Jan 8 2007 Devil dogs, Walton-on-Thames

By Alastair Machray on Jan 8, 07 08:03 AM

Pitbulls and the Echo. My brother Douglas.

The debate has raged since the horrible death of St Helens five-year-old Ellie Lawrenson. Who do we blame? The owners or the animals? The Echo and Chief Constable Bernard Hogan Howe have called unequivocally for a danger dog amnesty, so people can hand over animals which are illegal or a menace.

This has not met with universal approval. Many have said it could lead to the unneccessary destruction of animals.

Let me say this. I have two dogs. If I thought they represented any real danger to a child I would have them put down tomorrow. Without hesitation.

Where do you stand?

Busy weekend. Harry and I travelled to Birmingham where we stayed with my brother Martin and took in the Birmingham v Newcastle FA Cup tie. Harry, poor kid, has inherited his dad's Newcastle obsession though he only lived up there as a baby. At least we didn't lose.

On Sunday the two of us, in convoy with brothers Martin and Simon and their families, drove down to London for an ashes scattering ceremony for my brother Douglas who died in Australia last year.

It was a touching, moving, sad, happy, stange, delightful occasion. There were relatives I hadn't seen for 20 years, relatives I'd heard about but never met. Relatives I'd never even heard about.

We all met for lunch at The Anglers Arms at Walton-on-Thames. Close enough to the river for the water to lap at the steps of the pub.

Martin, Simon and I, and our sisters Laurie and Jo, walked a couple of hundred yards along the river with Douglas's widow, Joy. Joy tipped the Ashes into the Thames in accord with Doug's wishes and we watched them race away on the swell.

Laurie threw a golf scorecard and pencil in after them. 'Bye Doug', she shouted. 'We've booked you in at Home Park.' Home Park was where Doug, a professional golfer, learned to play the game and his ashes would flow past the course. Not the first time he'd ended up in the water, as someone joked later. (Doug would have loved that).

Back at the pub, we exchanged stories and email addresses with people we looked like but barely knew. Joy I know, wants it to be the begnning of stronger bonds among a wider family.

I've always been really fond of my sister Jo's children, Philip, Colin and Emma. Philip and Colin were fun-loving and sports mad - just like my brothers and I. These days they are just the same, but are successful businessmen who run their own companies.

Emma I remembered as a quick-witted, slightly prickly teenager whom my wife Lynne adored. Yesterday I met her again - an elegant, sophisticated young woman with three boys of her own.

I met Doug's glamorous daughters from Australia and his youngest son, Roddy, who chatted merrily with Harry.

It was a day that will stay with me for a long time. I should write, at this point, that we drove back to Liverpool in virtual silence.

But with Harry - that's not really an option.

Thank Goodness.

FATHER THAMES

Of all life's treasures,
To know you can depend, totally, on someone
Is surely most precious.

So that when you're apart from each other
You're still part of one another.

Father, husband, brother.

And when we are separated by miles or by years
We are joined by smiles and by tears.

And when we look at our children,
The sparkle in their eyes, the way they move, the things they do.
Doug, we see you.

So it doesn't end.
You can still depend.
Constant, eternal,
Like a great river.