Posted by Joy Wotton on January 15, 2001 at 22:45:45 from 62.188.156.52:
I am sorry to see that Peter Roche's two messages about the service and Neutral Tar's comment have vanished into the ether, partly because I don't now know what response (if any) there was to the heartfelt message I posted on this subject last night. If you could manage to email any such comments to me privately, O Wise Tarboard Manager, I would be very grateful and would pass them on to Paul Crisp, the Southern Region Chairman.
When I spoke to Paul last night, he asked me if I would place the text of his tribute to David up on Tarboard. I am very happy to do this, first because David was a fine Tar, and secondly - well, those of you who read last night's messages will know why, and I'm not going to say any more because I really would like this message to stay up on Tarboard for a bit.
I do wish Club Hut still existed!!
Here's the text, exactly as Paul wrote it (as Peter Hyland and any editors out there will immediately realize from the punctuation and capitalization!).
*****
Tribute to the Revd David Towne, given at the memorial service at Otford on 13 January by Paul Crisp:
Over the years, I've done many strange things in church - from helping to murder an archbishop in Eliot's play, to getting married ñ but today marks a first. I have never produced a pipe in church before. I do so now because of David. Not that he was a pipe smoker ñ far from it. This pipe was the one I had planned to lend him for his role as Arthur Ransome in Brian Hopton's play to be premiered at the International AGM in Southampton University this year.
David was a dedicated TAR with an early membership number. His quiet enthusiasm for both the Society and the works of Arthur Ransome was infectious but never fanatical.
In other people finding out that they had called their house after one of those in the books might seem somewhat obsessional. David and Jenny' choice of Holly Howe, however has always felt perfectly right.
Having David on the regional committee was both a comfort and a strength. He was quiet but firm and would often see a very sensible solution to a problem which had eluded the rest of us. This might be simply the suggestion of an event such as the Kemsing walk, or wishing to see whether he could help with much more serious matters.
Several years ago something happened that caused much unhappiness, depression and stress to many of the Trustees and members, and came near to casting our ship on to a lee shore.
One evening David telephoned me and said that he was minded to write to the person at the heart of it, to see whether there was any way in which he might help him and the society to resolve their differences; but before he did so, he just wanted to seek my go ahead as chairman of our region.
I was more than happy to accept David's offer. He sent me a copy of his letter, which was a model of what such a document should be. I think David was sad that his efforts did not prevent the recipient from continuing his course, but the effect his letter had on me was profound. At the time when the rows had given me a distaste for anything to do with the books of AR and I felt like turning my back on the whole business, David's gesture gave me new heart and encouraged me to hang on in there and "Don't give up the Ship".
In this way he exemplified not only someone dedicated to the well-being of a society which meant much to him, but also what I am certain anyone in trouble might have expected from him in his professional life as a priest.
He cared about others ñ I feel sure every one of us here today has some memory wherein we have felt grateful for that care and concern. Certainly his fellow TARS have in many ways. But I have one very personal memory for which I am deeply grateful to David.
A couple of days after he had entered the hospital in Queen's Square, my own father who had suffered a major stroke was also admitted to have a tumout removed. When I went up to see him on the day he was admitted, the first person I met was David ñ I knew he was there and I was planning to find him after I had seen to Dad, but meeting him in the reception area was a complete surprise to both of us. He looked very well and fairly relaxed, even though he knew the major operation that lay before him. I explained why I was there and at once David's concern was for my father and mother. He said that he would be thinking of them, and I went away feeling far more at ease than I had done for a long time ñ something in the way David had spoken filled me with confidence and inner peace of mind.
I saw David once more at the hospital after my father had left. David looked very much his normal self although he was having difficulty finishing some sentences, but he told me that he had been up to my father's ward to see him although Dad was asleep; right to my last meeting with him David was caring for others.
I've regretted that I did not know David before he retired from his parish. I would have liked to hear him preach, and indeed, was looking forward to doing so in the summer, for David was going to take the Sunday service at our Southampton AGM. I wondered what he was going to choose as his text. Well, I'll have to be patient until I change regions and can ask him myself.
In the meantime this pipe will be very special. It has always been a favourite and not it will mean a great deal more.
Thank you.