I am sitting in a most beautiful and very rural part of South West Spain with tears rolling down my face, having just heard that Jimmy (real name Sun Hei Lan), has passed away, very suddenly at the age of 50 something.

He was part of our family, as all restaurateurs will appreciate, and therefore I want to say something about him, albeit knowing very little.

Jimmy was introduced to us some 10 months ago via his mentor at the Skylight Crisis Cafe in Oxford.

For those of you who don’t know, the very exceptional Skylight Cafe does extraordinary work with disadvantaged adults to help them into the catering and hospitality workplace.

Jimmy, who was a migrant Chinese national, had many disadvantages, yet I knew at once because of his beguiling smile and cheerfulness that he was so worth a bet.

My bet on Jimmy paid in dividends way in excess of his hourly rate.

Every Friday through to Monday, since August last year, he turned up for his kitchen porter shift without fail and always early with the broadest smile upon his face.

Bedecked with his Chinese bandanna, upon entering the front door of the cafe, he would smile at our customers, wish us all ‘good morning’ and pick up the largest crate of dirty dishes and disappear downstairs to fulfil his KP duties.

In the wider context, Jimmy was one of many hundreds (in Oxford) or thousands of migrant workers who come here in search of a better life.

They take up challenging positions in kitchens with gusto and work extraordinarily hard without complaint or murmur.

In Jimmy’s case this was also done with grace and humour and one of the most endearing smiles I will ever witness. At the outset he called me Boss – a term that quickly caught on with all his fellow workers, who like me are mourning just now.

There was nothing that Jimmy would not do. And when there wasn’t anything to do, he would always find something.

At our Christmas party last year, I gave him the award for ‘the most happy and smiley person’ who brought all of us such joy, each and everyday that he worked for us.

It is perhaps an indictment of us that we know so little about our migrant workers – their background and hardship – that leads them to leave their country of birth in search of better times.

If you add disadvantage to this the situation, in hindsight, is even harder to deal with.

Jimmy gave everything whenever he was at work. It was evident that, as the last person always to leave at the end of the day, we had become part of his family as he had become part of ours.

I know that the three days off Jimmy had each week were not ones he particularly cherished, and his joy at starting his four day shift every Friday morning was evident for all to see.

I once asked Jimmy whether he had/ would like to have a girlfriend or wife. He replied: “Boss, I would never do that. I would be too much trouble for my wife.”

Regrettably there is so little that I know about Jimmy and his past. I do know that he was one of seven or eight children who sought work here. No doubt he will be sorely missed by all of them and his parents, as he will be by all of us. I pay tribute to Jimmy on behalf of all who work at St Giles’ Cafe and on behalf of all of our many customers who got to know him.

We will be marking his very untimely death in any way we can. Jimmy’s very extraordinary contribution to our cafe family even got its own mention on a Trip Advisor review. I know that the person who wrote that review will be as devastated as we are to learn of his premature passing. Perhaps whether you did or didn’t know Jimmy you might “like” that review as a very small mark of respect for someone we hardly knew, yet who gave so much.

See the review here