Sad loss of former vice-chairman
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Obituary kindly written by former chairman and friend of David Harris, Snowy Jeffs
David ‘Stottle’ Harris
11th October 1947 – 22nd December 2013
It is with a deep sense of loss that the club has learned of the death of David Harris, one of its longest serving members. Although suffering with serious health problems which has curtailed his own angling activities in recent years he continued to serve as a valued member of the club's committee, only recently standing down after completing some 40 years’ unbroken service as vice-chairman. He was known universally as 'Stottle' which was itself a clever play on words using the combination of his surname coupled with that of the Greek philosopher Aristotle and was apparently given to him by his schoolmates at the Royal Latin School in Buckingham.
Probably the finest accolade would be for 'Stottle' to be remembered as a true countryman because of his particular interest in all matters connected with outdoor pastimes, particularly hunting, shooting and fishing. In the case of fishing, this is self-evident by the number of times his name appears on many of the club's trophies where he was noted for his ability to produce a match-winning catch from even the most unlikely swim. This was also evident on the occasions when he was faced with fishing other waters, such as canals and fast flowing rivers, which were totally alien to fishing methods used at Stowe. Yet he could always be relied upon to 'find' the fish and invariably put together a good weight.
One such example was in a nationwide competition which was initially fished at club level to determine the local champion, followed by a regional final and then a grand final. Needless to say, ‘Stottle’ won the match at Stowe and was then faced with a trip to the Royal Military Canal for the regional final. And although he drew a favoured swim he still has to produce the goods, which he did by working on a shoal of bream to perfection and catching steadily throughout the entire match. If my memory serves me correctly, when it came to the weigh-in ‘Stottle’ put a massive match winning weight of 78lbs on the scales. This was a record for the whole event which stood for several years and in fact has quite possibly never been beaten.
The grand final that year was held on two gravel pits at Peterborough and I went with him to lend a bit of moral support and act as caddy for some of the kit. Without doubt ‘Stottle’ had planned his approach to this match with absolute precision, but for once the luck of the draw really brought him down to earth with a bump. Having trekked past numerous pegs that all looked inviting, we eventually arrived at the swim he had drawn to find that it really was a case of being faced with a peg that should never have been put into the draw. Despite this he simply got on with the job in hand, although despite working tirelessly throughout the match all his efforts were in vain and on that occasion, he didn’t even manage to raise a bite, let alone catch a fish.
Over the years, I had the pleasure of fishing alongside ‘Stottle’ on numerous freshwater venues, including lakes, rivers and canals, as well as sea fishing from both beach and by boat. We even managed to get in a bit of fly fishing for trout as well, although I regret that we never aspired to having a crack at catching a salmon. If we had, however, I’ve no doubt that ‘Stottle’ would have been the one most likely to come out on top as he never seemed to depend on luck alone.
As you can imagine there are also numerous memories of these excursions, some funny and some sad, as well as others which are undoubtedly best left untold. One that can perhaps be retold was the Sunday morning match at Stowe when ‘Stottle’ was drawn on a low numbered peg in front of the boathouse. Now what happened next may come as something of a surprise to newer members of the club but in those days, there were plenty of trees, bushes and ample vegetation at regular intervals around the Eleven Acre Lake. Midway through the matter in hand he heard a rather unusual ‘slithering’ sound, only to discover that a tench had hooked itself and charged off, dragging the pole into the lake behind it.
Those nearby were promptly treated to the sight of ‘Stottle’ leaping fully clothed into the lake, where he not only managed to retrieve his pole but was also able to play the still hooked fish back to the bank, net it and put it safely into his keepnet. He then drove home for a change of clothing before returning to finish the match which, despite all the excitement, he still managed to win quite comfortably.
Born into the Harris family where all the men-folk were talented engineers ‘Stottle’ prove to be no exception to this rule. In fact, it could be argued that he was perhaps the cleverest and most adaptable of them all, particularly when it came to his outstanding ability to both design and then solve problems as they arose. On leaving school he worked initially for Leslie Hartridge Ltd., in Buckingham before moving to March Engineering in Bicester building racing cars and where he was foreman in charge of the fabrication department. He eventually took over the family engineering business in Maids Moreton when his father retired, before passing it on to his nephew just a few short years ago, when he retired.
One thing that could certainly be said of ‘Stottle’ was that he was always prepared to put his heart and soul into matters affecting the Stowe Angling Club which we ran very much on a self-help basis. Never was this more evident than when the club obtained permission from Stowe School to lower the level of the Eleven Acre Lake by six feet to facilitate a major cleaning-out operation of the variety of bicycles, sunken boats, branches and other assorted debris which had been thrown in over the years.
Not content with this, ‘Stottle’ suggested that it would also present an ideal opportunity to remove at least some of the silt which had accumulated in the swims in the area of the Cascade. To cut a long story short, at his request the committee obtained a Mini which had failed its MOT and which, by cutting the body off and mounting the front end and engine onto a frame made from scaffold poles, ‘Stottle’ converted into an efficient motorised winch capable of pulling a bucket the size of a wheelbarrow through the silt. As a refinement, he also designed and built a ramp for the bucket to slide up before automatically tipping its load of silt into a dumper waiting underneath. Once it had been emptied the bucket was dragged back down the ramp and into the lake by means of another small Lister stationary engine set up on the opposite bank. That it worked, and worked perfectly at that, was without doubt testimony to ‘Stottle’s’ outstanding engineering abilities.
My memories of this are fortunately very clear, simply because I was entrusted with the important position of labourer on the project, being authorised by ‘Stottle’ to hold what he told me to hold where he told me to hold it while he attended to the technical stuff such as welding etc., and woe betide me if I got it wrong. As a legacy to ‘Stottle’s’ memory there is sadly nothing visible left of this work to indicate the exertions the volunteer club members put in over a week of solid and often very dirty hard work. It was a job well done and in recognition of this Stowe School, who were our landlords at the time, reduced the club’s annual rent by 50% and also gave us a generous donation for the purposes of restocking the Eleven Acre Lake with tench.
Fortunately, however, there is still at least one permanent reminder of another project undertaken by the club which will undoubtedly serve as a lasting memorial to ‘Stottle’. This is the overflow where the water runs out of the Eleven Acre Lake. For many years, this had been little more than a small brick-built culvert which, after running under the roadway, emptied into the dried-up Copper Bottom Lake. In normal times this was just about adequate to cope with the flow but in times of heavy rain quickly became swamped, causing the level of the lake to rise considerably. The club approached Stowe School and offered to completely rebuild the overflow to a more suitable size, which was gratefully accepted.
The old inadequate system was totally removed, which allowed a much larger steelwork structure to be concreted into position below ground to support the new overflow. This was encapsulated into a large reinforced concrete pad built up to ground level, on top of which a substantial grille made from stout steel bars was padlocked into position. No doubt it will not take the reader long to work out the name of the person responsible for designing and making all the steelwork on this project – especially if I add that once again I was labourer on this job as well. Yes, once again it was my pal David ‘Stottle’ Harris!
Snowy
It is with a deep sense of loss that the club has learned of the death of David Harris, one of its longest serving members. Although suffering with serious health problems which has curtailed his own angling activities in recent years he continued to serve as a valued member of the club's committee, only recently standing down after completing some 40 years’ unbroken service as vice-chairman. He was known universally as 'Stottle' which was itself a clever play on words using the combination of his surname coupled with that of the Greek philosopher Aristotle and was apparently given to him by his schoolmates at the Royal Latin School in Buckingham.
Probably the finest accolade would be for 'Stottle' to be remembered as a true countryman because of his particular interest in all matters connected with outdoor pastimes, particularly hunting, shooting and fishing. In the case of fishing, this is self-evident by the number of times his name appears on many of the club's trophies where he was noted for his ability to produce a match-winning catch from even the most unlikely swim. This was also evident on the occasions when he was faced with fishing other waters, such as canals and fast flowing rivers, which were totally alien to fishing methods used at Stowe. Yet he could always be relied upon to 'find' the fish and invariably put together a good weight.
One such example was in a nationwide competition which was initially fished at club level to determine the local champion, followed by a regional final and then a grand final. Needless to say, ‘Stottle’ won the match at Stowe and was then faced with a trip to the Royal Military Canal for the regional final. And although he drew a favoured swim he still has to produce the goods, which he did by working on a shoal of bream to perfection and catching steadily throughout the entire match. If my memory serves me correctly, when it came to the weigh-in ‘Stottle’ put a massive match winning weight of 78lbs on the scales. This was a record for the whole event which stood for several years and in fact has quite possibly never been beaten.
The grand final that year was held on two gravel pits at Peterborough and I went with him to lend a bit of moral support and act as caddy for some of the kit. Without doubt ‘Stottle’ had planned his approach to this match with absolute precision, but for once the luck of the draw really brought him down to earth with a bump. Having trekked past numerous pegs that all looked inviting, we eventually arrived at the swim he had drawn to find that it really was a case of being faced with a peg that should never have been put into the draw. Despite this he simply got on with the job in hand, although despite working tirelessly throughout the match all his efforts were in vain and on that occasion, he didn’t even manage to raise a bite, let alone catch a fish.
Over the years, I had the pleasure of fishing alongside ‘Stottle’ on numerous freshwater venues, including lakes, rivers and canals, as well as sea fishing from both beach and by boat. We even managed to get in a bit of fly fishing for trout as well, although I regret that we never aspired to having a crack at catching a salmon. If we had, however, I’ve no doubt that ‘Stottle’ would have been the one most likely to come out on top as he never seemed to depend on luck alone.
As you can imagine there are also numerous memories of these excursions, some funny and some sad, as well as others which are undoubtedly best left untold. One that can perhaps be retold was the Sunday morning match at Stowe when ‘Stottle’ was drawn on a low numbered peg in front of the boathouse. Now what happened next may come as something of a surprise to newer members of the club but in those days, there were plenty of trees, bushes and ample vegetation at regular intervals around the Eleven Acre Lake. Midway through the matter in hand he heard a rather unusual ‘slithering’ sound, only to discover that a tench had hooked itself and charged off, dragging the pole into the lake behind it.
Those nearby were promptly treated to the sight of ‘Stottle’ leaping fully clothed into the lake, where he not only managed to retrieve his pole but was also able to play the still hooked fish back to the bank, net it and put it safely into his keepnet. He then drove home for a change of clothing before returning to finish the match which, despite all the excitement, he still managed to win quite comfortably.
Born into the Harris family where all the men-folk were talented engineers ‘Stottle’ prove to be no exception to this rule. In fact, it could be argued that he was perhaps the cleverest and most adaptable of them all, particularly when it came to his outstanding ability to both design and then solve problems as they arose. On leaving school he worked initially for Leslie Hartridge Ltd., in Buckingham before moving to March Engineering in Bicester building racing cars and where he was foreman in charge of the fabrication department. He eventually took over the family engineering business in Maids Moreton when his father retired, before passing it on to his nephew just a few short years ago, when he retired.
One thing that could certainly be said of ‘Stottle’ was that he was always prepared to put his heart and soul into matters affecting the Stowe Angling Club which we ran very much on a self-help basis. Never was this more evident than when the club obtained permission from Stowe School to lower the level of the Eleven Acre Lake by six feet to facilitate a major cleaning-out operation of the variety of bicycles, sunken boats, branches and other assorted debris which had been thrown in over the years.
Not content with this, ‘Stottle’ suggested that it would also present an ideal opportunity to remove at least some of the silt which had accumulated in the swims in the area of the Cascade. To cut a long story short, at his request the committee obtained a Mini which had failed its MOT and which, by cutting the body off and mounting the front end and engine onto a frame made from scaffold poles, ‘Stottle’ converted into an efficient motorised winch capable of pulling a bucket the size of a wheelbarrow through the silt. As a refinement, he also designed and built a ramp for the bucket to slide up before automatically tipping its load of silt into a dumper waiting underneath. Once it had been emptied the bucket was dragged back down the ramp and into the lake by means of another small Lister stationary engine set up on the opposite bank. That it worked, and worked perfectly at that, was without doubt testimony to ‘Stottle’s’ outstanding engineering abilities.
My memories of this are fortunately very clear, simply because I was entrusted with the important position of labourer on the project, being authorised by ‘Stottle’ to hold what he told me to hold where he told me to hold it while he attended to the technical stuff such as welding etc., and woe betide me if I got it wrong. As a legacy to ‘Stottle’s’ memory there is sadly nothing visible left of this work to indicate the exertions the volunteer club members put in over a week of solid and often very dirty hard work. It was a job well done and in recognition of this Stowe School, who were our landlords at the time, reduced the club’s annual rent by 50% and also gave us a generous donation for the purposes of restocking the Eleven Acre Lake with tench.
Fortunately, however, there is still at least one permanent reminder of another project undertaken by the club which will undoubtedly serve as a lasting memorial to ‘Stottle’. This is the overflow where the water runs out of the Eleven Acre Lake. For many years, this had been little more than a small brick-built culvert which, after running under the roadway, emptied into the dried-up Copper Bottom Lake. In normal times this was just about adequate to cope with the flow but in times of heavy rain quickly became swamped, causing the level of the lake to rise considerably. The club approached Stowe School and offered to completely rebuild the overflow to a more suitable size, which was gratefully accepted.
The old inadequate system was totally removed, which allowed a much larger steelwork structure to be concreted into position below ground to support the new overflow. This was encapsulated into a large reinforced concrete pad built up to ground level, on top of which a substantial grille made from stout steel bars was padlocked into position. No doubt it will not take the reader long to work out the name of the person responsible for designing and making all the steelwork on this project – especially if I add that once again I was labourer on this job as well. Yes, once again it was my pal David ‘Stottle’ Harris!
Snowy