Donations to Thrive in memory of Jeremy (Uncle J)

With Uncle J's birthday approaching on the 11th January, we are taking this time to share some birthday wishes for him. In his memory, we will be doing a sponsored sing-along to some Rod Stewart music (one of his favourite artists) on the 24th January. Please feel free to pop on some Rod Stewart with us, reminisce on happy memories you have with Jeremy, and kindly make a donation to Thrive if you are able.

Thrive uses gardening to bring about positive changes in the lives of people living with disabilities or ill health, or who are isolated, disadvantaged or vulnerable. Gardening was a fond hobby of Jeremy's, and he especially loved the snowdrops around this time of year.

Below are a few birthday messages for him.

Mary (Sister): I was seven when the twins were born and remember it as a time of great excitement in the family. Although Jeremy was only half an hour younger than Laura he was the baby in the family until Tamzin came along much later. He was always very popular amongst family and friends. Over the years we spent many Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays with Jeremy and really enjoyed his company. As well as being good fun he was also kind and caring- he showed great patience and kindness to Robert during Robert's many years of ill health. I will be thinking of Jeremy on his birthday and remembering all the happy times we shared.

Loved always and forever.

Tamzin (Sister): Happy Birthday. Love you to the moon and back and always will. Laters!

Amy (Niece): Happy Birthday, Uncle J. I love you to the moon and back and miss speaking to you very much. I know you and Friendly are looking after each other now, just as you did back on the farm. Lots of love, and (as always) laters!

Dawn Sherrell: Thinking of you today, Jer, while I sing along to Rod. I always remember you when I put snowdrops on the table. You always picked a bunch of the first snowdrops from the lane for Mum. Missing you both.

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We have created this fundraiser memorial page in memory of Jeremy Grills, a much loved uncle, brother and friend who very sadly passed away on 23rd January 2023. We have chosen the charity Thrive because gardening was a passion of his, and we hope that this is a cause that will have as much of a positive impact on people's lives as he had on ours. Any donations would be greatly appreciated, and please feel free to add any memories of him you would like to share.

Amy (Niece): My fondest memories of Uncle J are from when I was little and he used to take me down to the farm with his sheepdog Maggie. I remember him letting me drive the tractor and try to herd the sheep, and when it was lambing season he'd always tell me he had "lambs coming out his ears". We used to go to Lopwell with Maggie, go crabbing by the cottage and he spent ages trying to teach me to skim stones on the riverbank. Whether it was buying me all the chocolates in the sweet shop, or telling me stories until way past my bedtime, he could never do enough for his family, was proud of absolutely everything we did, and never failed to make us laugh.

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Ben (Nephew): I remember when we went to Thomas the Tank Engine Land with Uncle J when we were younger. I remember him putting my sister's funny hat on to make us laugh - I thought it suited him better than Amy anyway! He was a big Chelsea fan, so when he took us to Build a Bear of course I came out with a bear wearing a Chelsea football t-shirt. Even though it never felt like it, my mum and sister would say I spent hours on the phone to Uncle J, which always ended in a bizarre routine where we would recite different flavours of pie to each other instead of saying goodbye.

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Tamzin (Sister): I remember when Jeremy found and adopted an injured crow we called Rookie, that we looked after until his wing mended, and then we'd take him for flying lessons. He was always taking strays under his wing. For my birthday one year his present to me was a stray cat he found, who promptly climbed up the curtains and straight back out of the window. When I was younger he was my big brother and my hero- I remember one occasion I was running down an incredibly steep hill and he had to swoop in and rescue me. He was a life saver when I was revising for my exams as well, always making me iced coffees when I got tired. I remember him doing Granny's gardening, and I would follow him around with the radio, always having to angle it to get signal so he could keep listening as he gardened. He was always a great comfort to us, except when it came to his sense of direction - "It's alright babes, we'll take a shortcut" was code for 'we're about to get very lost'.

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Rick (Nephew): I spent a lot of time with Jeremy while I was growing up helping on the farm with the milking, sheep and hay making. We had lots of fun and adventures over the years. I have so many stories we would be here all day so here are a few that stick in my mind.

We wanted to go for a walk over to the witches coldron as he called it which was the opposite side of the river from the cottage at bere ferrers. On our 1st attempt we got part way there and the tide started coming in so we had to run back to Lopwell to get across before the tide came in and cut us off. We tried again at a later date on a spring tide to give us more time and this time we made it but forgot our Flag so had to take our t shirts off and wave across the River to Grump on the other side watching us.

He was such a loving and caring person towards his animals. We were in the car heading up to the farm and all of a sudden he stops the car and gets out so I got out as well and he had seen a snail in the middle of the road so he picked him up and moved him to the hedge so he was nice and safe..

Another adventure and one of Jeremy's favourite sports was a trip to Lords to watch England v India in a test match. So we got the train to London, got to Lords amd sat down only for the game to be rained off so we went to do some sight seeing at Maddam Tussauds. We queued up for nearly 2 hours and we were almost at the entrance and Graney phones and said she heard on the radio the game was going to restart so we left the queue and went back to Lords and spent the afternoon chilled out watching the game..

Later on in life we had a little girl called Lily May and Jeremy was over the moon. He had spent a lot of time with Amy growing up and now he had another niece to spoil. We would take trips down to visit him every month and he loved seeing her run around sort out the teddies and eat lots of food, so she got the nickname chubby chops which will stick with her for life. His favourite story he told all the family was when Ollie, Lily's big brother had been mean to her during the day so she found the saucepan and banged him over the head with it. She was only 18 months old at the time and he found this hilarious. Laters.

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Rob (Brother in Law): My Brother in Law and good Friend Jeremy Grills peacefully passed away in his sleep in 2023. Jeremy was my very special Brother in Law. I first met Jeremy with his big loving sister Mary Grills during my first visit to Bere Ferrers in Devon. I remember Jeremy and his Brother John playing football in the Garden of Hillsborough. Jeremy was an all round passionate sports man with a great knowledge of Cricket and Chelsea Football club. I went to watch Jeremy play football on Sundays on The Bere Ferrers Playing Field.

If he was passionate about sport, he was even more knowledgeable about spring lambs, bird life and all Gods creatures. Jeremy was a good gentle Shepard in all senses of the Words. He could spot at a distance a Kingfisher sitting on the stone quay wall.

He always proudly showed me his spring lambs and the Highland Cattle on The Farm.

Jeremy and his twin sister Laura came to visit Liverpool for our Wedding Party when he also showed himself to be very able at dancing just like a Bull dance !

Jeremy joined us in a visit to Liverpool Football Club at Anfield and he always spoke highly of the match between Liverpool and Middlesbrough that he had enjoyed. On several occasions he mentioned his collection of Football programs. On one occasion he took me with his Friends Bill and Mary down to watch Plymouth Argyle play Chelsea.

Later the Twins came to visit Mary and I in our first home in Mid Wales.

Whenever we visited Devon Jeremy enjoyed visiting Granny in Whitchurch in Tavistock and shopping in Morrisons.

We went on several boat trips to Cawsands. Where he enjoyed a Cornish Pasty sitting in the Sunshine.

We had several trips to visit The Eden Project in Cornwall and walking around The Reservoir at Brentor.

I miss Jeremy deeply, his funny telephone conversations, his reminiscing of funny times, funny trips to funny places and even funnier Meetings at Victoria Station in London, on the way to Kent.

Jeremy was my Brother in Law but it feels like he was the Brother I never had. I am honored to have known Jeremy and I hope he is now resting and is very happy in his peace.

May his God be with Him.

Dr Robert G MacDonald.

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Dawn and the Sherrells: Jer was like a brother and son to us at Hole Farm. He was such a gentle, caring soul who was a big part of our lives, and who loved and did so much for Mum and Dad.

But he was also fun, with a wonderful sense of humour - he was always happy to join in with any daft things going on with the Sherrell family and friends. Loads of our friends and visitors to Hole Farm remember Jer fondly. He was always happy to take people to see the animals, especially the lambs and calves. He was especially gentle and understanding with an elderly lady I was caring for and she had such a wonderful time cuddling Jer's lambs. He adored all animals, especially his beloved dogs.

We miss you, Jer, and the fun times we had together. We miss you, Mum and Dad having tea in the kitchen, with Tom the cat having a scratch while he dug his claws into your legs. We miss you around the yard with your dogs, cats, lambs, Phyllis (his rescued pheasant). We miss you so much.

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Ted Sherrell, Stan's brother: Jeremy was truly a gentleman. He was a kind and thoughtful man who gave so much to life and to the community, and to his family. He was ever respectful of others with a great generosity of spirit. Our world is much the poorer for him having left it.

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Alison Sherrell: From Alison

I remember how caring Jer was…

… looking after his parents - especially his dad when he was ill with dementia – and also our mum and dad;

… looking after animals, large and small – he would spot if something was wrong long before we did;

… his patience with animals - and with all of us and the many visitors to the farm!

… helping dad, and then us, put up dad’s Remembrance sign on the Bere Ferrers road;

… picking early snowdrops and other flowers for mum.

And I remember the fun things…

… spraying two of the sheep with ‘Bob’ and ‘Geldolf’ whilst he was looking after the farm whilst mum and dad were in Australia;

… and decorating the milking parlour for Christmas;

… joining in when we all donned home-made red noses for the first Red Nose Day.

And I will remember our walks at Bere Ferrers and Weir Quay and our chats on the phone in more recent years…

… reminiscing

… discussing his love of music;

… talking about ‘Mr Stewart’ and his trips to concerts at Carlyon Bay and elsewhere

… trying to remember lyrics and artists.

Finally, I came across the poem below, which seems to suit him very well.

Rest in peace Jer.

Poem by an unknown author

Animals he loved, and laughter and the sun,

A song, wide spaces and the open air,

The trust of all living things he won,

And never knew the luck too good to share

Now though he will not walk with us again,

His quiet spirit seems our comrade yet,

Free from the power of weariness and pain

Forbidding us to mourn or to forget.

Thrive uses gardening to bring about positive changes in the lives of people living with disabilities or ill health, or who are isolated, disadvantaged or vulnerable. This is known as social and therapeutic horticulture - the process of working with plants to improve physical and psychological health, and communication and thinking skills.