Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019

Sue and Martin in Mallorca 2019
On the Archduke's Path in Mallorca

Tuesday 3 January 2012

John Towers, and Happy Days on the TGO Challenge

FRom R to L: Bernard Fowkes, John Towers, David Towers and Margaret Fowkes, at Inverness railway station on 8 May 2008

2011 ended on the sad note of John Towers’ death on 13 December and his funeral in Giggleswick on 30 December.  It seemed no time at all since Graham and Sue Brookes and I had waved goodbye to him and Janet on 31 October after the annual TGO Challengers’ reunion in Fort William.

John had walked across Scotland 14 times on the TGO Challenge, with his twin brother David who has 21 crossings to his credit .  The ‘Towers Twins’ are pictured above, with John on David’s right, possibly on the first occasion that I encountered them, at Inverness railway station on 8 May 2008.  They are flanked by Bernard and Margaret Fowkes, who this year plan to complete their 20th TGO Challenge, at the ages of 83 and 80 respectively. 

The TGO Challenge is populated by an ageing community, and it’s very sad when members of that community are lost.  John had enjoyed a lifetime of achievements, but what came across at his funeral was a feeling that of all the considerable things he had achieved and enjoyed in his 79 years, the camaraderie and adventure (and indeed ‘Challenge’) of his annual walk across Scotland with his twin brother came very high up the list.

John was given a fine send off.

Andy Howell has written a lovely anecdotal tribute to John, here.  The TGO Challenge message board also has tributes from folk who knew John much better than I did.

5 comments:

Alan Sloman said...

Nicely done, Martin.
Thank you.

AlanR said...

Ditto. I cannot open the Andy Howell link.

Phreerunner said...

I'm not sure what is going on here! 'Ditto'?

Andy Howell must have changed or deleted his blog, as none of my (now deleted) links to it work. It's probably available in an archive somewhere, but I can't find that place.

AlanR said...

Sorry Martin, I don’t know how but this post came up on my current timeline. I didn’t look at the date and thought it was a new post. All very strange but now that I realise my mistake I am not surprised that the link doesn’t work. Apologies.

Phreerunner said...

No problem Alan - how weird!