"RIP Bill Braham / "Thomas Mante"" Topic

Some of you will be familiar with British wargamer Bill Braham, who was Thomas Mante on TMP. Sadly, Bill died on Friday, July 15th – apparently of a heart attack, though a PM will take place this week.

Having known Bill for some years, he was a smashing chap, with a dry sense of humour and an encyclopaedic knowledge of pretty much any subject he turned his mind to. He was not a frequent poster on TMP, but when he did contribute, it was always from a position of good (and invariably primary) research, and he was always very helpful. He was a stalwart of the Pike & Shot Society, and could usually be found manning the P&SS stand at wargames shows with Stepehn Ede-Borrett. His contributions,e particularly the F&IW and AWI boards, will be sorely missed.

For British wargamers who knew him and would like to pay their respects, I hope to find out fairly soon when a memorial service will take place, and will post the date on here.

Sorry to lose him. Thanks for letting us know.

Condolences to his family and friends

Very sad. I shall miss his posts.

Sad news indeed. :-(

Oh my! I have had numerous emails with Bill about several topics. A really stellar chap. Helped to get the 1860s Canadians created from Pendraken I believe. Prayers and thoughts go out to his friends and family.

Condolences

Condolences to his family.
Mark

That's very sad news. Bill was a valuable contributor to this forum and was kind enough to comment on my blog from time to time – always to note some interesting fact or gently suggest how I might have got something wrong. He will be much missed.

Bill's funeral service (Humanist) will take place at 3.20pm on Wednesday 10th August 2016 at the West Herts Crematorium, High Elms Lane, Watford, WD25 0JS.

It will be followed by a reception to celebrate Bill's life at the Holiday Inn, Breakspear Way, Hemel Hempstead, HP2 4UA. In order to keep track of likely numbers, please would anyone planning to attend contact cliff.mitchell747@ntlworld.com and give their details – please mention this requirement if you pass this message on to friends.

Bill's family have requested no flowers but would appreciate donations to the charity, 'Help for Heroes' – donations can be made here: jworley.co.uk/donate

Other useful links:
Directions to the West Herts Crematorium can be found at the following website – westhertscrem.org
Directions to the Holiday Inn, Hemel Hemsptead can be found at the following website – link

Thanks to all those who attended, or sent condolences, but especially to Cliff Mitchell and his family, who organised the service, the reception afterwards, and who entertained the wargame/military history fraternity afterwards with a delicious barbeque. Cliff also chose the music for the service, which was a wonderful selection that took account of Bill's love of brass bands and Yorkshire. It was hard not to smile as Bill was carried out of the chapel to the strains of "The Great Escape" – he would have loved that!

Bill had a wide range of interests, and consequently friends, and it was fascinating to meet them and discover they had formed exactly the same (very positive) impressions of him that I, and others on here, had. He will be sadly missed.