IN MEMORY
It is with great sadness that we have lost a legend – the wonderful Jonnie Irwin who passed away in February. He was a personal friend, part of the wider FTB team and loved by millions when he presented A Place in the Sun and Escape to the Country on television for so many years. Jonnie had such a spirit! He was incredibly brave and fought this horrible disease, cancer, until the end. He defied all the odds and amazed everyone when he bounced back time and time again. My memories of Jonnie are that we always laughed and had fun. I first met him when we did a feature about him way back then. I remember him sitting in the back of the photographer’s car as we drove to the location for the photoshoot and although we had never met before we just ‘clicked’. Some years later we visited his flat for another photo session and while making us a delicious cup of coffee he told us about how he was such a supporter of the Lord Taverners charity as he loved cricket but always fully supported their fund-raising events. Nothing fazed him – climbing mountains, skiing, trekking – he was up for it all! The lovely TV presenter Nicki Chapman had been the host of our Readers’ Awards for several years and we were coming up to the 2018 Awards when, a couple of weeks before the event, I received a call from Nicki to say she had a brain tumour (which thankfully she fully recovered from) and that she was unable to host. I sat there wondering what to do and decided to call Jonnie to see if, given the very short notice, he would step in. Of course Jonnie was there and what an incredible job he did. I will never forget the way he became a professional auctioneer when we raised money for our chosen charity.There was a BMX bike up for grabs and he happily rode it round the audience raising more and more money on the way. After that, Jonnie was most definitely part of the FTB dream team and from then on both Jonnie and Nicki hosted the Awards together, which was the perfect duo. On yet another occasion Jonnie was coming to do a Q&A session with me at one of our London Home Shows.Time was ticking on and I was getting very worried as to where he was. When he arrived with minutes to spare he was a very, very worried man. He had been scammed that morning and was beating himself up as to how stupid he had been.We told him it happens all the time and that these scammers are very, very clever. In typical Jonnie style he rose to the occasion and sat in front of the audience answering their questions and telling a few anecdotes along the way – brilliant as ever! Jonnie’s family were his world – he adored his incredible wife, Jess, and his three little boys more than anything. After Rex, his first son, they had twin boys, and I too, have twin boys, so we shared stories about their escapades and Jonnie’s face would always light up talking about them all. His passing has rocked the wider housing community who all loved him. Jonnie will always be in our hearts and our thoughts are with Jess, Rex, Rafa and Cormac and the rest of his family and friends at this very difficult time. IN MEMORY OF THE GREAT JONNIE IRWIN
RIP Jonnie
First Time Buyer April/May 2024 9
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