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Tim Leech


Tim Lewis

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Just seen this...How terribly sad.

 

We have lost someone who was always happy to give freely of his knowledge and experience and shared many pictures and information with me about boats we have both worked on, if decades apart.

 

His single winking smiley pms often sent to me when I was in full "wooden boat rant" mode always raised a smile too.

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Very sorry to hear this. I only met Tim once, but we have corresponded by email and he supplied me with copies of some documents I had been looking for.

I did wonder whether something more serious lay behind Tim's comments here about being ill.His tug Kennet arrived here in Hebden Bridge and spent months here, when I would have expected it to be making the return trip across the Pennines.

From the HNBC Mailing List:

Jackie Leech (Tim's younger sister) has asked Bernard Hales to pass on the following details to mutual friends:

Memorial Gathering for Tim (Tug Kennet) is to be held at 'The Leigh Arms', 12.00, Friday 2 October, prior to the 'steam event' there.
(Family and close friends attending cremation next Friday.)

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I was very sorry indeed to hear of Tim's untimely passing. I had known him for quite a number of years, introduced initially I think by another much missed waterway personality, Roger Lorenz, He was always very helpful with engine and technical queries, with advice given freely and willingly with just the right amount of gentle authority. He always came out to the lock when he heard the sound of a vintage engine and was happy to have look in the engine 'ole and dispense assurance that 'all seems ok' (if it was). He didn't canvass for work (he didn't need to) and would often say 'no need to do that' if it wasn't really necessary.

Brian's eloquent tribute says all that might be said otherwise, and I was very moved when reading it.

Kind regards David L.

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Sad indeed, a top bloke by amyones account.

 

I was made aware by a similar post on the Kerne facebook group last week, we always sounded off on passing Dutton with the boat, and as said the posts he made on this site where always excellent to read. Posted to help others, just as would be done in person.

A really genuine bloke who cared and took pride in his work, he will be greatly missed by all.

 

RIP Tim.

 

 

Daniel

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Having been away, I had not seen this sad news until recently but would like to add my thoughts. As someone like many others who had only met Tim through this forum, I can only reiterate what so many posters have already said. Tim came across as patient, knowledgeable, enthusiastic, generous and non-judgemental. I will miss him and am sorry not to have met him in person to thank him for the help he has given me in the past.

Baffle.

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I met Tim twice and exchanged many emails and phone calls over a number of years. Ive yet to encounter anyone with his vast knowledge and down to earth enthusiasm. He will leave a very empty place wherever he had made connections. A real gentleman with perspective. RIP Tim

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  • 1 month later...

I have only just seen this (a bit behind on boaty things, real life getting in the way), and am deeply saddened. I first started taking my boat to Tim in 2000; he was an all round top bloke and as others have said a mine of useful information and sound advice. A great loss, RIP.

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  • 1 month later...

Was idly looking at sites like ABNB which I occasionally look in at to see what boats are up for sale and saw Tim’s tug, I immediately though something was wrong as Tim would not sell that boat so did a search and came across this very sad news. I knew Tim for about 10 years as a customer and a friend as countless customers would count themselves so in the previous decades. He did work on my last 2 boats, blacking and improvements, I rented the dock a number of times while I worked on the boat, the last boat had a Gardner so Tim was particularly interested and he helped me with various things on the engine and I learned quite a lot from him. The last time I corresponded with him was a year back was to say I had sold the boat and was packing in boating, he came back to wish me well. I liked Tim, he was steady, a bloke you could rely on, he would go on forever. Living locally I passed that way many times since the 1980’s and it was always fascinating to go past the dock, you always expected to see him and nearly always did, there was nearly always a working boat moored or in the dock for repair and see all the stuff he had accumulated on the ground by the dry dock, I imagine it was easier to leave it there than cart it away as to get to the dock you have to walk over the lock gates as there is no road access, how many thousand times Tim must have done that. I moored there for a time, and what a fine tranquil spot that was in the spring and summer, when at the boat more than once Tim brought 3 coffees from the house and sat and had a drink in the sunshine, the third for Roy who was Tim’s part time helper, older he lived in Preston Brook and was not in great health in 2014 when I asked Tim about him as he had someone else who moored there helping with the dock. Ideally It being a 2 person job to lift the planks in and out and also someone on the boat roof to hold the boat central to the dock as the water is let out it settles centrally on to the blocks. I don’t suppose many folk have peered inside the store at the end of the dock but I did, it was lined with shelves and ever inch was filed with boxes, tins etc. including the floor, quite a sight, and treasure house, I never did get a look into his machine shop outside his cottage though. Tim was a very patient man I thought, quite serious and very knowledgeable about the old days of the canals and wooden boat building and repair; willing to help especially if it was about engineering, engines and for someone interested in canal history, a big man with a large beard, it often struck me how he would make a pretty good father Christmas! To me Tim gave the impression of being a private person and a gentle man and quite a quiet personality. I am sure the hundreds of people that knew him will miss him as he really was a part of the landscape at Dutton. Many new hirers must have passed that way from the Bridgewater through a tunnel for the first time to meet their first lock, and see the dock, they really must have thought they were going back in time.

Condolences to the family, really sorry to hear of Tims passing, a good man to be sorely missed

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 9 months later...

Off topic, I was surprised to see Tim's old boat is still on brokerage.

 

http://www.abnb.co.uk/boat_pages/2903web/2903abnb.php?BoatID=2903

Its really purely a 'that type of tug enthusiasts kind of boat', there might not be many about, what with the deep draught and whatnot. It might be the ;- Hot water heating= (kettle), putting people off.

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Its really purely a 'that type of tug enthusiasts kind of boat', there might not be many about, what with the deep draught and whatnot. It might be the ;- Hot water heating= (kettle), putting people off.

True.

 

It would be a mint little boat on the deep northern canals and rivers though.

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