Who Is Jonny Mac?
Fun, fearless, and the life and sole of the party, but most of all, our mate Jonny, was a loyal and dependable friend.
Jonathon Macgregor (Jonny Mac to his pals!) was born on 11th April 1971. Jonny is the son of Pauline and Colin, and much loved brother to Justin (his twin), Neil and Sister Debbie. Upon leaving school at sixteen, Jonny joined a local firm called Totty Construction, where he’d decided that his career lie in joinery. After applying much of the values he had been taught at home (there is no substitute for hard graft!) Jonny successfully completed his three year apprentaship (with one or two great stories along the way!), and was taken on full- time by Totty.
As in his professional life, Jonny really worked hard at keeping fit (and keeping up his appearance!). With smouldering good looks (or so they say!), and a six pack to boot, he was somewhat of a hit with the ladies! He really did light the room up when he entered. Big smile, beaming white teeth and a fantastic, dry sense of humour. He really was the life and sole of the party. Our friendship with Jonny Mac spanned many years, and as with most guys in their late twenty’s, we lived life to the full! Stag do’s, birthday do’s, wedding do’s, any excuse to have a do, but most importantly, to make the most of the friendship that started many years previous. The six of us (Wogie, Jonny, OB, Dom, Diz and Stotty) used to spend hours discussing how lucky we were to have such great friends who you could really truly rely on in times of need. As the years went by, our friendship as a group never waned. Girls came and girls went, but we always knew that we would be there for each other whenever.
It was a particularly icy start to the day on Wednesday 25th February 2004. Jonny and his mate from work (Mark), use to take it in turns each week to share the driving. Typically they would be working on a building site somewhere hanging doors, sanding down skirting boards (or skiving!) or whatever they did?!?! On this particular day, Mark had called Jonny the night before to say that his wife needed to take the car, and therefore, could Jonny pick him up on the way. As always, Jonny being the man he was, didn’t mind at all. I always remember him going on about the early starts, and how he craved for a lie in. This was one of the early morning starts, as he set off to pick Mark up at 5.30am! The local news and radio channels had quoted on a number of occasions on just how treacherous the roads had been over the past few days, particularly early mornings, and that with the lack of gritters on the road, they encouraged everybody to drive carefully and to take care. Half an hour into the journey, Jonny and Mark were travelling along the A658 where completely out of the blue, coming towards them from a steep hill to the left, a huge 20 ton truck was unable to stop and just slid on the ice right into the path of Jonny’s car. As Jonny tried his best to swerve out of the way of the truck, there was no hope of him getting out of the way of the oncoming double decker bus....
I was at work when I received a call from Diz who said that he’d heard Jonny had been in a car accident. I went cold, and my stomach churned. I felt sick. A familiar feeling to the one i’d experienced some twenty years previous upon hearing the news about my mother’s death. I spent the next hour making call after call, trying to speak to somebody to find out what had happened? Was our mate Jonny Mac OK?
Those next couple of hours felt like a lifetime...I finally got in touch with Wogie who had spoken to Pauline and Colin. It was true; Jonny had been involved in a horrific car accident, a fatal car accident where Jonny lost his life and Mark was hospitalised with terrible injuries. Both of them had no chance. The following hours, days were spent asking why? To this day, Jonny Mac is never far from my thoughts. I will cherish the memories we shared together until my dying day. He had his whole life ahead of him. He was true, honest and loyal with a tremendously loving family. Why? As a group of friends, it undoubtedly brought us closer. As an individual, it taught me a huge lesson to live each day as if it’s your last...
When we decided to set up our own greetings card company, we spent hours racking our brains for a name that meant something to us. A name that would represent our company and its values. A name that we would be proud of...it was a no brainer. Jonny Mac was a great mate, and it’s the least we could do for a man that did so much for so many in his short lived years...it’s true, the good really do die young.
Jonny Mac, forever in our hearts.
Steve, Innis & The Team