30/12/2025
Born in forty-seven
Under Surrey skies so wide
Russ grew up chasing horizons
With the ocean as his guide
A boy with navy dreams
Salt already in his veins
At fifteen he set sail
Learned his lessons through the rain
The deck became his classroom
The stars his trusted chart
Forty years of service
With a steady, loyal heart
Through calm and bitter strife
Through nights that never slept
He gave his life to duty
And every promise kept
But anchors fall
And tides will turn
Hard-earned truths
Too fast to burn
Oh Rosevilla
Where roses grew
A haven shaped by hands so true
Brick by brick
With hope and care
Now shadows creep
The garden’s bare
He poured his heart in soil
In timber, stone, and air
Built a place for broken souls
A refuge from despair
Where kindness was the cornerstone
And dignity the law
Where people felt seen again
Not forgotten, not ignored
But whispers cold as winter
And lies like shattered glass
Slipped through unseen cracks
And rewrote the past
They tore down walls of purpose
Spoke poison dressed as fact
Turned years of love and labour
Into something falsely black
The sun went dim
The winds blew wrong
The world Russ knew
Was dead and gone
Oh Rosevilla
Where roses grew
A haven built with hands so true
Now shadows creep
The garden’s bare
False words took root
Left ruin there
But truth still breathes in quiet rooms
And names that won’t let go
In Daniella’s steady courage
When the nights hung heavy, low
In Mo’s unbroken loyalty
A compass pointing true
In Mark who stood unflinching
When the storm no longer knew
They saw the man behind the myth
The scars, the care, the fight
They knew the heart Russ carried
Even stripped of rank and right
When bridges burned and lessons blurred
And justice lost its way
They held the line of memory
Refused to let it fray
So let the record show in time
When dust has cleared from air
That Rosevilla was built on love
Not the lies that shattered there
And Russ—no whisper can erase
The good he set in place
For anchors fall
And tides may turn
But truth survives
What lies can’t burn
Oh Rosevilla
Where roses grew
The roots still run
Deep, strong, and true
