The black funeral tie was out of my wardrobe again today. Mike Hunter, fellow National Trust volunteer at Styal and Nether Alderley Mills, railway enthusiast, and keen railway modeller died on 17th November and his funeral was today. Several of Mike's friends and work colleagues read warm and touching eulogies, and there was a heartfelt one from Eleanor Underhill, General Manager of the National Trust Styal Estate.
I thought I knew Mike quite well but I didn't know he had been a Queen's Scout, and had won a trip to the World Scout Jamboree in 1957. This could have been held anywhere in the world, but in 1957 it was in Sutton Coldfield! Something else I hadn't known until today was he was a pillar of his local church, the Heald Green United Reformed Church, where the funeral took place.
He was chairman of Hazel Grove Model Railway Society and a few years ago he invited me to the Chapel-en-le-Frith Model Railway Show where I helped operate his group's High Peak Tramway model layout, which I wrote up in the blog, here:
Farewell Mike. I will miss your quiet humour and our rail and aviation related chats (he spent his career in ground ops with what is now BA). And I hope it's a while before that black tie makes another appearance.
Here's Mike engrossed in a spot of his beloved railway modelling:
.
No comments:
Post a Comment