Chris was born on the 8th October, 1959 and was the second eldest of 5 children (their names being Sue, Chris, Ian Gail and Lesley) and was raised in Blewbury, Oxfordshire. His parents Brian, Janet and siblings later moved to Berkshire where Chris went to St Sebastian’s Primary School in Wokingham. It was here he proved to have a musical talent and learnt to play the trumpet. From there he went onto the Forest Grammar School in Winnersh until he was 16 years old. As boys Chris and Ian spent many happy years playing, and fighting together (as brothers do!). From an early age Chris always had his nose in a book and later on found his favourite genre which was Science Fiction. You could never get a word out of him, unless you mentioned the word 'food' to him. He then got an apprenticeship with an electronic firm called Sperry Gyroscope which later on became part of BAE and spent the first year at Bracknell college studying a wide range of engineering practices including metal work. Chris and his fellow students all had to make a two tier tool box. Chris kept his because it was made so well. Chris was a keen motor biker and would on occasions take his sisters’ on the back of his motorbike down the lane next to their house on Nine Mile Ride , which was such an experience one of them later learnt to ride one of her own! Both Chris and his brother Ian used to help their dad with his house building and ‘Tinkering’ with the many cars and vans they had. Chris then went onto studying Electronic Engineering while he worked as an apprentice engineer. It was there he became close friends with Martin Randall, Mick Casey, Phil Pulling and Andrew Maitland. There were in fact many more. One fond memory a close friend has was as apprentices they were sent on a course for a couple days. One exercise was a midnight timed walk. All in the aid of team building. Arriving back at the house to clock in his friend was greeted by a laughing Chris who informed me his team was winning. With that he set off for the next lap, only to return 5 minutes later soaked from head to toe. What had happened? Chris had walked towards the bridge. There was a light that showed the left of the bridge. There was a light that showed the right of the bridge. Chris marched between the two lights and promptly fell in the river. There were two bridges and with his steamed up glasses did not notice until it was too late. After sitting their ONC exams the top three were offered a sponsorship to go onto Bradford University. Chris was one of the selected while the rest of his friends ploughed on to get our HNC’s. Chris enjoyed the University life a lot and formed many new friends which he kept in touch with for a long time. He graduated in 1982 and continued to work as an Engineer at British Aerospace for quite a few years. Returning from Bradford he lived as a lodger with Martin. It was a busy time for Chris and the house seemed to have revolving doors as people popped in at all hours. There were parties, Barbies and even home beer brewing was experimented with. The house was always full of people, with homemade chip butties as a regular late snack! Another memory was when Chris organised attending the Henley Regatta. Not once but three times. This involved obtaining enclosure tickets, watching the races, hiring boats and having hamper picnics with Sue helping all the way. He later moved to a house in the same estate as me. Where once again Chris worked just as hard having fun, than he did working. It was a fine balance, he was good at it. One thing Chris was particularly fond of was good wholesome food which he enjoyed cooking. All sons rely on their Mums and Chris was no exception. He would phone her regularly to ask 'how do you make onion sauce' 'how do you make mustard sauce'. Chris used to love his Sunday roasts and was obviously wanting to do it right with the sauce and all! This was a far cry from his childhood when he used to cover his Sunday roast (gravy included) with tomato ketchup! He moved on from BAE and progressed into software engineering, then project management through several companies and ended up working for Ardentia for the last 8 years where he was just made Commercial Manager. Chris married and had two sons Jack and Danny of whom he was a very proud and although they moved to Canada he was able to continue his close relationship with them. Chris fathered a daughter, Lexi and she was such a joy to him, he was devoted and loving father and did all he could for his children, family and friends. Chris was a good son to his mum and used to make sure he took his sons and daughter to visit as often as he could. Always willing to ferry everyone around to family gatherings. He stayed in touch with many of his friends and relations on Facebook and the whole Tinker family have been truly grateful for the wonderful comments and memories they have all shared with them. Most of you mentioned Chris as being a charming, sensitive, cheeky chappie with a disarming smile and this is how he should be remembered. Chris once quoted : There comes a time….in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh, forget the bad and focus on the good. So, love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don’t. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Everyone will miss him immensely.