Games day fitting tribute to a much missed friend

Ross, who was formerly of Donaghcloney, sadly passed away a year ago following a brave battle with brain cancer. He was just 37.

The dad-of-one was a board game buff and his friend, Niall Kissick, has organised the gaming tribute to raise funds for two charities which supported Ross, his wife Sarah and their beautiful daughter Freyja-Rose; Brainwaves NI and Cancer Fund for Children.

The Ross Burton Memorial Games Day will take place on Sunday from 1pm to 5pm at the Church Street café, and is open to everyone.

Niall, from Waringstown, explained what the event will entail: “People who have not visited before can expect to see a wonderful welcoming community from all backgrounds and play some board games, from classics to more modern hits.

“Entry will be £10 and the event has been generously supported by wonderful games publishers such as Hachette, Leder Games, Dranda Games, Corvus Belli and many more.

“Ross would have loved to see Roast & Roll and how it has continued to grow, but he was not well enough to attend regularly as his cancer returned not long after their opening.

“I know Ross would be extremely proud of the establishment Roast & Roll is and I also know he would be happy that I have found friendship in the community there.

“That is why I wanted to hold an event in his memory there, to say thank you to owners Aaron Bushby and Harry Singer and the whole community there, and, most importantly, to raise funds for the two charities.”

Sharing his precious memories of Ross, Niall recalled: “He was the one of the kindest people you would ever meet, unbelievably generous and my kids absolutely loved their ‘uncle Ross’.

“He was extremely well thought of by all that knew him.

“I met Ross at a particularly low point in my life; I was not enjoying work, being a parent to our three young kids was extremely tough and I was lonely.

“My wife Anna was working in Via Wings in Dromore and had been running a board game club there and she convinced me to go one night in September 2019.

“I met Ross there that night and the rest is history really. We got on like a house on fire, our mutual love for board games saw us instantly build a connection.

“Ross and his partner Sarah were about to become parents, so Anna and I became friends with them.

“We would play board games weekly, almost daily if we could. We had a great little group going where we would visit each other's houses, and various social clubs to game.

“Then Covid happened. Everyone had to social distance, gaming in person was not an option, but thanks to platforms like BoardGameArena, Zoom and Skype we were still able to get our gaming fix in.

“Ross loved a table quiz, so he would run table quizzes over Zoom to keep us all entertained over Covid.

“However, we thought we could do more to help spread cheer in the tough times of social distancing.

“We created the Board Game Raffle Club on Facebook. The idea was simple: sell enough tickets to fund the purchase of a board game plus a little extra on top to go to charity.

“We started small but our little group grew and grew in popularity, we would pick a charity and once we had £1,000 in the kitty we would make the donation.

“To this day Board Game Raffle still exists and has donated over £30,000 to various UK and NI charities.”

Niall continued: “Then, unfortunately, Ross got sick, he bravely battled brain cancer twice.

“Sadly, he passed away at his home on September 10, 2023.”

As Ross’s first anniversary approaches, Niall felt it was a fitting time to honour his memory and celebrate the gaming world which brought them together as friends.

Roast & Roll is located at 47a Church Street, Banbridge. Follow on Facebook at:

www.facebook.com/roastandrollbanbridge/