In Memory of a Good Friend John Glover

Over the years John has walked on many occasions with The Last of the Summer Wine Walkers. This was in April 2013 when we were invited to his home in Dumfries and did an 8 mile walk led by Bowman.

Enjoying a beer after the walk.

 

In October 2014 John was very much involved with a Rumanian charity he helped set up to help orphans from that country. He brought two people over from Rumania who were involved with the charity. he made several journeys to Rumania all at his own expense and managed to overcome the bureaucracy that was so difficult overcome at that time. 

In June 2017 The Last of the Summer Wine walkers had a holiday cottage for a week at Colvend near Dalbeattie and John and Marion joined us for a days walking.

In Langholm in October 2018 to do the 10 Langholm bridges walk

In November 2022 when John was having health problems Tom and I met him and Marion at Glencaple and had a lovely lunch in The Boathouse 

In September 2021 we met John and Marion at Threave and did a nice walk to the Castle. It was the last walk we would do with John.

His Memorial Service yesterday was attended by about 1000 people. The Kirk was absolutely packed and we heard many tributes to John from various people but the most moving was a wonderful tribute to her dad by his daughter Joanne. I have known John for over 60 years and my most memorable time with him was in 1984 when I took him to Wales for the Wales v Scotland Rugby International. It was a memorable weekend and of course Scotland won. In a pub on the Saturday evening after the match John stood up in front of loads of Welsh supporters and did his Max Boyce impersonation. He brought the house down and had the place rocking with laughter. 

A Visit to Peniel Heugh and The Waterloo Monument

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I arranged to meet John and Ken from Edinburgh at Harestanes Visitor Centre near Ancrum at 10.30am and we arrived within a minute of each other. The walk was an almost 5 mile one to the top of Peniel Heugh, which is 237M high and on it sits the Waterloo Monument. The monument was built between 1817 and 1824 to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo. There is a projecting gallery at the top of the monument but the tower is not open to the public. The hill is the site of an iron age fort.

These trees appealed to me so I took a photo of them only to discover I had taken the same photo 8 years ago when we last visited.

Ken and John were good company. We missed Tom who was packing for his holiday to Barbados.

A wee pond on one of the many paths through the woods

The Waterloo Monument on the summit of Peniel Heugh

The locked gate stopping us from getting to the balcony

This is Ruberslaw in the distance and we have climbed that a couple of times.
 

Old Photos from 1960 or 1961 with Billy Steele

This is an old photo from my early years in The Boys Brigade and was recently sent to me by my friend John Irving. L to R David Hogg, Billy Steele, Gavin Graham, Bobby Kyle. Billy of course went on to play  Rugby for Scotland and the famous 1974 British Lions who were unbeaten. He also introduced Flower of Scotland as the Lions favourite song and it has become the Scottish National Anthem. 

Myself with Johns Mum and Dad Nan and Archie Irving at their favourite picnic spot near Douglen Cleuch near Bentpath.