Martin Strawson's Memorial Website

Martin came into this world on the 11^th of August at 12:30pm, rather conveniently for his father who had time to return home to watch Geoffrey Boycott score his 100^th century at Headingly. On returning to the hospital it was unilaterally decided that Martin’s second name would be Geoffrey.

From the day of his birth, Martin was an easy baby and mostly very cheerful so long as his desire for food had been satisfied. He was also strong willed very quick to let us know, in no uncertain terms, what he wanted. He would try to get his way until he knew the cause was lost. Then he would accept the situation and settle down. Even before he could crawl he demonstrated his leadership potential, when he wanted a toy he would point to it and David would fetch the toy for him.

Even at a young age Martin would never do anything unless he could do it perfectly, climbing out of his cot, walking, feeding himself, talking and later riding a bike were all achieved a little later than his brother, David, but with very few hiccups along the way.

As a toddler Martin was very affectionate, loving cuddles and enjoying being read a story. The words that stick in the memory are “Read it again Daddy, read it again”. When David went to primary school Martin would join him in the evening practising his reading so that by the time he started school he could read by himself. This love of reading stayed with him throughout the rest of his life.

Martin took to school very easily, his thirst for knowledge insatiable. At primary school his joy of learning and high intelligence showed through very strongly. He enjoyed his time there apart from one year when he was placed in the class of a teacher who specialised in arts and crafts which Martin decided was a total waste of time. Martin’s strong opinions were clearly quite evident.

At that age he was already showing signs of his prodigious memory, we all wanted to be on his team during games of Trivial Pursuit.

His joy of learning grew at secondary school and the wider curriculum gave further opportunities to demonstrate his overall ability and intellectual capacity across a very wide range of subjects. When the time came to choose the subjects for GCSE it was very hard for him as he didn’t want to give anything up and all the teachers were pressing him to take their subjects. He had the ability to learn on his own. When forced to take just one language with the Sciences at GCSE He decided to study German, his other language with private tuition and obtained the GCSE with a grade ‘A’ in one year at the age of 14. The only area which did not come naturally to him was ‘Expressive Arts’ but he still obtained a GCSE B grade. His quest for perfection showed through as he saw this as a failure having obtained an ‘A’ grade in all his other subjects. This perfectionist streak drove him to work very hard at everything he did and this continued throughout his life sometimes at the expense of his health.

However, Martin was not totally involved in academic studies. As a teenager he enjoyed playing badminton, swimming, and cycling but not cricket. His caring attitude began to come through with a keen interest in voluntary work, helping out at a play scheme for disadvantaged children and at an old peoples centre. He had also become politically aware with a distinct leaning to the left; he took great pleasure in discussing politics with us often taking an opposing attitude to stimulate debate. His views mellowed over the years as he became one of the owning classes!

Being Martin, on entering the sixth form, he decided to take five A levels instead of the usual four as he thought that General Studies didn’t really count. Martin could have taken up any of the subjects he studied (except art) but after much indecision finally elected to follow the Science subjects Chemistry, Biology and Maths. With his strong aptitude for languages he also decided to study French. During those two years he studied very hard -too hard, in our view but we could not persuade him to ease up. With grade A’s in all subjects and the award of the 1995 Certificate of Excellence for A Level Biology by the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate, he felt the results justified all his hard work.

With a place secured at Churchill College, Cambridge, to study the Natural Sciences, Martin spent a very enjoyable and sociable gap year as part of the Year in Industry scheme working at Shell near Chester and whilst there he started to build up his amazing circle of friends. On leaving Shell Martin spent the summer with one of David’s friends, inter-railing across Europe on a route that he had meticulously planned. They managed to visit most of the countries in Europe, not to mention a quick trip over to Tangiers. His love of travel became a major feature of his social life.

Martin was very quiet in the weeks leading up to beginning his studies at Cambridge. He seemed to lose confidence in himself and became very indecisive. During the first weeks of the term it became very obvious that all was not well, he felt totally overwhelmed by the work although his tutors assured him that his progress was fine. He swapped courses but this didn’t help as depressive illness overwhelmed him. He came home and following a period of recuperation he worked for Boots and volunteered at the local UK Cancer shop where all the other helpers made a huge fuss of him. During the year he applied for and got a place to study Biological Sciences with European Studies at Birmingham University, which brought together his love of languages with his keen interest in Biological Science.

Martin felt completely at home from the day he started at Birmingham, where the encouragement and support was conducive to his well being providing bedrock from which he was able to blossom. Aside from his studies, he took a great interest in student and university life becoming a Non- Sabbatical Officer on the Guild of Students and involvement with the Guild continued throughout his time at Birmingham. The third year of study was spent working at Montpellier University; he loved the chance of living in France practicing his French and making new friends.

He came to a decision not to follow in his parent’s footsteps as he had realised a career in Science involving practical work was not for him. During his final year at Birmingham everything seemed to click into place. and he seemed to thrive on all the work he undertook. It was a source of great pride to us that not only did he get a well deserved 1^st class Honours Degree in “Biological Science-Study in Continental Europe” but also the “Vice Chancellor Prize" awarded to the final year undergraduate across all disciplines for not only scholarship but also leadership and initiative, as well as a clutch of departmental prizes.

On leaving Birmingham Martin had to choose from several job offers. Faced with the difficult decision as to which offer he should take, he became indecisive and fretful leading eventually to another period of depression with another year at home. As part of his recovery plan he took a job at Macclesfield Council in the Land Registry Department which he greatly enjoyed and also resumed his voluntary work at the Cancer Shop.

In the following year he began work as a University Administration Trainee at Cardiff University, a position he loved. He played a significant role in helping to organise the merger between Cardiff University and Cardiff Medical School. When this role came to it’s natural end he took up a position working as a publicity officer at the Wales Gene Park.

Whilst at Cardiff he suffered another bout of depression but in September 2005 came through this very difficult period to take up a position At Sheffield University.

In April the following year Martin became ill with extreme stomach pains and was rushed to hospital. Initially they thought he had a perforated ulcer but it proved to be a complex case of Peritonitis. During post operative recovery it was thought he suffered heart failure and on further investigation discovered he had a serious heart condition. Surgical intervention was not thought appropriate other than a heart transplant. They decided the way to treat him was through medication.

He had never really taken to the position in Sheffield so when a post of Student Appeals Officer at Birmingham University became available he applied with alacrity. Unfortunately, shortly before his interview he had to go into hospital again due to adhesions from his appendectomy. The University kindly postponed the interview and he made the new date only a few days after the second operation whilst still in recovery. His perseverance paid off and when offered the position at Birmingham he was over the moon. The time he spent there we think, was one of the happiest periods of his life. He was in contact with and regularly meeting his huge circle of friends, he loved the work he was doing and knew it was appreciated. He bought his own house and we worked joyously with him to make it into a home.

He continued to live to the full, working hard and playing hard. Perhaps he knew his time was limited, his life on a knife edge. In that time, as ever, he gained such great respect and admiration from all who came in contact with him.

His life was far too short, he lived it fully, with great vigour, compassion and an enquiring mind. Colin and Monica

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