In Memoriam Alas we have lost some members and to all those left behind we offer our condolences: George William Wallis (FC 65/66). We are sorry to report the death of George William Wallis (Bill) on September 15th 2020 after an illness.
Dave Ross (NDA 65-67 ) in June 2020: On leaving Shutts Dave returned to the family farm near Rotherham where he expanded cow numbers, built a new parlour and gradually increased to around 200 acres. In the mid to late seventies he met his wife, Maria Pilar (aka Pili). It was somewhat of a whirlwind romance; she was Spanish and was visiting her brother here who was married to a friend of Dave’s sister. They fell in love, three weeks later he went to Spain after her and they married. He didn’t speak Spanish and she didn’t speak English so they used an English/Spanish dictionary to communicate whilst she experienced one of the coldest winters in England. Despite it all they were together 31 years and had four sons before she was sadly taken with cancer at the tender age of 55, leaving Dave heartbroken. With four sons it was always a challenge as to how they could all get a living from the farm or alternatively should it be sold? The family rose to the challenge and diversified the business with a farm shop and butchery, set up a milk bottling plant and deliver their own milk, and run a successful festival, FarmFest,(a day of live music, food and farming). Having transformed the farm himself in the seventies, Dave was able to see the whole family transform it again in recent years to a thriving diversified rural business. Earlier this year the family featured on a BBC TV programme on the Farmers Guardian Family Farm of the Year Award. I had come across Dave a few times in my BOCM PAULS days as he was a customer of ours and having seen the programme resolved to look him up again after lockdown, but too late I am afraid. Sorry Dave !! Rossco will be fondly remembered by many of us from that era, part of the staunch Yorkshire contingent, always cheerful with his trademark chuckle. He was a rugby player, and a champion of the qualities of Yorkshire beer to which I am now converted as a southerner living in the county for the last 30 years or more. We had so much fun together at Shutts with stories too many to recall (the memories are a bit hazy, not sure whether due to old age now or the amount of beer drunk at the time !!) I know that Dave and Maria would both be very proud of what their family has achieved. Rest in peace Dave.
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