Torchy

[mulucaver]

Paul Torchy Foster has recently passed away. An avid mineral collector Torchy was a member of Pegasus and PDMHS. He spent the last 4 or 5 years in a nursing home in Stockport, his home town. He was one of last Peak District 'characters'.

 

[bograt]

Very sad news, a character indeed, I really liked Torchy, R.I.P. old chap.

 

[Fishes]

Thanks for the update Dave. The term character definitely sums up torchy.

 

[Boy Engineer]

He was one of last Peak District 'characters'.

Indeed. I didn?t know him well but could pick him out in a photograph. As an innocent 17(ish) year old I was taken along to The Stags by the ?Magpie lot?. This saw an introduction to bottled Mackeson, and to a host of other ?characters?, including of course the OP above. I remember some of them being rather intimidating, with warnings from my mentors/minders that some could bite if provoked. A ten year age difference at that stage felt enormous; having now retired it doesn?t seem so. It certainly feels as though some of the scrapes were a bit more Technicolour back then, but that?s probably been true since people developed the ability to reflect on their past.

 

[scratch]

Torchy you don't need to RIP now, have you still got that revolver I gave you.

 

[Dickie]

Torchy was the Eldon Hostel Warden in the 70's, when it was off the main drag in Buxton.  (Best-situated hostel in the country - over the top of a pub, next to a cafe and next to a late-night drinking hole!)
Torchy would turn up on a Friday night and often disappear for the weekend, wheeler-dealing, not necessarily all above-board allegedly!
It was rumoured he had a few tea-chests full of Blue John in a shed and had discussed mineral specimens with the Duke of Devonshire.
Being a gas fitter, he would occasionally have to go on the "snatch-back" run, repossessing gas cookers from people defaulting on their HP to the Gas Board, and then regale us with  how many times he'd got his leg over as a payment for looking the other way!
He was an avid snuff-taker for many years, possessing a wide range of brown hankies!

A loss of another real character.

 

[paul]

[gmod]Posts about the old Eldon Hostel have been moved to a new Topic as requested. https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=26570.0[/gmod]

 

[AR]

Does anyone have a photo of Torchy that I could use in the next PDMHS newsletter? Wacker's done an obit but it would be good to have a pic to go with it.

 

[Pitlamp]

Just for the avoidance of confusion (for anyone researching in the future) there was also a caver known as Torchy associated with the Craven Pothole Club in the early 1980s, with the initials SJ. He was involved with the Sardinia expedition around that time.