Members will be shocked and saddened to learn of the sudden death at the age of 80, of our long-time treasurer Harold Flavell. To many his was the face of the railway serving in the souvenir shop for many years, only retiring from service during last summer. His friendly face and many talents as a carpenter will be sorely missed by all of the volunteers for a long time to come.

Harold was born in St. Helen’s, Lancashire on 2nd January 1928, the son of a London North Western man (and he never let anyone forget it!) so the railways were in his blood. As a youngster he discovered another passion, for motor bikes and this was to stay with him for the rest of his life. I can recall his many times sharing reminiscences as we all sat around at Groudle having lunch; much to his chagrin I’d taken up smoking and he’d often be heard to ask if I was “off for a quick puff on the fragrant weed” only to continue “when I was your age I had a motorbike to run so I had no time for that sort of thing, or any other for that matter!”. Of course, he clocked up many years as a marshall for T.T. and Manx Grand Prix, at Ballacraine, only standing down a few years ago, so he kept in touch with the biking side of things.

Leaving school at 14 he became an apprentice carpenter with Pilkington Glass at their main works in Bolton learning his trade over a number of years before deciding to share his talents by becoming a teacher. Having discovered this vocation, he then went to college to commence his teacher training in Wigan and it was here that he met his wife Barbara, whom he married in 1960. Their only son Jeffery followed and the family moved to Crosby in 1967 when Harold took up the position of lecturer at the Isle of Man College, a post he would retain right up to his retirement in 1991, and it is for this role that he will be remembered fondly by a great number of his ex-pupils who still always had the time to share a story with him years later.

Shortly after the move to the island, the family made their home in the Silverburn Estate in Ballasalla, just a stone’s throw from the station and this remained this house until the end of his life. He never lost his distinct accent and became a familiar face in the south of the island, bringing the Association stall to all the local markets to “peddle his wares” as he put it. He came into his own when the project to rebuild Groudle began, constructing all the huts, shelters, shops, etc., in his own way, which was to become “house” style for the railway.

He also built, with the help of John Bray, the three bogie coach bodies for the railway and, later, his skills were put to the test when he took on the ambitious task of rebuilding the original four-wheel carriages, virtually from scratch. These coaches are perhaps his most outstanding legacy to the railway and their high-quality construction is a testament to Harold’s skills as a carpenter. In readiness for their next use in the peak 2008 season, happily these coaches will be fitted with a suitable brass plaque in each of the bulkheads as pictured here. At the time of his death he was still working on another four-wheel coach and the volunteers hope to have this completed as soon as possible and in operation on the line, providing a four-coach train.

As well as being involved with the Groudle Glen Railway since its restoration began in 1982, and before that on the committee of the Supporters’ Association (for many years as treasurer) Harold was involved in an incredible number of local organisations, from the Malew 2nd Scouts, to the Co-operative Society where he served as a director, the Manx Model Engineering Society, the Manx Electric Railway Society and he had subscriptions to countless U.K. based organisations and fastidiously kept copies of their respective journals!

Aside from his support for various charities he was an avid fan of the Goon Show and could be heard quoting lines from this regularly on a summer Sunday afternoon, as well as Blackadder and (of course!) The Thin Blue Line! He had a wide and varied knowledge of “all things useless” as he would have said, and this made him a natural for the Sunday Express crossword which whiled away the hours on a quiet day in the souvenir shop at Lhen Coan, waiting for station master Ron Cooper to go and “turn the vicar’s bicycle around” (Harold's tactful term for spending a penny!) whilst he slipped up to the booking office to take a sly look at his answers!

It has become clear that his presence every weekend “down the glen” will be remembered for a long time to come, and in the short time that has passed since his untimely death we have been kept amused by a whole wealth of humorous anecdotes involving Harold or repeated by him! Possibly the most memorable being the time he installed a cat-flap to his back door and subsequently thought he had lost the cat - only to discover in true Flavell tradition, that his (naturally plywood) cat-flap was one way! The tales are many and varied...

In closing, we pass on our sincerest sympathies to Harold’s son Jeffery and his wife Robyn, and the other members of his family. It is fair to say that Groudle will never quite be the same place again.

Grant Taylor