Goodbye old friends

9:14am Wednesday 25th June 2008

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A former Falmouth dock worker who has been given just 12 months to live held a poignant goodbye get-together with almost 100 old friends and colleagues last night.

Nigel Phillips, who worked as a fitter at Falmouth Docks on and off for almost 20 years, has been diagnosed with mesothelioma, terminal cancer caused through inhalation of asbestos.

Mr Phillips - who grew up in Falmouth and attended the former Trescobeas School - still has many friends in the area despite moving to Cambridge three years ago, so he decided to arrange a small get-together with some of them while on holiday in the town.

Working alongside old friend and fellow ex-dock worker Neil Young, the pair arranged to meet for a few drinks with friends at the Falmouth Watersports Centre.

But when word got round, what started as a small gathering quickly expanded into a reunion of over 90 people, all anxious to meet with and pay their respects to Mr Phillips.

Mr Young kept the exact guest list a secret from Mr Phillips, so he would have a surprise.

Mr Phillips, 61, said: "What I said to Neil was that I'm coming down on holiday, shall we have a bit of a get together, just a few of the chaps I used to work with because I've been given 12 months. Although this was for my benefit it was also a reunion of retired fitters and office staff."

He explained that it was impossible to tell how the cancer would progress. He has undergone an operation at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, famous for treating heart and lung conditions, which will hopefully prolong his life expectancy, but he is taking every day as it comes.

"I'm feeling OK now, but what happens is you don't know when it will hit you. It will go from a small pain and then gradually get worse," he added.

Mr Phillips started work as an apprentice fitter at Falmouth Docks in 1962. He stayed there until 1968, before going to sea for a short while. He returned to the docks in 1970 and remained there until 1979, when he left for South Africa for just over ten years.

He returned again in 1993 and remained in Falmouth until the death of his first wife Angela - who he married in 1970 - in 2005. In the same year he moved to Cambridge where he lives with his second wife Jean.

"We've only been married 18 months and then they came up with this news - but she's been very supportive, standing by me," said Mr Phillips.

He has a son from his first marriage, 34-year-old Graham, who lives in London. Tragically his younger son Ian died from cancer aged just 21, in 1996.