sam and i met and became friends when i was six years old at a riding school in south london. I used to sit on the hay bales and watch the riding lesson that sam rode on. Her dad john would come to pick sam up at the end of her lesson. One day sam told me that her dad was a mounted policeman at brixton police station. What a lucky man i thought, i just wanted to ride horses all day long and john was doing just that and i looked up to him and admired him. Sam and i was growing up and as kids we would do silly things. John told sam and ithat if we got into trouble then he would lose his job. john would tell us some funny stories of what the horses would do when they were exercised but not on duty. John had a collegueand friend called norman and they rode out together on the police horses. John rode a horse called dalwinger and told me how when not on duty how naughty she was and how she kicked out at a cyclist and he fell of the bike. John kept all his children on the straight and narrow and he was very proud of them as the family was proud of him. Rest in peace john and keep smiling down on all your family as they will smile up at you. X