Tom was born in Woking and was the 3rd child to Kitty and Tom. He had 2 big sister's; Maggie and Lynn and little brother John.

The Pattison's were a catholic family but Tom was never a religious man of any kind which will explain for some of you why his wishes were for a more "celebratory" occasion today. Well, the real reason was his religious bridges were effectively burnt at the age of 3 after he told the nun to "buggar off" at Sunday school....there's no coming back from the is there!? This will also explain why, unlike Maggie, Lynn and John, Tom was never confirmed nor had 1st holy communion.....Nan Pattison was too scared of what he might do!

After losing his father at the age of 15, Tom assumed responsibility for his mum and younger brother, having to grow up quite quickly.

Tom married Liz in 1973. They moved to Basingstoke and went on to have Nicola and Martyn.

Tom faced challenges with ill health at a particularly young age, and with a young family, but he fought it and won and continued to have a positive outlook on life.

Tom LOVED his football! A lifelong affinity to his beloved Woking FC led to many, many cherished and memorable moments at Wembley as well as following them up and down the country. The car journey's were sometimes fraught with stress. On one particular occasion the radio was turned down as we neared the ground. Someone in the car made a remark "alright stress-head"...to which Tom relied "I'm not sodding, pissing stressed"....clearly he wasn't.....:-)

Those that shared the terrace with him knew he had, shall we say a less than positive opinion sometimes on the proceedings. The bellowing of "RUBBISH" during and at the end of some games is still ringing in our ears even now!

Tom also liked to be a little bit controversial with his football opinions and always proudly proclaimed to be the only Englishman at Wembley in 1968 supporting Benfica against Manchester United. His love of Liverpool FC might just explain this one though.

With his son Martyn also inheriting this love of football Tom spent a great time managing Loddon Sports alongside his friend Malcolm Paine. Although, with Martyn actually inheriting his uncle John's temperament on the football field this did make it somewhat difficult at times :-) All of those boys though I"m sure would speak highly of those times being guided by Tom and Malcolm.

Tom was an avid birdwatcher and would, when walking the dog invariably have his binoculars at the ready, or when on holiday in South Devon with his dearly loved Father-in-law Stewart would spend hours going upwards at the birds. He also went on many "twitching" excursions. One such memorable occasion we heard about many times, was with his brother-in-law Ray. Now...bird hides are usually very quiet places, but not so much on this occasion as Ray proceeded to enjoy his lunch of tightly wrapped foil sandwiches accompanied by nice, crunchy crisps! Tom could easily see the funny side of all this, but the disapproving looks of consternation from the other bird watchers present suggested they probably thought otherwise! Tom was extremely amused as all the birdwatchers present were looking in one direction at some rare and exotic avian visitor, whilst Ray was fixed in completely the other direction on what turned out to be a common, but still lovely nonetheless, Robin :-)

There was a running joke in the family between Martyn, Nicola and Liz about the "quality" of Tom's DIY skills with him being affectionately known as "Wiggy" ( a calamitous characterisation portrayed by one of Tom's favourite comedians Jasper Carrot). One such memorable occasion was spent tackling the lighting in the living room. Wires were proudly mended and re-wired, however when the moment came to turn on the living room lights.....lights did come on but.....upstairs:-) He did see the funny side eventually but didn't take too kindly to the mocking that came at that very moment though! As much as his son revelled in the mickey taking, he does sadly acknowledge that he too has inherited this gene from his father!

Tom was incredibly proud of his children. His daughter Nicola loving her career as a nurse and his son Martyn giving him his first grandchild, Liliah-Rose.....Though even they concede that these may pathe insignificant to Woking FC winning the FA Trophy in 1994, 1995 and 1997 :-)

Tom was very much into his music. He loved going to concerts: Eric Clapton, James Taylor, The Eagles, Tina Turner...just a few of his favourites. He could often be found sitting with his headphones on oblivious to the world around him.

He spent all his career as a Typesetter, working at Unwins, Prima Graphics, Shears and finally the Basingstoke Gazette. After being made redundant Tom found an alternative career as a "checkout chick" at Sainsbury's. Where we have learnt that he was very popular and always had a queue. We're not sure if this meant he was particularly good at his job or he just liked to talk.

Sadly, as we are all aware the last 4 years have seen a very different Tom....we lost the humorous, silly and fun-loving man that we all knew and loved. He was cared for with such love and dignity by Liz.

We will miss him dearly and cherish all the wonderful memories that we have.

Rest in Peace x