Sandy and I met in Kilmartin Primary School aged, respectively, 6 and 5. It was in many ways a fairly idyllic primary education. As a rural Scottish school there were only ever around 30 pupils despite a large catchment area. Sandy was a year older than me and we became close friends.

One of my clearest primary school memories is of when, aged 10 and 11, we decided to start a gang. This was a secretive project and we had very select criteria for membership. Soon we recruited Sandy's brother Duncan and our gang thus numbered 3. We had secret meetings, secret passwords and even our own gang passports.

Word got out however and soon a rival group formed. With a more open and, frankly, more effective recruitment policy we soon had the entire remaining male population of the school lined up against us. This was not a pleasant prospect and, for a time, I dreaded going to school in the morning. Fortunately I was able to stand behind Sandy. Despite being vastly outnumbered in this gang warfare, nobody would mess with Sandy. Although passive and affable to the core, his unusual physical strength was a thing of legend and kept us safe in dangerous times.

After a few weeks of this stalemate the enemy disbanded, we recruited the opposition leader, and school life settled back into its pleasant normality. Thanks for looking after me Sandy!