18/06/2026
This panel was made for Tony by their friend Susan Sneddon. Their friend Jason also wrote a poem, which is included on the panel. It is incredibly moving. If you head to the UK AIDS Quilt YouTube channel you can listen to a recording of the poem.
Just Another Day?
Toying nervously with the ring on my finger
Death hands in the air, the smell forever will linger.
Friends who care, know not what to say,
Family carry on: to them it’s just another day.
‘It’s for the best’ ‘not more pain’ ‘he’s in peace’
These are the people who knew you the least.
Black car comes box on tow
Plain and ugly. No pink does it show.
Follow the leader - bling leading blind -
to a place where they burn some of our kind.
Pound of feet from people who mourn.
My heart fills with sorrow, hatred and scorn.
A figure dressed in black speaks and I shed a tear:
No kind loving words, no music to hear,
No trace of my friends a love I once knew
Just emptiness - nothing here to remind me of you.
I cannot stop crying, I can’t tell you why,
Just repeating these words ‘Why did you die?’
A lever is pulled, in draws the curtain,
With no sense of comforting, I feel so uncertain!
Outside it’s raining: I see God has been crying.
Does he feel the pain you felt in your dying?
My grief bellows out, it won’t halt, it won’t end:
Tear drenched and wet clutched in the arms of my friend.
Together we cry mourning our brother,
Pillars for each other being father and mother,
Now part of us missing like a beach without sand,
Angels without halos, the world without land.
Drive back in the car with nothing to say,
Pay our respects, then be on our way.
Inside the cold room no sadness no one weeps,
Instead food and cheap booze where once you did sleep.
Talking of houses, banks, parties, times old and new:
Do these people care? Did they really love you?
To meet once again we must first say goodbye:
Friendships are eternal. They can never die!
For Tony I miss you love, Jason October 1990
Panel 5 Image courtesy of UK aids Memorial Quilt Partnership Panel 5 is currently on display at the Museum of Richmond as part of our exhibition THREADS THROUGH TIME: COMMUNITY QUILTS IN RICHMOND. On NOW until the end of September 2026. FREE ENTRY Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, 11am to 5pm, Saturdays, 10am to 4pm.
