Graham Proudlove
Member
Fantastic recollections, and wonderful to read about. But what's your name? The most infuriating bit of this forum is the anonymous contributors!
Mike Boon
- Thread starter Badlad
- Start date
Thank you Dave C for relating all those lovely stories about Mike. I remember him telling me of his free flight when we were at PSM in 1972...only he could get away with that! I particularly loved the bit about:
"He tried a number of jobs, the longest of which was a spell with Huddersfield Corporation as a bus conductor. Not that they would make much money from Mike, as he granted free passage to the elderly, anyone looking poor, and pretty young ladies."
That's him all over!
:halo:
"He tried a number of jobs, the longest of which was a spell with Huddersfield Corporation as a bus conductor. Not that they would make much money from Mike, as he granted free passage to the elderly, anyone looking poor, and pretty young ladies."
That's him all over!
:halo:
axbridgecaver
Member
Mike Boon plays a leading role in the exploration of Yochib - The River Cave by C. William Steele.
My number one in caving books.
My number one in caving books.
Joe Duxbury
Member
I have fond memories of doing a few Dales classics with Mike Boon in the early eighties. Mike was the inspiration behind the 1984 Untamed River Expedition to Papua New Guinea, which sadly in the end he wasn't able to come on and we lost touch.
In 1989 after a caving trip to Mexico four of us decided to travel down to Guatemala for a look around. We crossed the Mex/Guatemalan border at a fairly remote border post and took a bus to the nearest local town. It had a 'wild west' sort of feel and as we checked into the only hotel I noticed a familiar face sat in the small foyer reading a book. Of course it was Mike. We cracked a few beers and went on our way the next day. Never saw him again.
There must be so many stories about cavers which often die with them. I am thinking of opening up a new section of 'obituaries' on UKcaving so that people can record their memories or pay tribute as they wish. Do people think this is a good idea and will it get used?
In 1989 after a caving trip to Mexico four of us decided to travel down to Guatemala for a look around. We crossed the Mex/Guatemalan border at a fairly remote border post and took a bus to the nearest local town. It had a 'wild west' sort of feel and as we checked into the only hotel I noticed a familiar face sat in the small foyer reading a book. Of course it was Mike. We cracked a few beers and went on our way the next day. Never saw him again.
There must be so many stories about cavers which often die with them. I am thinking of opening up a new section of 'obituaries' on UKcaving so that people can record their memories or pay tribute as they wish. Do people think this is a good idea and will it get used?
Bottlebank
New member
Badlad said:
I think a website is far better suited to this sort of thing than a forum - the forum has far too many irrelevant threads cluttering things up and becomes too reliant on searches.
Maybe the Wiki would be much better suited to this?
bograt
Active member
I think an active thread will bring back a lot more memories than the Wiki, as this one is doing.
Sometimes I think of many of my mates who have 'Gone Dead' and recall occasional incidents that are not worth composing an article for but may be worth a quick post.
Someone might be willing to edit and compile a Wiki entry from the posts.
The tribute to Keith Joules in the last 'Derbyshire Caver' is a good example of a 'communal obit'.
WRT to Pauls last post which came up as I was previewing mine, the best reminiscences in my opinion come from a chat in the pub, ( Do you remember when so&so did so&so?) I think these sort of chats are more likely to be revealed on a live thread than constructed into a Wiki article.
Sometimes I think of many of my mates who have 'Gone Dead' and recall occasional incidents that are not worth composing an article for but may be worth a quick post.
Someone might be willing to edit and compile a Wiki entry from the posts.
The tribute to Keith Joules in the last 'Derbyshire Caver' is a good example of a 'communal obit'.
WRT to Pauls last post which came up as I was previewing mine, the best reminiscences in my opinion come from a chat in the pub, ( Do you remember when so&so did so&so?) I think these sort of chats are more likely to be revealed on a live thread than constructed into a Wiki article.
paul
Moderator
There is probably room for both chats on the forum reminiscing and trading stories about the person's life and an Obit. on the Wiki.
Forum posts would only involve those who knew the person. Having a more formal obituary on the Wiki would be more of a historic record. For example, how many younger cavers even know who Mike Boon was or any of his outstanding achievements?
Forum posts, like chats in the pub with mates, are fleeting whereas a Wiki post is more permanent.
Forum posts would only involve those who knew the person. Having a more formal obituary on the Wiki would be more of a historic record. For example, how many younger cavers even know who Mike Boon was or any of his outstanding achievements?
Forum posts, like chats in the pub with mates, are fleeting whereas a Wiki post is more permanent.
bograt
Active member
paul said:
Agreed
but recollections on the forum would add additional an insight to the character of the corpse? as I said, both are valuable and an editor would have more material to work from to compose a Wiki entry. Why should 'chats in the pub' (or on forums) be 'fleeting'?
Simon Wilson
New member
paul said:
It's funny that you should say forums are a conversation; I remember saying the same thing recently but I'll say no more because this is definitely off topic.
paul
Moderator
Simon Wilson said:
[gmod]The Topic in question is about the recent death of Mike Boon. Bottlebank brought up the point about whether the discussion (about this recent death and any others in the future) would be better placed on the Wiki rather than a separate Obituary Forum section as suggested by Badlad.
So the subsequent points raised were still regarding Mike Boon's death and the discussions about this. So they are On Topic.
A conversation can either be about a single subject and still be on topic, or can drift off onto irrelevancies and then be off the original topic.[/gmod]
Simon Wilson
New member
paul said:
So a forum, like a chat in a pub, doesn't necessarily have any organised structure.
Bottlebank
New member
Maybe Badlad should seek a few Wiki volunteer editors to began compiling a "Caving Hall of Fame" - certainly Boon would be a fitting place to start by all accounts?
I'd be happy to help with that, and I'm sure others would?
Looking at the Wiki the basic structure seems to be in place already? See http://ukcaving.com/wiki/index.php/People
I'd be happy to help with that, and I'm sure others would?
Looking at the Wiki the basic structure seems to be in place already? See http://ukcaving.com/wiki/index.php/People
As far as a "Caving Hall of Fame" goes, there is a distinct cross-over here with the pen portraits (+ photos) in place for people interviewed on the audio archive, especially this subset of those already gone.
http://caving-library.org.uk/audio/intlist.php?type=deceased
http://caving-library.org.uk/audio/intlist.php?type=deceased
Apologies for the on topic/off topic thing. If anything it was an error on my part. I have been considering making space on here for memories of the departed and the Boon topic seemed a good place to bring it up.
I was not really talking about a formal obituary, that maybe best placed in Descent or on a Wiki as has been suggested. I was thinking more of peoples [fond] memories of a person. These are not always included in an obituary and not everyone who knew the deceased gets included in writing it. Personally if a caver passes away I am always interested in hearing stories about them, be they about great achievements, funny anecdotes, or both, and we have seen a number of these written about Mike Boon in this topic.
I was not really talking about a formal obituary, that maybe best placed in Descent or on a Wiki as has been suggested. I was thinking more of peoples [fond] memories of a person. These are not always included in an obituary and not everyone who knew the deceased gets included in writing it. Personally if a caver passes away I am always interested in hearing stories about them, be they about great achievements, funny anecdotes, or both, and we have seen a number of these written about Mike Boon in this topic.
Bottlebank
New member
Badlad said:
Personally I think it's a good topic for discussion, and couldn't care less whether it's on or off topic.
Totally agree on the content - there's some great stories to be told.
How about a compromise - encourage people to add links into the Wiki to specific forum threads, links to the BCA archive if material is there, external links and try collate the best stories directly on the Wiki as well?
I've never really been involved in Wiki's. What's to stop us just going ahead and doing this?
