Wimborne Wobblers

Niall Etchingham: I first met Garth back in 1992 at our local watering hole the Crown and Anchor in Wimborne. Our friendship developed initially due to our drinking habits. As time progressed our group became larger and we would have a regular gathering on a Thurs. night, you almost needed a good excuse not to be there. As we were all heading towards senior citizenship we needed a title and so the Wimborne Wobblers were formed.

As several of us played golf, this could often be the topic of an evening (amongst other things). So Garth decided to join me at Crane Valley golf club along with Tom, Graham and Vaughan . We would generally play twice a week in an extremely competitive environment, even though it was only for £3. Garth had played at a much younger age, but it didn’t take him long to pick it up again, soon becoming a fierce competitor and always chasing the £3 (especially if he took it from me). He was also always our cleric on the course as he had such good neat writing and was very good if a dispute took place, he was more aware of the rules than most and I remember when he bought us all rule books, but unfortunately there were no pictures.

Garth then joined us on our annual trip to Bude with several other friends from CV. I know how much Garth really enjoyed these trips away as he would be looking forward to them from early in the year. He also enjoyed the times when Steve and the London boys would join in, we had an age range from 20’s to 70’s but all got on extremely well. The main problem we had was these young London lads cleared us old farts out of our pensions!!

Our Wobblers Thurs. evening is still ongoing. Unfortunately we lost another member earlier this year, Alan Bosworth. Alan and Garth would rip the ….. out of one another but all in good fun. We all miss then both, as there was so much humor and good times in their company.

On a personal level I would say that Garth is one of the best friends I have had, I miss him a lot. He was one of the most honest, genuine caring mates one could have. He would be so proud of the momentus feat that Steve and the crew are undertaking, he had a lot of time for Steves mates and often referred to them as a great bunch of lads.

I have followed the FTFE journey avidly and they are doing a brilliant job in what sounds like very difficult terrain but also an extremely interesting  journey– Keep it going and stay safe.

Myself, Vaughan and Graham were able to help a little towards the trip as we arranged the signage and flags. Steve decided to pick probably the coldest Saturday in January to fit the engine out with all the graphics, however Mum was on hand to keep the hot drinks flowing. It really has been a pleasure for us this end to have been able to help a little, what’s more all the signs and flags are still intact.