Rob Walker Obituary
On Wednesday 7 June I attended the funeral of Robert (Rob) Walker. Never before have I attended a funeral of one so young – 38 years of age. He now lies beside his father who died some 16 months ago.
Rob was a lovely lad, born in Greystoke, loved by all who knew him, dedicated to his work as a brickie and plasterer and loved his sport (football, darts and golf). I have played with Rob and, only in February, I got details from Appleby Golf Club for him to come and play there. He said we shall have a game together; well we know now that was never going to happen.
Cancer is a terrible thing; it took his father, and his mother, Janice, is a survivor of it. What more can life throw at her? Janice is loved by everyone!
Rob is survived by two elder brothers, Daniel and Mathew.
Rest in peace Rob; you were loved and respected by all who knew you.
Roy Fisher.
Greystoke Social Club
- Monday 3 July – Taffy Thomas, the renowned story teller, will entertain us with tales and stories (more details below)
- Thursday 27 July – Thirsk – leaving the village at 9.00am – tickets £20
Contact Shirley Mounsey to book a seat.
Our meetings are held in Greystoke Village Hall and start at 2.00pm, £1 for members, £2 for visitors and includes tea and biscuits.
Taffy Thomas Storyteller
We are very lucky to have Taffy Thomas Storyteller coming to Greystoke on Monday 3 July.
Taffy was the first Storyteller Laureate as well as having an MBE for storytelling. He is also an international storyteller having told stories in many countries on four continents. He has a repertoire of over 300 stories and is still collecting.
The monies donated by you all at Mel’s funeral will be paying for some of this as Mel was a big believer in storytelling and Taffy will be telling the children one of Mel’s favourite stories which he told to children in his classes.
Taffy will be at Greystoke School in the morning and with the Social Group in the afternoon. Please come along, everyone will be most welcome to Tea and Tales at the Village Hall at 2pm on the 3rd July to meet Taffy, hear some of his stories and also see his beautiful Storyteller Coat. I have personally known Taffy for around 30 years now and have never heard the same story twice.
For further details, contact Shirley Mounsey.
Swimming Pool Draw
This is a great fundraiser for the pool and new members for 2024 can join in December.
Congratulations to the winners of the Greystoke pool monthly draw for June:
- £20 – Hilary Lawton – 196
- £15 – Isobel Hill – 83
- £10 – Sandi Carruthers – 63
- £5 – L Walton Family – 172
- £5 – Kath Mather – 102
- £5 – P & A Binks – 08
- £5 – Val Allison – 64
Greystoke WI
Greystoke WI welcomed Daisy Rocke as our speaker on Thursday 1 June.
On Thursday 6 July we have a trip out to visit Fellside Flowers, Long Marton. £10 per person, including refreshments.
On Thursday 3 August we have our Open Night, where we welcome guests from the village. Emma from Fellside Flowers will show slides and give a talk about how she started her business. The competition will be flowers in an eggcup or a teacup.
The best kept garden presentation will take place at this meeting.
If you would like to join us please contact Jennifer Young, Sue Nowson or Val Simpson.
Bus Action Group
An initial meeting to gauge the demand for a regular bus service through the village is scheduled for Thursday 29 June at 7.00pm in the Village Hall. This meeting is open to neighbouring villages with or without a regular bus service.
Please get in touch with me if you would like to know more about this, please eMail Pam Tester.
Roy’s Reminisce
On Tuesday 16 May I asked for nominations for the Greystoke Parish Council Chairman’s role. I am now free of all my commitments on committees and, for the first time in 51 years, my diary is blank.
I have had the honour of working with some fantastic people, and together we have, I believe, done Greystoke proud in raising hundreds of thousands of pounds, not only for Greystoke, but for local charities as well. It started many years ago when they wanted a cancer scanner at Carlisle Infirmary. We got to know the people who ran it very well and when it was installed had a personal tour of how it worked.
I was asked to join the Village hall committee in 1972 and also asked if I would be the assistant Secretary for the Swimming Pool project as the Secretary at the time, the late Martha Clarke, wanted to step down when the pool opened in 1973. She had done tremendous work in raising money for a good number of years as there was no swimming pool in the area, not even Penrith. I took over from her and was secretary for 17 years.
The late Stafford and Gracia Howard, who lived in Greystoke Castle, were also a great help to our Village organisations giving a 99 year lease on the playing field, and Stafford was also on the committee. Mrs Howard was the Chairman of the School governors and also on the Village Hall committee. We held Country Fairs at the castle and I was Chairman of the sports committee and we held a bonfire and fireworks event every November for 21 years with the castle floodlit in the background – what a tremendous sight, with some 40 people helping on the night and raising thousands of pounds to be used for the sports day and giving some of the profit to local organisations.
We did sponsored walks, bike rides, autumn fairs, swimming galas, chip suppers, car treasure hunts, valentine and charity balls, disco dances, open gardens, scarecrow trails and many other fund raising events to keep our village amenities ticking over.
I was also a Director and Chairman of Keswick Golf Club for about 10 years. My highlight was giving CPR to my fellow golfer who had a heart attack and I managed to bring him back to life some 8 years ago and he is still with us today.
I was the Greystoke Ward Councillor on Eden District Council for 14 years, Chairman of that in 2004, and attended one of the Queens garden parties 10 years ago, the day the young soldier Lee Rigby was murdered on the streets of London. I was the Licensing Committee chairman for 12 years and on the Cumbria Playing Fields Committee for 18 years until it was disbanded. I was also a football referee for 15 years and have played darts all my life – and still am.
My high point was meeting and getting married to my wife Edith who was born in Greystoke and is one of only a handful of people who can say they still live here. At the end of August we shall have been married 60 years. I have Edith and my family to thank for allowing me to have been involved in so many things with so many tremendous people.
I have been employed all my life working with the Farming fraternity with a big corporation in animal health and chemicals for farmers, then in January 1990 I started on my own employing one person and a part time secretary for 10 years, then sold out in July 2000 as foot and mouth devastated our area in February 2001.
I thank you for your co-operation and the journey I have shared with you. I should say my biggest disappointment was Story Homes getting away with only 6 affordable homes in Fawn Meadows when they should have been 12, and my most pleasing moment getting planning permission on an old quarry the Parish council owned at Blencow when the planning officers were so against it which we sold for over £100,000.
Roy Fisher
