Al’s Saudi Adventure

It never ceases to amaze me how life, as you know it, can change unexpectedly in an instant. Tuesday the 20th of August 2024 is one such moment.

I received a phone call from Joan’s brother Gareth informing me that their father, my father in law, Ernie had passed away suddenly at the family home in Mullaghmeen that afternoon. After speaking with Joan, our attention turned to making sure our girls were taken care of and making plans for both of us to get back to Northern Ireland as quickly as possible.

Ernie was a giant of a man in every sense of the word, known to some as The Bear he was a large, tough, ex policeman from Northern Ireland who also loved his family, his faithful companion Daz, his friends and most of all his grandchildren. He spent his time in recent years growing incredible organic veges, maintaining the lovely gardens at The Rowans and volunteering his time to help out his beloved Enniskillen Rugby Club.

Ernie was always a great sounding board for me personally and we have had many important discussions sat around the dining table in the family home, usually early in the morning after a few pints or glasses of Oyster Bay Sav, which was his absolute favourite. In recent times Ernie was a big supporter of my move to Saudi and has told me on a number of occasions that its family first, and everything you do as a father should be to benefit your family.

Ernie’s passing has left an enormous hole in the lives of everyone who knew him and I am so thankful that we got to spend the best part of a month with him in the run up to Shiner and Louise’s wedding back in July. Seeing Scarlett and especially Frankie strengthen their bonds with their Granny and Granda was the absolute highlight of the trip, outside of the wedding, and is something that will stick with me forever. We are truly lucky that our memories of Ernie are so strong and so recent. The memory banks are full of amazing memories of donkey derbies, Granda’s crunchy bacon, Linda’s 70th birthday celebrations and for me personally the weekend that Ernie and I spent at The Open at Troon.

I always enjoyed any time that I got to spend with Ernie, but the weekend in Troon was special. We spent hours in the car together talking about anything and everything and getting into lots of family related chats that taught me a lot about life as a Dad who works away and has to spend time away from the people you love the most. I’m still not convinced to this day that Ernie actually enjoyed watching the golf, especially when we got rained out of Troon on the Saturday, but if he didn’t enjoy it he never let on and always seemed genuinely glad that I was nerding out and fan girling over all the pros we got to watch at my first live major tournament. We also had a couple of incredible meals, pints and laughs at the Thai Orchid in Dalton, one of Joan and I’s favourite places to eat anywhere in the world.

Ernie’s funeral was beautiful and an extremely fitting send off for a man widely respected and loved across Northern Ireland, New Zealand and anywhere else he went in between. The procession from the house down to the rugby club will stick with me as long as I live, the road lined with mourning club members old and young, including 5 of the Enniskillen Women’s team who were playing for Ulster on TV a couple of hours later, black arm bands on as a show of respect. Club members switched in and out as pallbearers as Ernie made his final journey. An incredibly moving and emotional outpouring of love and respect from the club and wider community.

The coming days, weeks and months will be extremely hard for the wider Beatty family, which I am very proud to be part of, but we will all get through it together in time. Joan has been a tower of strength for Linda in her darkest hour and her calmness and clear thinking has been an inspiration to see. This has also confirmed for me what I already suspected, but this is irrefutable proof – that one of us is highly emotional and was in pieces since receiving the news, unable to think straight … and the other one is Joan.

I can’t help thinking about the age old adage that you truly don’t know what you have until it is gone. Everything that has happened has shown me that Ernie has been a huge, influential part of my life for the past 20 years. He is someone that I respect immeasurably and alongside my own Dad, has been a guiding light for me in my adult life. Ernie was loved and respected by people from all walks of life in Northern Ireland, something that not many can say truthfully in a country which has undoubtedly moved on positively from the dark days of the Troubles, but still carries the scars of what has happened in the past. After witnessing the outpouring of love and respect over the past week, I hope that when my time is finally up, if half as many people say half as many heartwarming things about me as has been said about Ernie, I will be immensely proud of what I have achieved in my life. I will miss him so much.

I just wish I had one more chance to tell him that.Read more