From crazy over-complicated, harebrained schemes – like his ‘mousetrap’ firework launcher to silly snowboarding, disappearing to another country for 10 years (completing an entire bar top-shelf as a leaving challenge) and loony Le mans antics.
Please leave a comment (it will be moderated) at the bottom of the page or send your anecdotes / images to matthewFISHgeyman@gmail.com for publishing (replace ‘FISH with dot ‘.’).
Snorting flaming Sambucas from the bar in Sauze with me and my bro!
Hi, my name’s Lily and I’m a friend of Matt’s from Turin. I think we actually met a few years ago in Sauze D’oux. How shocking to see pictures of Matt online. I googled his name, I don’t know why, kind of hoping his face would pop us and told me it was all one of his frigging jokes. I miss him a lot and your pictures stirred up my memories of him and the perception I have that he’s still among us. Thank you for giving me these feelings. I feel, right now, he’s not completely lost in the universe and that, somehow, he’s here. I’d love to send you some of the pictures I have of him, these are just pictures as silly as he could be sometimes but that’s all I’ve got and I’d love to share them with you, if you tell me how.
I hope to receive from you soon
Love
Lily
One of the reasons we have trouble finding more photos of him is that Matt was always the first to grab a camera to take pictures of others… selfless as ever.
If you could shag any animal what would it be? I would shag a Pengiun.
Why would you shag a Pengiun? because if I shag a Pengiun you can then move on to larger pray with effectivly 13.5 tog condom!
Just one of many Spangism’s i remember, but this one really sticks as he had obviously gone into alot of thought over this.
The only guy I know that could snowboard from the top of the moutain in Sauze to the bottom in 6min 30sec and manage to stop off and get a broken arm in the process. Good work dude!
Le Mans – “Chaps I’m not sure that Industrial Sized Tin of Mushrooms should be pointing in that direction!”
Spangles words once he realized that the rather large tin of mushrooms which had been placed in the fire some minutes earlier had the potential to take someones head off!
Le Mans – After helping Gary to chop down a rather large tree that then fell on the power lines on Camping Houx Annexe he reflected in hindsight that the cut was probably in the wrong place!
Kev’s Birthday Party 2009 – So young Stephanie, would you like to see my Prince Albert? 🙂 Absolute classic and only Spangle could have gotten away with that without a slap around the chops! 🙂
Dan, Following on from that, Christmas Eve many moons ago in standing outside the Horse and Wells in Woodford. As one girl with quite ample cleavage walked up to the pub, Spangle looked down and said “Nice to meet the pair of you” Funnily enough, he did get a slap for that one!
After a typically alcohol feulled eve in the Horse and Wells pub, Spang staggered down the steps towards this girl, who had a great set on her… burrying his head in between them he said “Hi, please to meet the pair of you”.. how he didnt get a slap for that one i dont know lol
It was our 1st LeMans (I think) when everyone was enjoying shrooms, Spang was typically sitiing by the fire chilling.. after a few hours Phil and I returned to find Spang in exactly the same position, gazing into the flames and waving his hands in front of him… “Hey, erm this shrooms.. am I tripping?” Phil and I pissed ourselves with laughter
Spang is the only man I know who could enjoy a drink to the extent that not only did he not realise we had shaved his eyebrow off but even when he got up to goto the loo, he didnt realise he had egg curry falling out of his boxers, and simply returned to bed.. only to wake the following day and let out a cry of youoooo bastads!!! lol
Dropping a packet of digestives, from the aeroplane he was piloting, over my school playground – after checking it was clear first… of course 😉
Erm Matt, Im afraid it was actually a packet of hob nobs, dropped out of said window at 2500ft…. That was just after Spang told me to take my seat belt off as he proceeded into a nose dive, makeing me stick to the roof of the plane!!! oh and we also did variuous wing waves over my parents house as mum was hanging out the washing – only for her to say she didnt see us!! How I dont know!!! lol
During his ‘leaving trip’ from the UK, drinking an entire top shelf from the Royal Standard.. having his eyebrows shaved off whilst he was comatose later that evening.
He didn’t lose his eyebrows that particular occasion, It was in fact Badge that lost his. Spangle was covered in permanent red ink, the following morning both Badge and Spangle awoke and proceeded to piss themselves with laughter at each other neither knowing why, until a mirror was produced. I can tell that the journey home through Loughton High Road was an experience with people stopping and staring at Spang like he was suffering from some tropical disease.,
Crikey, we were all so drunk I’m surprised any details survive!
The night of drunken buffoonery in Turin will live long in the memory, this had to be a fore runner for Jack Ass!!! The video should have been sent into You been Framed!
Legendary night… from a legendary trip! I remember hanging out over the thundering river Po on a shaky limb, drunk as a skunk. Badg’s wedgie, Rotty’s dried sausage, Scissor’s chest hair.. How Spang forced us all up in the morning to drive the van to Sauze I’ll never know.
Yes indeed – a veeeery drunken night, with lots and lots of silly things happening and then back onto the slopes for the next day of boarding – felt sooo rough but the memory of northern’s chest hair going up in smoke, muscles getting the wedgy from hell and me falling off Spang’s unicycle will live with me 4ever!! LMAO!!
Tomatoes are the devil’s foot soldiers, this lives with me every time I see a tomato!
or is it mushrooms that are foot soldiers and tomatoes are the food of the devil?
So many great memories – we lived in the same bedsit block on our placement year in Farnborough and he was the first person to introduce himself and we were mates from then on. That was back in the days when he drove round in ‘Monty’ the red and lowered Austin Montego – what a car! Then in Southsea we shared the flat he bought – our FHM girly wall was a classic (took us ages to get enough pics and Matt bought most of the magazines for it!) and it was his idea to always have a bottle of good champagne in the fridge (something I still do today). I remember we’d light flaming sambuchas in our mouths and one time Matt spilt his down his front (still alight). But more than anything he was a true friend and I’m just sad we didn’t keep in touch so much after he went to Italy. That said, he joined me on a business dinner in Turin, speaking fluent Italian to the waiters and we ended up doing grappa sugar cubes till our mouths went numb. I’ll remember him as a humble chap who always did his best to help others and who was devoted to his family and little sister. Rest easy fella.
This is the one I mentioned at the ceremony:
Lake Louise is under rated for tough skiing and one of the tougher runs is actually the drag lift up to some of the serious skiing. Me and Spangle have been gabbing away and are taking it quite casually, when it’s Spangle’s turn to catch the drag, he humps his way in to position, reaches out his arm . . . and misses.
The attendant looks at me and I’m looking equally casual but I’m wearing full face helmet and mirrored goggles and says quietly “Has he done this before ?”. Answer “Yes, no problem” But not quietly enough, Spangle hears this and this was special. Opens his pocket, takes out a cigarette, lights it and catches the third bar because our man will not be hurried and he did this like he had all the time in the world and sails up a serious drag smoking a fag and chatting over his shoulder to me. You legend.
Another one. Arriving at Turin to find that Spang has gone to the effort of getting a laminated DEYS sign made. All the othe Reps have been bugging him to find out who he works for and he (and I have no doubt about this) tirelessly and with great (hidden but apparently patient) amusement, kept telling them it stood for Don’t Eat Yellow Snow but they never believed him. The effort that man put in to a joke.
As has been referred to before, the stupifying nights out in Turin. Waking up with no chest hair, sleeping on a kichen floor, with a plea already on my lips “No more lemon chellos”.
How on God’s green earth did we manage to hold on to that pool table the whole night ? And how did I manage to suvrive a trip in a van with people who could talk and still smoke non-stop for two hours.
I also recently discovered that what I thought at the time was a miracle aka Spangle’s coffee, was in fact pretty much 1:1 hot water:cofee, with three sugars. However, with it, no lost mornings and better value for money.
do you think we should post the video of how you lost your chest hair ;P
YES YES YES!!!! 🙂
Matthew was my honourary big brother who I loved dearly even when he’d tease or play his practical jokes on me. Janet and Peter are my godparents and only lived down the road so I had the pleasure of spending lots of time with him growing up, frequently getting upto mischief. How we never broke our necks doing forward rolls down the stairs or jumping from the top to the bottom I’ll never know but they are memories which I’ll treasure for ever.
Sitting here reading everyone’s comments and looking through all the pics with a tear in my eye along with a broad smile. Spang you are a legend and loved by all, your memory will always live on, but so wish you were still with us!
On behalf of Robbo and the rest of the boys happy birthday mate R.I.P gone but not forgotten . Always in our thoughts…..x
ciao rob, matt ti adorava tanto benso che non ci dimenticherà mai di noi tutti voi suoi amici “suoi fratelli” grazie matt vive attraverso i nostri ricordi vi ringrazio di cuore un mega abbraccio aurora
ciao Matt, mi manchi tantissimo soprattutto le nostre risate e le tue coccole, quando mi chiamavi doris o la tua rompi coglioni lo so che sei sempre con me matt ti voglio un mondo di bene aurora xxx xxx xxx
Aurora, I thank you and share your big hug x Matt loved you dearly and I am pleased he had you. I, like everyone wish he was still with us xx
1year on since I lost a brother, I think of you daily mate and miss you. Reading everyone’s memories brings tears yet a huge smile to my face. You were and are a legend dude and I thank you for always being there. Gone but never forgotten x
ciao ragazzi e soprattutto veri fratelli d’infazia grazie a matt sono riuscita un pò a conoscervi mi piacerebbe che tutti voi verreste a torino ps oggi sono andata in lungo po e nel fiume ho buttato una rosa bianco e un mazzetto una rosa bianca e un orchidea ho amato tanto matt, lui è parte di me vi assicuro che vive sempre con noi un abbraccio forte aurora
Happy Birthday Matthew!!!!
Beak xx
Happy 40th Dear Boy. I’ll have a pint of home-brew for you tonight.
Matt. xx
That picture is matt reinacting the itian job….cossing the river po in the same place the minis went over in the original! At his italian funeral we had the theme tune/music from this film and the sound system blipped so it was played at full volume as he left.a fitting tribute i think x sarah
thanks Sarah. it’s such a great pic, I put a copy on the homepage too.
http://mattfinch.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Matt-italian-job.jpg
“A couple of years ago when he was visiting my elder daughter must have been about 11 shouted down to me – mum there,s a weirdo in the street -wearing a pink work shirt ,hawian shorts ,court shoes and ankle socks!- I went upstairs to check out this vision only to see mattew walking up the road fag in hand and big grin on face! Italian style seemed to wash over him……….”
Anyway here are some pictures through ages of spangle to make you laugh…imagine him saying nooooooooooooo to geyman as he uploads them!
Whenever I flick through everyone’s photo’s and memories, it always brings a smile to my face – along with a tear to my eye. Dude you meant so much to everyone and you were/are the best friend anyone could wish for, always bringing laughter to those around you and always proud of being simply who you are.
I wish know you are always there, but wish you were sill here – I miss you xx
hi, my names Suzy, i worked with Matt at Lockheed Martin ASIC in portsmouth, until he moved to Eurocopter in Milan – he suddenly stopped answering txts and ive been searching for years to find him on social media.. can someone pls contact me to fill me in , i’m devastated x
Hi Suzy, it is still terribly sad to have lost such a great man so early. I’ll reply to your email now.