Martin John Hewitt (Passed away 21 Sep 2026)

One of the best gone too soon

Martin, you were my brother. I loved you and will miss you.

Had a loooooong(!) natter with Martin when I bumped into him at One Stop Lowford a couple of years ago. He was a happy guy with an irrepressible love of life and family. And, I will say, he was as good-hearted and genuine as when we were kids. Such a sad loss. Commiserations to Val and the family.

A lovely, lovely man and the best brother in law. He will be forever missed by all of us, life and our regular family get togethers will not be the same. Martin was certainly a one off, everyone that met him loved him.💔xxxx

Martin was family to me, but more than that, he was a good friend. I am still reeling that he has left us, but will go forward with many happy memories of holidays and family gatherings we shared. He will never be forgotten.

To remember Martin. A kind and loyal friend.

Thank you for being our good friend for nearly 50years. I will never forget the light bulb moment. Gone far too soon. Great knowing you. Rest in peace

Martin was a great colleague, with a good sense of humour and it was a pleasure to work alongside him.

In memory of my friend and colleague from our days at British Gas. You will be sadly missed.

I had the pleasure of knowing Martin since I began at the Customer Service Department for British Gas in Southampton in 1981. Even since our redundances in 1996 we continued to meet regularly as part of our little select group of Gas colleagues sharing memories and stories of the old days. Martin was great company and was always up for a laugh and a joke. He is going to be sadly missed and my deepest sympathy to Val and all his family.

We are heartbroken to say goodbye to our former British Gas colleague and lifelong friend Martin.
Martin made the workplace a brighter place for both of us, always ready with a smile, a helping hand or a perfectly timed joke to get us through the day. We feel incredibly lucky to have shared so many great memories with him both inside and outside the office. He was one of a kind.
Our thoughts are with his loved ones.

I first met Martin when we went to Hamble school as 1st years in 1964 and became good friends although we didn't see much of each other once we left school school. We caught up again when we moved back to Netley from Southampton. At that time we both had young children. Martin and Val were renovating their new home and we had plenty of fun taking out walls and ceilings. I must admit occasionally wondering if we had bitten off more than we could chew but it all worked out well.

Martin and Val had bought a holiday home in France and it needed a shower installing, so Martin and I set off in December to install the shower. We celebrated Martins 42nd Birthday in Limoges, as the house was pretty chilly and had a lot of good laughs remembering things at school.

As time passed, we had plenty of chats about how to put the world to rights what the next building project was going to be, possibly over a cup of tea, or coffee, or even a beer or two.

Then we became grandparents, I honestly don't know where the time went. Martin and Val got so much pleasure looking after their little ones even though their grandchildren were nuclear powered.

I can honestly say that you could not have met and become friends with a nicer chap whose family meant everything to him and the last time we saw them was just before we moved fully to Amberley when we had a meal at the Lone Barn with martin and Val just chatting and looking forward to enjoying life.

He will be missed by us, and we will remember Martin as a thoroughly nice bloke and dear friend who had time to chat and just be there.

I had the pleasure of working with Martin in 2001, and I can honestly say those long shifts were never dull in his company.

His calm, gentle voice was always reassuring, even if it sometimes had the unfortunate side effect of lulling him to sleep on the job! And even when he started to snore, he somehow managed to wake up just in time to answer the call with complete clarity. A real gift!

We would sometimes go for lunch together during our shifts, which, for anyone who knows me, is quite a testament to Martin. I can tolerate most people, but to spend a long shift with someone and then choose to spend my lunch break with them too says everything about the company he was. He really was that good.

I will always be grateful that I met Martin and had the opportunity to spend that time with him. He was, quite simply, a really good bloke. And I say that as though it’s the easiest thing in the world to be a “good bloke”, when actually, it’s so much more than that.

Rest in peace, Martin. You were a good man, and I feel privileged to have known you.

Dear Val, sorry to hear of your sad loss, we were only talking to Martin a few weeks ago, such a lovely person, always had a smile and a chat. Our thoughts are with you and the family. Jill and Graham

One of life’s genuine blokes; so glad that we could catch up earlier this year for that beer . Sad sad loss .

Martin touched so many lives with his kindness,he was a wonderful person. He will never be forgotten.

Martin was my school friends dad. He never seemed to not have a smile and always always stoped for a chat. He was kind and always asked after everyone else. I will miss not seeing him around the village. He will not be forgotten.

Such a lovely boy and man remember him in our school days , may you rest in peace 🙏🏻🙏🏻💐