Its hard dude. Very hard. I hold on to the lightbulb that burned out when I first heard of you taking the big sleep..just cant seem to get rid of it. Mailed it twice and still it comes back so maybe Its meant for me. Never thought I could watch soccer but I pulled real hard for Manchester United this spring..glued to the television in Savannah Ga. I really enjoy this memorial because its almost like visiting your grave. When I get back to Mexico, whenever that may be, it wont be easy to do it without you, but Im still fighting Mike..I havent given up. Got to say you really put a damper on it kid..Like your locked up and I cant bail you out LoL. I do ok for a while and then it just hits me again that your gone ,, and it'll be sometime before I see you again. I know your resting now...and on occassion I see you in dreams...but damn! I told you to stay out of India! Hard headed brit. Call me Chad

mike,i know youll be happy and at peace,always thinking of you mate.miss you.

may you stay close to your family to give them strength

RIP - Mike

Life goes on, that is true,but with each passing day i'm finding it all the more difficult to accept.I'm waiting for you to come Home,but it aint going to happen.My God Mike if you knew the size of the Hole that you have left! Growing up in our house was always different. Three boys of close age, arguing over absolutely everything, Mum an Dad must of loved living with us three....Lol. The summer holiday's that billy mentioned, i remember them with fondness. Innocent day's,good day's.Those summer's helped shape the people we turned into. An what an amazing person you turned out to be Mike.Alway's willing to help people, plenty of time for all the people that you met. So humble, with such a natural gifted ability in your work.No matter what you turned those gifted hand's too. Sketching,canvas painting's,clay model's and your amazing sculpting's in stone and then wood. such an amazing talent,such an amazing brother. I only wish i could of said goodbye.I miss you Mike so, so much. We all do, It's getting harder not easier, love you so much my dear Bro, Hope you ,Finny and Grandad are watching over me.I know i'll see you again one day, but for now goodbye.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Happy birthday up there mike.Some people make the sky more beautiful to gaze upon, leave footprints on our hearts.You certainly left thousands of them down here. You were a special character.Andrew billinge left some marvelous words about you, i remember them summers dearly. Being crazy and young.,going home at the end of a long adventerous day filthy and smelling of bonfires.Yet to taste adult life. Getting an all day bus saver, an going as far away as it would allow us to.There was you me, rirds lee hall knipey billy,pouch. I 've not seen any of them for many years now.But they are days i will always remember,Mike you gave us all some treasured times,i will always remember you with great fondness. Goodbye, miss you and always will . lots of love steve,,,, wonko.

pass your mums every day and always think of you mike .miss you xx kathxx

mike i remember you like a mate i mean how many more of my dads mates are gonna jump over his chair. and that day when i dragged you off the seat at the pub outside i'm sorry, but you love all that don't you. i just wish you was still here mate. bye

That hooligan walked into my bar in Mexico 3 days before I opened the doors..First words out of his mouth were.."Nice place but could use a bit of color". Couldn't serve legally but he had jsut been kicked out of the hostile on Isla Mujeres for snoring LOLOL, so I said what will it be dude? I didnt expect the accent that I heard, for I have dealt with many brits but none from Manchester.."Vodka and Cran!" was the best I could get until I picked up on his vernacular. I can still hear him slaughter the English language as only Michael could..not that is was horrible, but that it followed Mikes thoughts. All of us who knew him knows that that is the beginning of a wild ride trying to follow him through those rabbit holes in his head. Its arduous but a hell of alot of fun. More than fun it becomes a labor of love..a job we all loved to do. After polishing of a 1 litre bottle of Vodka and getting to know each other while listening to old U2 on my Ipod till 4 am and making fun of a Man who looked just like Bono across the street (by the way it was Bono we found out the next day- with Geldof on some humanity tour in Cancun- Not the first time Mike and I would screw up a good oppurtunity lmao), Mike ask if he could sleep in my garden..2/3's of my bar was a mayan garden in back. "Of course said I" That was the beginning of the greatest friendship I have ever had and Im 40. Mike made it his home and by all accounts it was. He worked endlessly on the art in the restaurant and would capture all around him in amazement as he balanced on a stool painting the front at 3:30 am with a vodka and cran in one hand..cigarette in his mouth and paint brush in the other hand. People from all over the world would just stop and watch...for hours at a time. After I had beat up the Mayor of Isla mujeres nephew one night for hitting me 3 times ....remember this is mexico..,Mike was the first at the police station to get me at 5:30 am..not even my then fiancee had gotten up yet. He proceeded to cause a monstrous disturbance in the Manchester accent to people who couldnt understand English..after 15 minutes my fear was that he'd end up in here with me. He didnt, but it showed me alot about the man he was. I could write books upon books about my experiences with this "gift" the good lord had given us. The longer you knew him- the closer you grew together - but at first meeting he had you. Mike and I are very alike when it comes to what we believed to be the most important aspect of the human condition..love and the time we have to spend with those we do. We had a lot of time together just watching each others backs in a foreign land - both missing home and family. We shared alot of deep insights with each other- there were no secrets or sorrow unnoticed- no pain too uncomfortable to speak of. Both of us felt though that we had hurt so many that they were better without us..we were wrong. Forgive him for anything he may have done, it was Mike and we wouldnt want it any other way. He told me once that I had the greatest capacity for love and forgiveness he'd ever seen, but that it was destroying me to carry the weight of others. He said that I needed to let go of certain burdens- that he would do so. Really? We all know Mike. Would he ever let go of anything? Hell no. I feel cheated..though I know that I had more than my lions share of his presence..I feel we have all been cheated. I feel you cheated me you "BRIT"..left me here alone in this madness. I feel more than anything- deep love for you ..and it has'nt killed me yet- nice try jackass- almost got me with this last trick. I told You NO Way IN HELL WOULD I go to India..geez, you always listen to me after I get you out of trouble...just one time before! To all Mikes friends I do not know- Mike only chose the best- he saw in us what was in him..a powerful magnet. I miss you dude,,so very very much. P.s. Mike..for god's sake call me.

Peo,ple say Mike had a god given talent but He worked harder than most artists always searchin for his own perfect style.He learnt from nature,his friends,his lovers and his idols.His family meant the world to Mike and he'd have gladly cut off his own hands to have give them all a perfect life. Well they say life is never perfect,but it is full of beauty,horror,ups and downs,smiles and frowns.They say that you can never be truly happy until you have been truly sad,now I'm sure Michael would have wished for us all to get on with our own lives,helping our freinds and families through these complicated times.He would have wanted us all to have came out of this nightmare,full of soul and compassion.I'd like to say farewell to Michael,Mike,Harvs,Spel.A son,a brother,a friend,a lover,a painter,a sculptor,A soldier of LOVE.Goodbye Mike we will always carry a piece of you in our hearts

how you doing up there mike hope your ok godbless

he was an insperation to us all an will b sadley missed by all mates an family

lots of very funny funny memories to always remember you by x you were a beautiful person inside and out, you will be missed by all x i'll always remember your smile x

GOD ONLY TAKES THE SPECIAL ONES.GRANDAD WILL NOW SHOW YOU THE WAY.GOODNIGHT GODBLESS,LOVE LORNA AND FAMILY XXXXXX