IT IS with great sadness that I'm writing this article following the sudden death of Roger Pickett, 'Our Pam's' husband, at the tragically early age of 55, writes Ralph Freeman.
Roger was physically a 'big bloke' and he had a big heart too. It was typical of the man that when confronted with an enormous queue at the Watford Flight he didn't just stand around complaining, he wandered off, found the lock keeper and spent the rest of the afternoon helping the keeper work boats through the flight.
Much needed strength
I often used to joke that I would never go boating with Roger as his trips always seemed so incident packed! He always had tales of rescuing dogs and on occasions people(!) from the Cut where his considerable strength was much needed, towing broken down boats or extracting hire boats stuck in the silt etc.
If I was ever in a fix on the canals I would hope the chap on the next boat along would be Roger. He would do whatever he could to help and all he would accept for that help would be the 'standard boating reward' of a bottle of beer or better still a pint in some canal side pub. Whenever, Roger was on his travels around the system I would make the effort to meet up by boat or car to have a good yarn and set the world to rights!
Our hearts go out
Obviously all our hearts go out to 'Our Pam' on her tragic and very unexpected loss. From my perspective I've lost a good 'Mate' and the canals have lost a real, old fashioned, boater. I'm sure there are many fellow lorry drivers and boaters out there who, like me, will be mourning the passing of Roger Pickett a genuine 'Good Bloke'.