Page 20 - BR December 2023

December 2023 December 2023

FUNERAL TRIBUTES Nova Scotia

Your homes and your holdings were cleared by decree.
Along with the 2.5 acres of woodland Mike and Andrew I cannot imagine how these things could be.
brought a few year ago, Mike liked to collect wood from Cheviot sheep came to people the hills,
tree work he did around the village. This was more that just a With Northumberland farmers and shepherding skills.
hobby for Mike, he set up a small company, The ELM
branch, and got all the tree climbing gear. Nova Scotia

I not sure there are many other 70-year olds that Your factors drove tenants from houses and land.
climb 30 foot up a tree on one rope with a chainsaw Your church gave its blessings to those in command.
in hand, but Mike did enjoy it. There have been many Your ministers watched as their parish homes.
accidents, most minor but some slightly more major. The cries and the anguish went unheeded and spurned.
Finding the tip of his thumb in the sawdust beneath
the circular saw was one of the more serious Nova Scotia
accidents. Falling 15 foot out of a tree on the gravel What hope was there then for a man of low birth,
probably being the worst. The air ambulance was With a handful of seeds and an acre of earth,
called but luckily a quick trip to A & E and he was
back climbing trees within the month. Against Fort William, Fort Augustus and General Wade,
And the red coated soldiers with musket and blade.
All of these injuries have just added to his list. The Nova Scotia
metal plate he had in his leg, the stent in his celiac
artery, the nose that he broke 5 times, the hip Sometimes it seems there’s a chip on your shoulder.
replacement and the shattered bones in his wrist are Your feelings are bitter while embers still smoulder.
all on this list. This is the list he had tattooed on to his
bottom for medical research purposes. Unfortunately Will you ever again trust a man from the south,
students won’t be able to have a laugh about this as sadly he had to have a Or believe in the words from a sassenach mouth.
post mortem. Mike’s career, hobbies and personal life were all extra ordinary Nova Scotia
and we could talk for hours about him and his accomplishments, we are all so Paul J Openshaw
grateful for what he has given us.

From Johnny Owen, a dear friend
I’ve got a handful of a few people’s recollections
of Mike in the context of Great Wood over many
years which I’m going to read out. In one of my
early years helping at the Backwoodsman camp I
was paired with Mike as my senior to lead a To all our Regular Contributors
cabin, I found his experience and wisdom an
inspiration. Speaking with my brother Chris a few
days ago he said almost exactly the same from Early copy deadline for the January magazine
his experience a few years on from that. Then a
few years on again, when I took over leading the
camp, I had Mike beside me as the Adjutant, Saturday 9th December
and I valued his experience and wisdom even
more.

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