Micky Ling Taken Too Soon

We are devastated to announce that our dear friend and colleague Micky Ling has sadly passed away in his sleep at Princess Alexandra Hospital Harlow in the early hours of Tuesday morning 3rd June 2025. This crushing news has left the Makers family stunned and shocked as we have been inundated with messages of condolence following this sad news.

Over the past two years Micky has been battling with health issues which has seen intermittent spells in hospital which have finally taken their toll. Micky has worked in the industry for over 35 years and has made numerous friends and connections in that time across a number of companies, many of whom will not have been aware of his health challenges but the family have kindly provided a brief outline following Micky’s passing.

“Following a heart attack in 2004 Micky was fitted with 5 stents and following Covid he was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia which caused his heart to beat too fast resulting in him receiving an internal defibrillator. In 2024 Micky was having difficulties due to his heart nerves causing an irregular heartbeat and he had an ablation to resolve the issue. Not long after he was admitted to BARTS to undergo a second ablation procedure as his defibrillator continued to shock him every few hours.

The process was successful and Micky returned to work but in January 2025 he broke a rib which led to breathing difficulties and was admitted to Lister Hospital in Stevenage with pneumonia. During his stay at Lister, he was diagnosed with Interstitial Lung Disease ILD, but also discovered that he had an autoimmune disease MDA5 which caused Micky’s own immune system to attack the body making it difficult to treat the pneumonia with antibiotics.

Micky’s condition finally improved with the antibiotics taking hold and returned home only to be admitted to Princess Alexandra Hospital; with an infection. Despite treatment Micky unfortunately contracted an additional hospital virus and coupled with his MDA5 condition proved very difficult to treat as his own immune system continued to attack his body.

During this time family members took turns to hold vigil at Micky’s bedside during his final days where he slipped peacefully away in his sleep.’’

Micky was married to Paula for over 37 years. Micky leaves behind his son Martin, daughter Jodie, together with his two granddaughters Arabella & most recent addition Oriah Rose and sisters Sharron & Annemarie.

Despite a traumatic year in 2024 the highlight was the birth of his second Granddaughter, Oriah Rose to proud parents Martin and Jenna Ling, who became a sister to Arabella. Micky reckoned that he had no money left after Arabella so would have to get a second job now that Oriah Rose had arrived!

2024 was a terrible year for Micky on a personal note with the passing of his “Queen” his Mum, who he was incredibly proud of and believed to be the best Mum in the world. Despite his poor health he was determined to carry her coffin into the funeral service and believed it was one of his proudest moments. Micky was not one to complain and put his own issues aside especially following his Father, Micheal’s Cancer diagnosis.

In a Christmas message to friends and family, he wrote, …despite everything that has been thrown at us I am glad 2024 is behind us and wish everyone every happiness for the New Year. The New Year celebrations were particularly special for Micky as it was a double celebration being born on the first day of the New year but sadly 2025 did not work out as planned.

Tragedy has continued to plague the family with the recent passing of Paula’s Mother making this an incredibly devastating time for the family and all concerned. Micky left a huge impression on everyone at Makers and in his previous companies he worked for. We all share and mourn his loss but would like to reflect and remind ourselves of how special he was and what made Micky Micky in the paragraphs to follow:-

Hobbies

Micky was a mad “Gooner”, an Arsenal fan to you and me and his good friend “Midge” aka Chris Lallaway gave us a small insight into their friendship he had for over 40 years.

“Saturday mornings was snooker, Micky was pretty average, no that’s not fair, …. he was ok but sulked if he got beat when we played down at the Coronet Club on the Holloway Road. As we used to go home and away to watch the Arsenal it was always a great start to the weekend with the crew, Paul Lewis (Stumpy), JJ, Steve Nicholson & John Abel, they were great times but he was a crap pool player despite playing for both the Montague and Drayton Arms on Wednesday evening in Highbury… but he was a top bloke…”

Micky loved his football, was Arsenal through and through and vented his frustrations through his Facebook Account but always carried the Gunners Emblem. He considered himself to have a fountain of knowledge where he openly advised members of Makers Super Six League of expected match predictions and at one point had a healthy lead, at one point it got so bad rumours were circulating that he was deliberately prolonging his stays in hospital so he could study the form!

He was rarely critical of his team but was frustrated at not reaching the Champions League final, but as he was reminded even Birmingham City beat Arsenal in the league Cup so he just avoided another humiliation! Micky somehow failed to recall the incident so I showed him the winning team pictures on my phone! During these sparring moments Micky revealed that he had his own personal parking space for match days not far from the ground provided by a local resident whose property he happened to work on which enable him to “beat the traffic “after the match.

Micky’s other passion was his Chrysler 300 and Micky was a regular member and exhibitor with the Chrysler 300 Mob, who when travelling the country took great pride at displaying their latest additions and adaptations to their cars at various car shows. Always spotlessly clean Micky was always up for the latest modification and for those who knew Micky were surprised to see him arrive in such a “Gangster” car wrapped in the latest metallic colour scheme complete with under chassis lighting and LED’S not forgetting the boot crammed full of boom box speakers which provided the ultimate mobile disco which he avidly demonstrated at a colleagues retirement party much to the consternation of local residents and the pub landlord whose windows still haven’t recovered!

Micky was always planning his next theme to keep it fresh for the upcoming shows but he told me that he had to get the ‘ole gal’ though the MOT first but wanted to wrap the car themed as The Joker, we countered by offering the ladies in the office to do his make-up which he politely declined.

Work

Micky’s working life was mainly in the Structural Repair industry starting out with Connaught back in 1990 where he worked for 18 years until its demise. During that time Micky had gained plenty of experience working primarily on Social High Rise housing schemes for Tower Hamlets, and other London Boroughs of Newham, Hammersmith & Fulham, and Hackney to name a few where he developed a strong relationship with many people who continue to work in the industry today and remember him fondly.

A short stint at Lovells’s saw Micky transfer to Amber Construction in 2010 for a period of 7 years working on Social Housing Schemes before joining Makers in 2017. Micky brought a wealth of experience and calmness to projects and was well admired by both Clients and colleagues and had a way of diffusing situations and finding workable solutions. The reaction we have had from Micky’s most recent Clients on the hearing of this sad news has been amazing with a very strong constant theme, of an amazing guy, a gentleman and horrified by the sad news.

To the Makers staff that worked with him from subbies to suppliers he was a legend, Old School, Top Bloke even messages received from ex colleagues have remarked on what a genuinely nice guy he was. It appears that Micky was the go to person for a number of our newer site guys and was happy to offer advice and support. They trusted his opinion and they knew they could rely on him.

It was Willy McCrimmon who brought Micky into the Company. They had met for the first time back in 1996 where Micky was Willy’s line manager when he was on the tools, and it was during his time at Connaughts that Willy really appreciated the qualities that Micky possessed. Fast forward some 20 years and Willy in his role was as Contracts Manager for Makers contacts Micky and brings him across from Amber Construction in 2017. Their roles now reversed Micky never once had a chip on his shoulder and supported Willy through all the contracts they worked on together, none more so that the extremely complicated Watergardens Project in Edgware for the Church of England. The skills obtained from years in Social Housing paying dividends where he was very soon on first term names with all the tenants!

Even though this was Micky’s second project with us The Watergardens is still probably the best project Makers have completed, creating an area of outstanding beauty and tranquillity in the bustling heart of London, producing a living garden that will last a life time and is a fitting epitaph to the great man. The project is a true reflection of Micky who put his heart and soul into it and was roundly recognised by both the LRWA for their Special Project Award and the NFRC for their Liquid Waterproofing project of the year both in 2019. Micky was delighted to collect the award in Liverpool and was one of his proudest moments in his working life and the project is a testimony to Micky but will now take on an extra special meaning for everyone at Makers.

Cristina Refolo The project Landscape Designer on hearing the news said,

“I am truly shocked and devastated to hear such sad news about Micky, he was always a gentleman, nothing was too much trouble, he brought a smile to the project even through difficult times… this is such a shame, … I am truly hurt by this news…”

 

“Micky not only made an impact on his Clients but also on his work colleagues including myself. I would get calls out of the blue, just a chat, a quick update, unsolicited, but really to see how I was doing. What should have been a 2-minute call would just extend covering all nature of things as was his way until he was sure things were good but always ended the conversation the same way…as long as you are ok.

Looking back now you forget during those busy times; you forget the importance of such conversations and indeed during my visit to see Micky in hospital he continued to ask after others welfare and wanted to know we were all good.”

Simon Lamb MD Makers Construction

Micky had suffered with health conditions over the past two years but no one could imagine the speed or outcome that has lead to this moment. The team here at Makers are still coming to terms with this terrible news but wish to offer their prayers and support to family, friends and colleagues affected by Micky’s passing. We are privileged to have known Micky, he enriched all of our lives without us realising it, we will all miss him dearly and find it hard to say good bye.

Micky’s final journey will be at Woollensbrook Cemetery & Crematorium, Hertford Road, Hoddenston EN11 9BN on July 4th 2025 where thoughts and prayers will be offered. Micky was a Husband, Brother, Father, Grandad and Friend, confidant and colleague but deep down he was a Gooner!

Bow your head lad,

Hear the cannons sound,

Time to take up the flag,

For a Gunner is down.

 

Rest easy my friend for your pain is now over.

Simon Lamb

Note of thanks to Willy McCrimmon, Martin Ling, & Chris Lallaway for their personal contributions.