Brian Lock 'Locky' | Sports Club Chairman

To have to write a few words about the passing of anyone who has been involved in our club at any time is extremely difficult but to have to write about someone who I was honoured enough to call a friend is even more so. Brian Lock our Sports club chairman lost his battle with cancer ten days ago and after a five-year battle it was time for him to move on. Brian started at the club as a youth manager running his boys’ team right up to Under 18`s and whilst by his own admission not exactly the Pep Guardiola tactically (very few are by the way) he created an environment where the players would run through a brick wall for him, and they knew he had their back. Many of those young players went on to become lifelong friends and that’s part of Lockys charm he just connected with people particularly football people and he must have literally had one ex player or another labouring for him over the years and honestly half the time he may not have needed them but they needed a job and some money and for some it kept them on the straight and narrow until they figured out what they wanted to do.

Locky then went on to become reserve team manager and then very quickly first team manager and he carried out that role with the same commitment and enthusiasm as he had managed the youth side, but he got to have a beer with the men’s team afterwards and the bonds grew stronger, again many of those players remained close friends with him to this day. I don’t know how many times we were out and about and someone would come over to say hello and I would say “Who’s that?” and he would say “ that’s so and so he used to play for me back in the day, good player” and he always remembered who they were and asked about their family he had a brilliant memory about who`s who and what their family situation was.
In my opinion his greatest achievement at the club though was when he became Sports Club chairman and oversaw the whole club bringing people together, getting the differing sections to work more closely as whilst football was his first love at the club he also recognised we could have a harmonious relationship with the cricket or catering section and it was in all our interests to pull together for the greater good, for the good of the whole club. A lot of change has happened over the last seven years and all the improvements at the club he has had a major part in, the canopy out the front during and after covid, assisting senior football with huge support for the grounds fencing, floodlights, dugouts, and new stand. He was buzzing when we achieved something that would help the next generation of young player coming through.
Locky, He got to see his grandkids in the red and black of Wormley and he was so pleased when he would walk back to the café on a Saturday morning and tell the football committee where the under 8`s had done well or gone wrong!!
Locky made time for everyone, made time to listen to them and that is such a skill, he cared passionately about people at the club , he cared passionately about the club and always wanted it to improve.
On a personal note I drove him to Madrid in 2020 for the Champions league final as we were both Spurs fans and we weren’t sure it was ever going to happen again, now the idea of spending 36 hours in a car with someone is not my idea of fun but I can honestly say I laughed for ninety nine per cent of the time during our journey, we absolutely put the world to rights and he really opened up about his life, his childhood and growing up. We shared a lot which is not for onward publication but when he said on the way home with my son Connor in the car who we had met out there and travelled back “What was the first record you bought?” I had to say, “Enough is enough we have been in the car far too long if you are asking me that, its not a date!!!” and he let out that great big Locky laugh and probably swore at me under his breath. We ate green chicken in our stopover in San Sebastian and stayed in a hotel that was something out of a horror film, but I wouldn’t have wanted to have that experience with anyone else.
Another quick story if I may, around the time he became ill and started some treatment he was doing some work at my house, fitting a kitchen and putting a roof lantern in the roof of the extension and because he was having treatment and having to go to the hospital a lot at that time the work went on for months which was fine as we both knew if he was pottering about at mine he wasn’t thinking about his condition every minute of the day and working at mine became a great distraction for him at that time. My grandson 4 at the time, in school was asked about his family and to name them, so he did “Mummy, Daddy, my sister Belle, Jax the dog, Nanna, Grandad and Yocky………” so when the teacher asked who was Yocky, he said “Oh he lives with Nanna and Grandad and runs Wormley” in his mind Locky had spent so long at mine that he thought he was part of the family.
 
The world needs people like Brian Lock a man who selflessly volunteered his time all of his adult life to improve the lives of other, whether as a coach, youth manager, reserve and first team manager, as a dedicated committee man, as someone who washed the kits of the senior teams to try to save the club monies, as someone who done countless repairs at the club for free over the years, who gave his all for a club he loved and gave his all to a group of members of the club that absolutely adored him, he was a big man in every sense of the word but he was also a gentle giant and there will always be a Locky sized hole in our club going forward. We will be organising something to commemorate him at the club but will liaise with the family once the funeral has passed
 
We were lucky enough to be part of his football family and we should be grateful that we got to spend so much quality time with him, for his own family this is a devastating time for them, and we send our love and support to Deb his wife, David, Mike, and Ashleigh his children and to his grandkids too.  We have lost a club legend and the place will never be the same again, its time to hang up your boots mate and rest well, we will finish the work you started, and I hope we make you proud
 
Brian Lock Rest In Peace