I first met Mark in 1984 when I was working for Total in London and he was with McDermott, the US Oil & Gas engineering company based in Wembley. We soon became great friends and I recruited him to Total in 1986 for the completion of North Alwyn Project.

Mark was born near South Shields in Tyne and Wear and went to Ratcliffe College near Leicester, where he was both Head Boy and Captain of Cricket, and then on to Newcastle University. He then went to Guildford Law School and, on completion of his studies, started his career in the Oil & Gas industry.

It was Mark who introduced me to Centaurs and we also played squash in Wembley. He was a classy rugby player and cricketer and represented Centaurs at both sports. A great tourist and very funny person with a tremendous variety of good fun jokes. We also went to many concerts and sports events at Wembley Arena & Stadium, which is where he met his wife Penny, who worked at Wembley Squash Club.

He then joined Phillips Petroleum in Woking for a few years and moved home from Maida Vale to Rickmansworth. In the early 90’s he left for Australia to work in Perth where things did not go too well and his marriage ended. He left Australia, where Penny and children Alex, Ed and Harry remained, and came home where he worked for Total again in Italy for a year or so and then on to the Middle East with Qatar Gas in Doha for a few years until retiring. He returned home to the North East where he lived for the past years until his sad passing.

Eric Denley