Friend of much-loved Portsmouth man Brian Futcher who helped Kurdish community and owned Squirrels antique shop pays poignant tribute

Elaine Waterfield has written a poignant tribute following the death of Brian Futcher, the owner of Squirrels antiques shop, after he faced a ‘long fight’ against cancer.

She shares fond memories of the charitable crusader who opened a centre to support Kurdish people in Portsmouth two doors down from the Squirrels store.

He died in March.

Speaking of where it all began, she said: ‘In 2011 I moved from Leicester to Southampton after my husband passed away from muscular dystrophy.

‘Very bereaved, I prayed a prayer, “is this all you have for my life lord?"

‘Within two weeks, Canon Andrew White the vicar of Baghdad, a Facebook friend, had asked me to phone him.

‘He told me that God had said I was to host the chief judge Mr Rauf - who sentenced Saddam Hussein. He was coming to Southampton with his family for an operation.

‘A few months later I found myself at Spire Southampton Hospital praying for Mr and Mrs Rauf as both were having serious operations and I was working as one of their hosts.

‘I was joined by a man called “Brian the squirrel”, a funny little man with a bald head, glasses and shorts who had a Del Boy type van with Jesus written on it.

‘One time we took Mr Rauf and Canon Andrew White on a convoy to a Kurdish restaurant in Portsmouth.

‘Brian drove his Jesus Van behind the two famous men and I drove behind Brian's Jesus van. Behind me was Gehad, a Baghdad ex-pilot from the Iraq war who worked for Andrew.

‘We went on to Southsea to the Halabja Memorial gardens which Brian was responsible for creating. It was very poignant as Mr Raouf was from Halabja himself and some of his family had died in the chemical attack.

‘Both myself and Brian were instrumental in this event.

‘Brian visited the Rauf family and visited Kurdish pastors and refugee camps, preaching, teaching and encouraging.

‘I will never forget Brian, neither will the Raof family, the Kurds in Erbil, Halabja and Portsmouth. His legacy will live on.’