Life With a Smile
By Jim Symon
It was on an autumn day over 20 years ago when I was captured by that wonderful beaming smile. I was out bouldering on Windgather Rocks when I heard a broad Yorkshire accent saying “I’m not happy Judith, it’s too hard is this, I’m not happy”. So I went over and came across Linda, Judith’s friend from school, halfway up a route. I asked “Are you all right?” A face appeared from above, smiling away; “We’re fine!” I smiled back thinking “What a cracking smile”. Anyway I pointed out a few holds to Linda and she got up it OK. Then I got talking and noticed they had a large butty box and flask that they might need help with. Judith was happy to let me use her rope and do some routes with them. I got Judith’s number, and that was that. So thanks Linda for complaining that day; it certainly changed my life forever.
Judith loved climbing, walking, scrambling, and fell-running on the moors and mountains. I have it on good authority, from Steve, Judith’s sister Jane’s partner, that she and Jane used to go skinny-dipping in the Lakes. Judith was a very good teacher, and taught science and biology, and later went into special needs teaching to help those that struggled to read and write. She loved to take young people, and friends, and introduce them to the outdoors; climbing, walking or canoeing. They were usually rough kids from rough areas, but Ju seemed to have a special bond with these kids and was treated with a lot of respect and affection. One such kid, Sarah Grey, came to be a bridesmaid at our wedding. Many times we would be out walking and a “Hello Miss” would come from somewhere, and they would stop for a natter. On one occasion, in an Indian in Swinton, me, Ju and some climbing friends ordered a curry and the meal arrived with a big bottle of champagne in an ice-bucket. I said “Hold on pal, I didn’t order this”, thinking “are they trying to up the bill?” Then out comes the restaurant manager and says “Hello miss, remember me, you used to teach me at Grange”. Ju was slightly taken aback by this generous gesture, and turned slightly pink; the rest of us thought it was brilliant. Ju had lots of friends from Grange school including many who have kept in touch and helped Judith and I over the years: Linda, Greta, Mick and Jo, and Nick. They have shared many good times with Ju both on and off the hills.
Judith had lots of friends in the climbing community and I met many of Ju’s friends from the Powser’s club in Glossop. Ken, who kept Judith’s white mini going forever; it is still going to this day in other hands. Lots of happy memories of adventures in the white mini. Trips to Scotland with my dad stuffed in the back with rucksacks wedged all round him (he didn’t need an airbag!). Sliding over and down Winnats pass in a blizzard with Chris Williamson calmly talking Judith through it, secretly praying she didn’t lose it on a bend. Yes, it was a sad day when we had to let the white mini go; it was like losing an old friend. Ken’s prices were a bit outrageous; a tenner for this, a five for that. Ju would secretly leave twenty quid on top of the telly after trying to negotiate the price up!
Ju met lots of my friends in the Karabiner Mountaineering Club and became a member. The adventures continued and trips to the club hut in Wales became the norm.
Ju’s passion was boat trips to visit islands. She loved being bounced around in rough seas; the rougher the better. I still have a clear picture in my head of Ju smiling, eating a bag of crisps, whilst Christine Beeston was holding her head in her hands, and Bowden Black was turning green hanging over the side of the boat, on a rough crossing to Lundy.
When illness was starting to slow Judith down, she said “let’s tick off the Islands of Scotland”. I said “which ones”; she said “all of them!” Eight years later, I have fantastic memories of Shetland with Mark and Michelle, puffin watching near Muckle Flugga, Orkney with Chris and Rosie, Ju determined to walk to the Old Man of Hoy; no-one was going to stop her! Lewis and Harris, again with Chris and Rosie, walking on beautiful beaches, watching seals in rough seas. Walking around Calanish stone circles with snow on the ground in duvets and winter woollies. Ju smiling all the way on a really rough crossing to Eigg, as people were being thrown about; two people were even treated for concussion. People sick all over the boat; I even turned green myself, but Ju was smiling away, loving every minute of it. A trip to Portree A&E department because Ju tripped and split her head open on rocks in the campsite at Sligachan coming back from the loo. A bloke wrapping her head in a towel to stop the blood as I came out of the other loo, Ju just smiling “I’m alright Jim”. Smiling even more, when I discovered Germans had nicked our electric hook-up to the Bongo, and laughed at me as I ripped the electric out and threw it back at them swearing in broad Longsightian. Yes, too many Scottish Island trips to mention. We did all of them bar one; St Kilda. It became too problematic to get a wheelchair on a rowing boat, from a fishing boat, to land on the island. Ju would have been up for it, but alas it was not to be.
Ju loved animals, just like Sarah her niece, and wanted to go to New Zealand to see whales, dolphins, fur seals, penguins and of course Mt Cook, and tick off another couple of islands. We booked the flights, hired a camper van, and off we went for 6 weeks. Ju was able to walk at this time and enjoyed the glaciers below Mt Cook and walk around the bubbling sulphur pit of Rotarua’s craters of the moon. She saw her whales and dolphins at Kaikora, and it was a joy to see her face as she watched in awe at the giants of the sea rise and sink in the deep blue of the ocean. She also saw her fur seals and penguins. These memories are all down to Judith’s determination to enjoy life.
Judith’s determination also came with a fiery temper, which came out on the odd occasion (Jane, her sister, and Sarah, her niece, have also shown this temperament, Steve informs me). I remember an incident on a walk from Roybridge in winter. A group of us were going on a path through a farm and a collie sheepdog sneaked up and bit Judith on the back of the calf. Well, next moment, Judith was to be seen chasing this collie back to the farm swearing and swinging an ice-axe at a very worried looking sheepdog. We all stood stunned, and then laughed watching an animal lover raging at this dog.
Yes, it is hard to sum up a person’s life in words, especially someone you love so much.
Ju climbed for as long as she could climb, walked for as long as she could walk, and when she couldn’t walk, was still determined to get outdoors with me, Mark, and lots of other friends, helping her enjoy the life she would not let go of. Even when she was so weak in her last hours, I held her and asked her to smile. She gave me a smile, and shortly after, she was gone.
I met Ju with a smile and she left me with a smile! That’s how I will remember Judith, with that beautiful beaming smile, and that’s how I would like you to remember her.
Bye for now, Judith. Love, Jim.
