In Memoriam – Derek Seddon

By Frank Williams


I joined the KMC in 1977 and membership has been fantastic in adventure and the support of progress in mountain activity. My first trip to climb in the Alps was in 1980 on a novice development course with the BMC. I was hooked and went to the Dauphinè for several years afterwards with various partners. In '82 Derek Seddon and I decided to go together in the traditional way on the magic bus from Chorlton Street, Manchester to London Victoria and thence to Grenoble. A local bus took us from Grenoble to Briançon. From there we hitched to the camp site at Ailefroide, with our 80 pound weight sacks; the journey itself was a sufficient test of friendship and augured well for our trip.

Derek was always known as tolerant of privations and capable of great objectivity. It is worth celebrating at this point a little known part that he played in the WW2, that is that as a 20 year old platoon leader in the fight up Italy, he was ordered to take his men into Salmona, Lazio, adjacent to the border with the Abruzzo, to see if there were any German troops still there. So we always think of him as the liberator of Salmona, birthplace of Ovid !!!

We camped at Ailefroide under the trees for shade and with the beer in a nearby groundwater stream; it was idyllic with such a good companion. We warmed up with Tête de la Draye, followed by Des Agneax, Roche Faurio, Ailefroide Orientale and Pic Coolidge. Derek was the president of the KMC at the time and I introduced him as such at the huts!!!

Some of the amusing aspects included the fact that, Derek’s water bottle was a plastic fabric softener bottle from which the water tasted awful….tolerance! Thinking that wine, as in England, was too expensive, Derek drank French lemonade, trade name “Sic” until we discovered that it was more expensive than wine.

Positivity, that was Derek’s forte, when someone on the Thursday walks said, “Pity it’s a grey day”, Derek replied “Yes, but it’s a Grade “A” grey day”!!! It was that positivity that helped to sustain the club during the hard days of Ty Powdwr development as well as his practical involvement. Margaret and I first went down to the hut with Bowden driving and with Derek. We walked for the day but Derek worked in the hut and managed to lay tiles throughout the kitchen and entrance that day, tough on the knees.
So there are many memories of time with Derek, all good ones, climbing, fell races, walks and meetings, so a big thanks to you for your part in our lives and your huge contribution to the KMC.

 


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