Geoff Follin
I started work at Software Creations back in September 1988, and quickly built up a solid friendship with Tim and Mike Follin and Mark Wilson. Occasionally they’d mention this mysterious third Follin brother, Geoff. From what I recall, he was working for the Potato Marketing Board, and from their stories he sounded like a rugged and fun kind of guy.
A few months later I finally got to meet him – he’d accepted a job at Software Creations co-creating music with Tim.
Needless to say that they had an incredible working relationship, producing tunes for many hit games over the years and cementing their place for many, including myself, as chip music supremos.
Working with them was a joy – I’d be often in tears of laughter. It was the best job ever, by a country mile. They worked in a room that was supposedly just for those working on Nintendo projects. I think Richard Kay gave up asking us to leave.
After a while, thanks to Tim, we left as a team to work at Malibu Interactive in Warrington, developing games based upon their comics. Sadly that folded after a year or two, yet we kept in touch. Regardless of where we found ourselves over the years, we’d find a pub roughly in the middle, a nice quiet pub were we could spend the evening chewing the cud about life, our interests, and the good old days in the games industry.
I can still visualise Geoff pretending to glaze over in his seat then laughing if I started talking about something technical.
Geoff was the best kind of mate. Always easy to get on with and kind hearted. He’d always ask how my family were, and was genuinely interested in their comings and goings. Sometimes it’d be months before we could arrange to meet up, yet we’d carry on the conversations as if it were yesterday. He gone into teaching after leaving the games industry, and in recent years had enjoyed working as a private tutor. I imagined he’d be very good at that.
He was generous to a tee and nothing was too much trouble for him. When I was thinking about getting a motorbike, he let me have a go at his Suzuki sports bike. That’s the kind of bloke he was. I’m lucky to have counted him as a friend.
When Tim texted me out of the blue that Geoff had been diagnosed with inoperable liver and pancreatic cancer, it really hit me. We’d only met up a couple of months beforehand, and he looked as fit as a fiddle. I felt for Geoff, and for Tim, Mike and their families too, knowing how close they were. I knew that pancreatic cancer was brutal, yet just couldn’t get my head around it, hoping that there was a misdiagnosis, or some treatment would be available to him. There was always hope.
Less than a month later, another text followed with more sad news from Tim. Geoff had passed away peacefully the previous evening. I had mentioned to Geoff that I hoped we’d get a chance to meet up soon, yet sadly that was not to be.
I’m glad that for many he will be remembered for his chip tunes, a solid legacy that will no doubt last. And for those of us that were lucky to know him, they’ll be grieving like me, as he was a proper decent bloke.
Next time we meet, there will be a Geoff-shaped hole around our table. It will be difficult, yet I hope we can raise a glass in his memory, chew the cud, and remember the good old days yet again.
Update
I’m going to be running the Manchester 10K to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK and Team Follin are doing the Great Step Forward. Read all about it here.