Colin was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 30th December 1959. He was the middle child of Eric and Milly Angles; his brother David being 7 years older and his sister Susan 5 years younger. He was born after his parents had moved to 3 Hilden Gardens, Heaton, and that house remained a reference point throughout his youth. He shared a cosy bedroom in it with his brother David. Milly's mother, Elsie Hall, also lived with the family until Colin was about 12 years old.

Colin went to Ravenswood Primary School and then to Benfield School for his secondary education. He displayed an interest in electronics from a young age, and this would later become his career. Colin could often be found in his bedroom assembling electronic circuits using components tidily stored and labelled in old cigarette boxes, to make amplifiers and other equipment for his electric guitars. David meanwhile was likely to be outside dismantling a motorcycle or car. The need to take something apart to see how it worked and re-assemble it is something of a family trait that all 3 siblings have shared. Colin was also very competent at explaining electronic matters to other people, and Susan thinks that she wouldn't have got into similar work herself it he hadn't been good at it.

Colin was always very interested in music. He started off playing the clarinet at Ravenswood School, then moved onto the guitar and ended up owning several of them over the years. As a teenager in his 'default position' he could typically be seen lying on the sofa, strumming a guitar. He had a huge collection of vinyl records, which included an eclectic mix of music. He kept them carefully in anti-static sleeves and woe-betide anyone (especially a younger sister and her friends) who might forget to put them back properly. Susan reckons that a lot of the music she likes now and has since subjected her friends to, she originally hear from him.

Colin was generally described as "The Quiet One" when he was a youngster, but that didn't stop him earning the nickname 'Flash' from his friend Stephen Henderson and becoming Head Boy at school. He was active with the Scouts (as Phil has been) and played in school football teams.

Colin went on to study electronic engineering at Liverpool University. Whilst there he joined the Stained Glass Window Appreciation Society - the name referring more to the windows of Liverpool's pubs than to its churches! After graduating, his first job was working with British Telecom at Mill Hill in North London, where he first became involved with fibre optics which at that time was state of the art, and with which he worked for much of the rest of his career. He bought a flat in Blackheath, and by this time Susan was also down south, in Canterbury as a student and Colin would sometimes give her - and more crucially her houseplants - lifts back to their home in Newcastle. Their mother Milly died in 1983, when Colin was 23, shortly before the next chapter of his life opened with marriage to Marilyn and then the gift of having their children - Kat and Phil.

Colin was a much loved husband, father, brother, uncle and brother-in-law and the family will miss him enormously as I am sure will all of his and Marilyn's many friends that are here today - we are all privileged to have shared in his life.