhead and into Paisley, Connor would have been 4 or 5 when he decided to climb a lamppost and swing from the top of it – much to the horror of onlooking neighbours and admiration of the kids in the street – and that lack of fear never left him.. more recently (some of you will know this but some of you won’t) Connor broke his feet when he decided that taking the stairs from his flat would be too much effort and thought jumping out the window would be a better, quicker more sensible option… now,with this in mind, when his friends used to tell us that Connor was the wise one in the group and who they would all go to for advice, we thought, and I’m sorry boys, but we all thought “they are fucked.”
But Connor was a caring, beautiful, honest soul who would do all he could to help his friends and family, because they were his livelihood. So as we grew older I could see why his friends held him in such high regard… except for that annoying phase he had when he returned from traveling through Thailand and Europe and had achieved enlightenment. He had that holier than thou attitude that was really patronising. He also brought back that weird accent he picked up as well. Despite that, his heart was always in the right place, and we’re truly blessed to have had him in our lives… but as kind and considerate as he was nobody is perfect… and a real bone of contention for me is that Connor only ever gave me one Birthday card that I can remember… and inside all it said was “One day you’ll be cool” and I am gutted that he’ll not get to see that one happen. I was telling my sister about this in recent weeks, who then showed me the one and only birthday card she received from Connor… it was actually a condolences card and it was blank inside… but credit to him he did write Happy Birthday on the envelope.
Connor didn’t always get the credit he deserved for how intelligent he actually was. He has always been a very bright & clever person, both street smart and very often pragmatic – even as a child. When we were wee guys, we were in the video shop with our Dad… pestering him to let us see The South Park Movie – for those not in the know, it’s a musical comedy with the record for most swears in an animated movie. Naturally, our Dad said no… until Connor at 8 years old very pragmatically said, “Look, we know and have heard all the swear words already, just because we hear them again, it doesn’t mean we’re going to start saying them.” Dad thought, fair enough actually. And that probably would’ve been fine if “Uncle Fucker” wasn’t such a tune.
Although Connor was smart, academically he struggled a bit and he can’t be blamed for that… Connor and I were actually home schooled together for a while. Which, more often than not involved a lot of cheating and harassing Colin & Edith on their Radio 1 Show via text, demanding that they play System of a Down’s B.Y.O.B – which is also still a tune. Music is one thing which brought Connor some solace. Eventually he got himself some decks and a decent set up and actually got pretty good at mixing. He went on to play regular sets at the infamous, highly reputable and world renowned nightclub, Club 69 where he finally lived out his Kevin & Perry style teenage dream. Again, for those of you not in the know, that’s the club which is underneath the Indian Restaurant on New Sneddon Street
As much as I’ve said some nice things about Connor, he was also mischievous as well, from stealing Rebekah’s sponsorship money for African children at a few quid a day, to buy himself astro belts and zappers ensuring he didn’t slip into child poverty. To giving me his McDonalds milk shake which was actually all BBQ sauce (I cried, it was a traumatic experience for us all). But he was very much a live now and deal with the consequences later, kind of person… Connor has lived and worked all over the world, a few highlights would be, Prawn Farming in Australia where he used to talk to the wee baby prawns as if they were his own. He also lived in Fiji for a while whilst he volunteered to help with the disaster relief. He was also a gardener in Poland during the winter months where he was working in his skateboarding shoes in sub-zero temperatures, and we can’t leave out the week he spent delivering coffins to France in a truck with someone he had never met before. He also worked in France on a ski resort as well. And those are just some of the highlights. He became a proficient and capable chef working in restaurants up and down the country. And all credit to him for becoming manager of Panku outlets, his concession outperformed every other store in the country consistently and as so he was passed pillar to post within the company to improve poorly performing locations. I was so so proud of him for the hard work he put in. Before we move on from his careers across the world, whilst in Poland, Connor was mistakenly collared as an international drug barren, another career that just never actually happened – the boy has always had a way of getting himself into some bizarre situations – after a trip to Germany with Scott and Darragh, Connor split and went his own way to Poland where he lived in a squat with some hippies which was raided by police… drugs were found in the back of a couch and he was subsequently arrested. He had is passport taken from him and was later interrogated by Polish Police, whilst being screamed at our poor wee Connor didn’t have a clue what was being said. Eventually they realised he was a simple tourist, not the Scottish Escobar, so they returned his passport and he was released with a warning.
Another aspect of Connor which continues to inspire is that, No matter how bad or down Connor was feeling, he maintained that happy go lucky attitude which brought so much joy, love and happiness to our lives. He was always doing something no matter how bad his bad days were he always turned in for work and never let anything get in the way of living life to it’s full. If there was a chance or an opportunity, he would jump into it two footed without hesitation and without fear. He truly is an inspiration to us. We will not let our brother’s passing dictate how we feel or live our lives but try to live our lives in a better way because of the life he lived.
And a wee message to Connor from us to wherever you’re listening from, thank you for being a true blessing in our lives. And even though you decided it was time to leave, if you ever want to come back to talk then that is ok, too. We’d like that. Love you always, sleep easy Amigo.