Brian Holmes died peacefully on 24 March 2015 after stoically enduring Parkinsonism in his later years. Brian was born in Alvaston, Derby, where his father owned a successful butcher’s business. He went to Bemrose School in Derby, before studying dentistry at Guy’s Hospital, London, qualifying BDS in 1955. As a student, Brian played tennis, was a runner and a very useful fast bowler. National Service followed, when he was posted to Hildesheim (West Germany) where he first met Mary, a teacher with the British Armed Forces. They married in 1958. After National Service, Brian worked in the school dental service in London. He spent his registrar years at the Charles Clifford Dental Hospital in Sheffield and then, with his friend and colleague John Muir, shared a senior registrar rotation between Bournemouth and the Royal Dental Hospital. In 1969, he was appointed consultant orthodontist to a large area in North Lincolnshire – initially covering Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Louth. Brian was a man of strong principles and integrity, utterly committed to the NHS and to service to his patients. With long waits to see him, he declined to cancel his clinic when Princess Diana visited Grimsby in 1983 to open the new district hospital. Quietly unassuming and never seeking publicity, Brian’s aim was to ‘get the job done’. He understood and completely empathised with the problems of his colleagues in general dental practice, which earned him their widespread respect. Many were very grateful for the experience gained as clinical assistants in his department, where they appreciated not only his understated (and often quirky) sense of humour, but also his very real and lasting enthusiasm for orthodontics. Brian was immensely touched by the large number of his colleagues – past and present – who attended his retirement 'do' in Grimsby in 1997. He continued to support his successor by working as an unpaid, honorary consultant for another ten years. All this is more remarkable because, at home, he cared for Mary, who suffered early onset dementia from 1982 until her death in 1996. He had a strong Christian faith and studied scripture deeply. He was sometime church warden and church organist in the village outside Grimsby, where he lived for 45 years. Brian was a keen gardener and a lifelong supporter of Derby County and Derbyshire County Cricket. He leaves two children: Stephen (a GP) and Elizabeth, and two grandchildren.