Okay, we know most parents think that their son is "one of the greatest", but our Tim really is!

We thought this on the day he finally made his entrance into this world on September 16, 1973, and we still think so now, especially as we've come to know him so well over the years.

Tim is good-looking, intelligent, sweet-natured and caring (it's so fortunate that he inherited his parents' genes). Modest, too!

A tad lazy? Oh no, not at all. Perhaps "chilled out" is the best expression to describe his often relaxed attitude to life - although I don't think we said that when he was off playing football instead of getting down to his revision for his GCSEs!

To begin at the beginning, Tim took three days to be born. The effort involved in this process made him quite poorly and exhausted, and he had to lie under a special sunlamp in the hospital to recuperate for several days, before being allowed to come home.

Come to think of it, 29 years later, he's still very partial to lying around beneath the rays of the sun whenever he gets the opportunity - old habits die hard!

From an early age, Tim was very protective of his little sister, Jennie, and he still is. When he was only three-and-a-half years old and Jennie was two years old, Tim, unbeknown to Mum and Dad, decided to restyle Jennie's long tresses into a "David Beckham". This, of course, was long, long before David Beckham thought of it!

Tim was sensible enough to use the special round-ended safety scissors which he found in his toy-box. He was very proud of this "hedgehog" look which he had created and could not understand why Mum and Dad were so horrified.

After all, he had tried not to make a mess by draping a towel round Jennie's shoulders, as he had seen hairdressers do.

Reference to David Beckham reminds us that Tim developed a passion for football at around the age of 12 years. This was about a year after he had left the Scouts because, he complained, "they play too much football"!

Tim joined Holbrook Colts football club and enjoyed several good seasons, becoming Player of the Year and Players' Player in 1989/90 and Clubman of the Year in 1991, among other great honours.

Unfortunately, astute football scouts were seemingly elsewhere in the country (probably down Essex way) so the performance of Sven's Men in Japan this year may well have been affected by Tim not being a member of the England squad!

Apart from his wanting to become a world-class footballer when he grew up, Tim's other ambition, career-wise, was to be a lorry driver.

With this in mind, he took and passed his driving test at the earliest opportunity (age 17) but to everyone's surprise, chose to buy a second-hand red Mini instead of a juggernaut.

We assumed that his own lorry might take a little more saving-up for (his Saturday job at the local supermarket didn't pay that well) but he then further surprised us all by opting to take a degree in history - although he'd never shown the slightest interest in history prior to that, unless it was watching videos of England's greatest football goals, including the World Cup match of 1966!

He's a lad full of surprises, is our Tim. After completing his degree, he was so exhausted that he felt he needed a bit of a holiday. This took the form of back-packing around the world for several months, curtailed only when his funds "ran out".

Another of Tim's sterling qualities is his loyalty to his friends and family. Many of his friends who will be supporting Tim and Janine at their wedding have been his friends since early childhood.

Janine will have a truly honest, reliable and steadfast friend and partner, as well as husband, in Tim and we know she will be equally as loving and loyal to him. We wish them every happiness and good wishes for their future and send them both all our love.

John and Vicky Horwood,
Tim's parents.