The Coal Boat is coming

Spencer and Victoria Collins onboard their coal boat. Picture by Bob Naylor: WaterMarx©

Spencer and Victoria Collins of Hillperton Boatyard will be making a coal run to Wootton Rivers on their new workboat Aquilo — leaving  Hilperton on Saturday 23 November. 

They expect to be in Wootton Rivers on Tuesday and back to Hilperton on Thursday so give them a ring to place an order on: 07790 017418 or stop them along the way.

They are selling: Diesel @ 82p a litre, Calor Gas @ £25.49 and solid fuel from £7.95 for 25kg.  They carry Wildfire, Stoveglow, Excel, Supatherm, Homefire and Taybrite — and they accept card payments

Devizes Boat Club — talk on flying boats

John Blunden will give a talk on the history of flying boats and the impact they had on long-distance travel. 

John regularly gives talks on aviation subjects to the U3A, Probus and other organizations.

During his flying career John flew a wide range of aircraft from Spitfires to jet planes — and he flew helicopters for a while.

John joined the RAF and learned to fly during WW2 and towards the end of the war he transferred to the Fleet Air Arm and spent much of his time flying from aircraft carriers.

John founded the Aviation Group of the Devizes Branch of the U3A and he is still active in that group.  

Jail for K&A Canal boat burglar

A thief who had previously been spared prison for robberies from, caravans has been sent to jail for robberies from canal boats.

Allan Campbell whose robbing spree along the Kennet & Avon Canal left boaters devastated by the damage he caused to their homes, the loss of their valuables and the theft of items of sentimental value has been jailed for four-and-a-half years at Swindon Crown Court.

Campbell, 39, who was finally caught in Lincolnshire after a nationwide search and brought back to Wiltshire to stand trial had earlier this year been given a suspended sentence at Exeter Crown Court when he was found guilty of burgling more that 80 caravans on the south coast.

It was only days after this conviction that he began breaking into narrowboats on the K&A Canal and he broke into boats along much of the length of the canal. He pleaded guilty to five counts of burglary and he asked for 14 further offences to be taken into consideration.

K&A Canal stoppage

The River Avon from Saltford to Hanham is closed until futher notice due to flood conditions.

Devizes canal death man named

The man who died after being pulled from the Kennet & Avon Canal in Devizes recently has been named as Gary Hedges.

Police reports say that Mr Hedges, 65, who was was looking after a boat (nb Marmalade) for a friend, suffered a heart attack as he jumped ashore to moor up the boat near Coate Road Bridge.

He was pulled from the canal on the afternoon of Wednesday 9th of October and despite being given CPR he was declared dead at the scene.

Police say they are satisfied that there are no suspicious circumstances behind Mr Hedges’ death.

Man dies in K&A Canal at Devizes

Police officers were called to the Kennet & Avon Canal between Devizes Wharf and London Road Bridge this afternoon (Wednesday) and pulled a man, believed to be in his 50s,  from the water.   

Attempts were made to resuscitate him but he was pronounced dead at the scene.








Boat trafffic moving again on the K&A Canal between London Road and Devizes Wharf after a man died there this afternoon. : Picture by Bob Naylor: WaterMarx 

Richard Benyon loses waterways post

Richard Benyon: Pic: WaterMarx©

George Eustace

Newbury MP Richard Benyon has lost his post at Defra as Waterways minister (parliamentary under-secretary of state for natural environment, water and rural affairs).

He will be replaced by George Eustace, MP for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle.

George Eustace said: “I spent ten years working in the farming industry and policies relating to water and the fishing industry are particularly important  to Cornwall.  I am really looking forward to working with colleagues within Defra to champion the interests of rural communities.”

K&A Canal: Caen Hill Flight winter opening

Caen Hill Flight — locks 44 to 29

01 October 2013 – 31 October 2013 — 08:00 to 15:00hrs (to clear the flight by 19:00)

01 November 2013 – 31 March 2014 — 08:00 to 13:00hrs (to clear the flight by 16:00)

Caen Hill Flight, Christmas Closure

The flight will be closed on 25, and 26 December 2013 and 01 January 2014.  

Winter opening hours will operate on all other days.

For further information call: 03030 404040

K&A Canal swingbridge fault stops boat traffic

Padworth Swingbridge (27) at Aldermaston is currently open to road traffic and closed to boat traffic today (Tuesday 10  September) due to a fault — it should be re-opened tomorrow (Wednesday 11th September).

K&A re-opened after fire at canalside industrial site

The Kennet & Avon canal and towpath have been re-opened at Sells Green near Devizes following a fire yesterday (6 September).

The fire destroyed two units within a 100m x 50m building. The building contained acetylene, propane and argon cylinders, which led to a safety cordon being put into place and the canal and towpath were closed as a precaution.

Fire crews stayed on site until after 10 pm yesterday.

A fire investigation is still taking place but initial findings suggest the cause to be accidental.

Industrial unit fire closes K&A Canal and towpath

The Kennet & Avon Canal and towpath at Sells Green, between Devizes and Melksham, has been closed today (Friday 6 September) because of a fire.

Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service was called to an industrial unit at Hillview Farm early this afternoon and found a number of vehicles and a workshop on fire.

The building contains acetylene, propane and argon cylinders, so a safety cordon has been put in place.

Six fire crews – from Devizes, Trowbridge, Calne, Bradford on Avon, Corsham and Ludgershall – are tackling the blaze, supported by a water carrier from Pewsey and an incident command vehicle from Devizes.

The cordon will remain in place until firefighters are sure that the cylinders no longer pose a risk.

Caen Hill Flight on the K&A Canal closed again

The Caen Hill flight of locks on the Kennet & Avon Canal has been closed for the second time in only a few days after two boats became jammed in a lock today (Tue September 3).

Two boats jammed in a lock on the Caen Hill Flight. Picture by Bob Naylor©

The boats had travelled together down the Devizes Flight with no problem.  They entered lock 41 on Caen Hill with no difficulty but as they emptied the lock they became jammed and ‘hung-up’ in the lock.  

The damaged coping stone.

The crews quickly refilled the lock and the boats were re-floated but they both became jammed under the coping stones on the edge of the lock. 

And there they stayed until Canal & River Trust (CRT) staff were able to assess the situation and bring in the equipment needed to remove the coping stones and to free the boats — a process that took more than five hours.

After the two boats were freed they were moved through the lock one boat at a time and CRT staff and volunteers helped to bring the queue of other boats trapped on the flight through the lock and to clear the flight.

The Caen Hill Flight is now open to navigation. Single boats only through Lock 41. Please take extra care around Lock 41, where the damaged area is fenced off.

A mini-digger was brought in to move the coping stone

Easing one of the boats out of the lock.

Free to travel on

K&A Canal Winter stoppages

04.11.13 — 29.11,13: Cadley Lock(54) Heathy Lock (52) & Wootton Rivers Lock (51) 
11.11.13 — 29.11.13: Bulls Lock (88)
25.11.13 — 20.12.13: Tyle Mill (99)
02.12.13 — 13.12.13: Woolhampton Lock (94)
02.12.13 — 20.12.13: Culvert 21a
16.12.13 — 20.12.13: Fobney Lock (105)
06.01.14 — 14.02.14: Hungerford Lock (74)
10.02.14 — 14.02.14: Church Lock (64)
17.02.14 — 14.03.14: Aldermaston Lock (95)

Man in court over thefts from boats on the K&A Canal

Alan Campbell, 39 of no fixed address,who has been sought by Wiltshire Police in connection with thefts from boats on the Kennet & Avon Canal dating back to late last year, appeared at Salisbury Magistrates Court this morning.

Campbell was remanded in custody to appear on September 27 at Swindon Crown Court — charged with five counts of burglary.

Campbell was arrested in Leicestershire on Monday and transferred back to Wiltshire and police enquiries continue into other thefts from boats on the K&A.

Devizes Flight on the K&A Canal should re-open on Saturday

Locks 22-44 on the Devizes Flight on the Kennet & Avon Canal that includes the famous Caen Hill locks should re-open on Saturday says the Canal & River Trust.

Lock 23 on the K&A Canal that has closed Devizes Flight since Saturday: Picture by Bob Naylor: WaterMarx©

The damaged collar on the lock gate: Picture by Bob Naylor: WaterMarx©

The all metal top gate on the lock was damaged by a boat on Saturday August 24 and work will begin to re-set the collar tomorrow (August 29).

Providing the mortar has cured the flight will be re-opened on Saturday.

K&A Canal boat thefts — man arrested

Allan Campbell — now in custody

Allen Campbell, 39, who has been sought by Wiltshire Police following a series of thefts from boats on the Kennet & Avon Canal has been arrested.

Early yesterday morning he was arrested by Lincolnshire Police and he has been brought back to Wiltshire and he is being held in Melksham Police Station.

George Gibson: Marine Surveyor — obituary

Picture by Bob Naylor: WaterMarx©

George Gibson who died last week was a boating man to his very core.  He served as an engineer officer in the Royal Navy for 37 years. His last job with the admiralty as a Commander included the responsibility for several hundred small boats belonging to, or affiliated to, the services so when George retired from the Navy in 1985 he put this knowledge of small boats to good use when he became a marine surveyor specializing in canal and river craft.

George and his wife Shelagh in
his Royal Navy days

George was one of a band of entrepreneurs who put their faith, and money, into setting up businesses on the K&A Canal at a time when many thought it would never re-open. George and other riparian businesses, along with volunteers working on restoration projects, helped to drive the restoration forward. He was Chairman in the early days of the Association of Canal Enterprises (ACE), which later became the Kennet & Avon Canal Trade Association.

George ran an electric trip-boat, Patricia, from Hilperton and in 1986 he and his family moved to an old builders' yard and cottage alongside the Kennet & Avon Canal at  Honeystreet.

At that time the canal was closed. The weed clogged, shallow water of the 14 mile Long Pound was only just navigable largely thanks to the movements of the landlocked nearby Pewsey Wharf Boat Club.

Over the years proper wharf facilities and moorings at the 'bottom of the garden' site were installed and Builder’s Wharf run by George and his wife Shelagh was considered to be one of the best kept moorings on the canal system.

When British Waterways introduced the Certificate of Compliance (C of C) in 1990 (the forerunner of the Boat Safety Scheme) George was one of the first Surveyors in the scheme. His reputation for fairness in his examinations and his willingness to share knowledge is legendary — as are George’s surveys that he bashed out on his old typewriter with its distinctive italic type face.

As well as running a business on the canal George was involved with the K&A Canal Trust and he had been a volunteer engineer at its steam powered pumping station at Crofton. When, thanks to the efforts of the K&A Canal Trust and Bath City Council, the Widcombe Flight of locks in Bath was re-opened in June 1976 George and Shelagh were amongst the first to travel up  the flight in their boat  Border Gypsy

George finally retired at the age of 80, Builder’s Wharf was sold and he, his wife Shelagh and his son Chris moved to Devizes.

George is survived by his wife, Shelagh and two sons, Chis and Stephen and granddaughters Leila and Yasmin.

George Randle Gibson born 1931 died July 5, 2013

Bob Naylor

George's funeral is on Monday 15th July at 2.30pm in St. Mary's Church, Alton Barnes, Near Marlborough, SN8  4LR.  

Tea after the service in the nearby Coronation Hall.  Family Flowers only.

Legendary K&A boat surveyor dies

George Gibson who was well known on the Kennet & Avon Canal as a marine surveyor and owner of Gibson's Boat Services on Builder's Wharf at Honeystreet near Pewsey died today (Friday July 5th).

Details of the funeral, which will take place at St. Mary's Church, Alton Barnes, and a full appreciation of Georges contribution to the maritime world will follow shortly.


Picture by Bob Naylor: WaterMarx©

K&A Waterways Partnership Chair stands down

Fleur de Rhe-Philipe:
Picture by Bob Naylor: WaterMarx©

Fleur de Rhe-Philipe who became the first Chair of the Kennet & Avon Waterways Partnership when it was created after the Canal & River Trust was formed in July last year has stood down.

Fleur de Rhe-Philipe says that she is giving up the role because of other commitments. She said: "I am a cabinet member on Wiltshire Council and you just cannot do both jobs. 

“I am very proud of the work the Partnership has done, not least helping the Canal & River Trust in its transition to the third sector. I know my colleagues on the Partnership have the passion and commitment to drive it forwards and establish a strong vision for how the local waterways will develop.

Roger Hanbury, head of governance services at the Canal & River Trust, said: “We are hugely grateful to Fleur for the work she has done to date, which has been crucial to the work of the Partnership while the Trust has gone through a period of major transition."

Waterways Charity admits its cruising rules are not legal

The Canal & River Trust (CRT) which manages waterways in England and Wales has admitted that the rules that it has required a sector of its boating customers to obey actually have no legal standing.

Canal & River Trust Head of 

Boating, Sally Ash

Picture by Bob Naylor: WaterMarx©

____________________________________

Continuous Cruisers (boaters with no home mooring) asked for clarification of the British Waterways (now CRT) rules being enforced — saying: “Why can’t you make it simpler and just tell us how far it is necessary to move? ” In a background paper for a meeting in Milton Keynes in November 2012, the CRT Head of Boating, Sally Ash said: “We would if we could but it’d be wrong and we’d be going beyond our powers. ‘Place’ can only be defined within a local context. That’s why we’re trying to develop local mooring plans in true cooperation with all sections of the boating community”.

In admitting that it cannot lawfully specify a minimum distance that boaters without home moorings must travel in order to comply with Section 17 3 c ii of the 1995 British Waterways Act, CRT are now returning to a definition that was given by the then Kennet & Avon Canal Waterway Manager, Ian Jarvis at a meeting in Bath in January 2005 attended by Bath MP Don Foster, representatives of Bath & North East Somerset Council, the West Kennet Boating Community and National Association of Boat Owners. The minutes of that meeting state: “regarding the Guidelines for Continuous Cruising it was confirmed that the guidance note suggested that a progressive journey was necessary. The boaters asked what was the realistic expectation for a progressive journey and Ian Jarvis confirmed that the requirement would be to move from one neighbourhood to another — and one definition of this would be to move from one parish to another.” The boater representatives at that meeting said that they were happy with the continuous cruiser guidance that had been reviewed by user groups — that it was good guidance — although it needed clarification.

  

In the background notes for the Milton Keynes meeting in November the CRT also said that it has dropped the enforcement target of putting all boats that travel less than 30km during their contract period into the enforcement process — stating that the target was unrealistic.

Panda Rainbow of the K&A Boating Community said: “There isn't much evidence of true co-operation with “all sections” of the boating community here on the K&A in the light of Sally Ash’s rubbishing of the views of the liveaboard boaters on the Local Mooring Strategy Steering Group and her unilateral termination of the steering group in late 2011 just as it was reaching a consensus.”

In the the briefing paper Sally Ash also conceded that the judgement in BW v Davies is not legally binding saying: “In making a judgement in the Davies case in 2010, a Bristol county court judge said that moving to and fro along a 10 mile stretch of the Kennet & Avon Canal did not amount to bona fide navigation. This is a steer but not legally binding for other areas”.  

Panda said: “Judgements made in a county court are not binding, even on another county court and this is a significant U-turn from Ms Ash’s original statement in a press release on 1 April 2011.  That press release said: ‘The decision of the Learned Judge in the case of British Waterways v Davies will be binding on lower courts (and District Judges) and persuasive on Circuit Judges throughout England and Wales.’ This vastly over-stated BW’s legal position; apart from anything else, there are no lower courts with jurisdiction to hear Section 8 cases.” she concluded.

At the meeting it was also admitted that overstaying on visitor moorings was not a problem caused by itinerant ‘liveaboard’ boaters — and that boaters with moorings were just as likely to disregard visitor mooring time limits.

You can read the CRT briefing document in full at:  

Milton Keynes November meeting briefing

The meeting in November took place between continuous cruisers; CRT Trustee John Dodwell; the CRT boating team and CRT enforcement staff. It was initiated by continuous cruiser Peter Macdonald following discussions with Mr Dodwell in which Mr Macdonald raised his concerns about the CRT Council briefing on Non-Compliant Continuous Cruising published in October 2012.

See:  http://kanda.boatingcommunity.org.uk/wordpress/generic-solutions-or-final-solutions-our-analysis-of-crts-briefing-paper-on-non-compliant-continuous-cruising/

K&A Canal ice skating... continued

The recent archive picture we ran of ice skating on the K&A in Devizes prompted a response from Dave Cleaver. His comments referred to a story we ran last winter — of a lone skater on the same pound.  Dave said: "I'm not sure if we are talking about the same year but sometime in the mid or late 1970s BWB had an excavator on that pound to break the ice to prevent the skaters enjoying themselves".

The picture was taken by me after I moved to the South West in 1980 after working in Derbyshire and South Yorkshire — where we used to have 'real' snow. So the picture would have been taken in the early 1980s. 

Dick Van Klavren skating on the K&A Canal in Devizes in the 1980s: Picture by Bob Naylor©

Dutchman, Dick Van Klavren, who ran the Pygmy Pinetum nursery in Devizes at the time  had been skating on the canal for a couple of days when I took this picture which was published in a number of papers. It must have attracted the attention of British Waterways bosses because they brought in Devizes Cranes to smash up the ice.  

The boss of the company, Howard Hewitt, was at the controls when shortly after he had started smashing the ice the machine slid down the bank and into the canal and Howard had to jump to safety — getting a soaking in the process. The crane lay on its side in the water for some time before it was safe to recover it.

The machine had done enough damage to the ice to prevent anyone skating on that pound — but that wasn't going to stop Dick from practicing his speed skating.  Tony Adamson, who was the landlord of the Bridge Inn at Horton, said: "After BW smashed up his rink in Devizes, Dick was not thwarted and he would skate out on the canal from Devizes to the Bridge Inn at Horton where he would have a chat and glass of lemonade — and then skate back to town."

BWB had not always taken such a dramatic approach to people going onto the ice. Dave Cleaver who had worked for BWB said: "When I worked on the cut during a big freeze our ganger encouraged us to walk on the snow-covered ice rather than on the rough towpath (they were all rough then!) but we had to get off before any bridges because the ice was thinner there — and  we had to brush the ice and snow off the hedges before we could cut them. And for that we were paid only about £10 a week!”

Snow on the Caen Hill Flight on the K&A Canal

The Caen Hill Flight on the Kennet & Avon Canal in yesterday's snow storm

Picture by Bob Naylor©

Picture by Bob Naylor©

Ice skating on the K&A Canal

This picture from the archives was taken on the Kennet & Avon Canal on the Devizes Flight — below Prison Bridge, above Caen Hill... can anyone put a date to it? Below is a picture taken from the same spot during yesterday's snow storm.

Devizes Flight on the K&A Canal  above Caen Hill: Picture by Bob Naylor©

English champion of French waterways dies

Former President of Les Amis du Canal du Nivernais, Jo Parfitt died yesterday (10^th January 2013) after a battle with cancer.

A lock on the Sardy Flight on the Canal du Nivernais — and

Jo Parfitt: Picture by Bob Naylor©

Jo was the first English President of Les Amis du Canal du Nivernais (ACN) and he had run businesses on the Burgundy canals for several decades. There can be few boaters who have explored the inland waterways of France who will not know of Jo Parfitt, even if they have not benefited from his engineering skills or learned more of the Burgundy canals from his encyclopaedic knowledge of those waterways.

Jo came from a farming background but caught the bug of canal enthusiasm as an apprentice toolmaker in Enfield in the late 1960s.

He formed a canal society at the East Herts College of Further Education and by the 1970s he was spending his weekends excavating the locks on the Widcome Flight on the Kennet & Avon Canal in Bath, enjoying the local ale and — as he put it: “doing our bit to stop the local ladies becoming bored on a Saturday night”.

By 1977 Jo was running a company in Worcester building boats — including 15 for a hire base in France.

When the people who were to run the hire boats in France backed out, Jo and a French-speaking colleague stepped in and he moved to France to help run the fleet.

In 1980 Jo bought a Dutch barge (complete with a 100-Hp crane on the deck) to live, work and travel the canals and he started repairing passing boats when the hire boats were out.

Jo spent 18 months in Corbigny and 10 years in Mailly La Ville before moving to Migennes. 

After selling his business at Migennes and ‘retiring’ in 2010, Jo continued to carry out boat surveys, was establishing his general engineering business based near Clamecy and he also moved into technical journalism, writing a monthly column for the French waterways magazine, Fluvial.

Jo was a founder member of Les Amis du Canal du Nivernais (ACN) when it was set up in 1989 to promote the canal and to make it more accessible to as many people as possible without damaging its beauty and the tranquility of the countryside through which it passes.

Jo, prompted by the then ACN President Philippe Benard, looked for a canal in England to twin with. It was clear to him that the very canal that he had volunteered on as a young man, the K&A, was the most suitable.

The two canals have similar geographic and geological features — they both have 16-lock flights (at Sardy and Devizes), they both link two major rivers,  they both have tunnels and similar geological problems. Jo met with the K&A Canal Trust’s Hon Engineer Mike Lee and as a consequence of that meeting the first twinning trip took place in 1991 when Jo brought a party of 20 to the K&A.

Jo was passionate about the potential benefits of twinning. “it gives us a card to play that catches the eye of politicians and local authorities. We can show people here in France what’s being achieved abroad. In my opinion it will take European involvement to save the small central canals in France and for this we need our twinning links. There is also much more that can be achieved on the cultural front, with exchanges and projects between communities and schools.”  

Jo believed that ACN and KACT were the first canal associations to twin.  Since then others have followed. Jo’s influence prompted other French waterways to twin, including the canal D’Orleans, which is twinned with the Basingstoke (instigated by information on how to go about it from ACN), the Nantes à Brest is twinned with the Wilts & Berks and the Canal du Berry (ARICAB) has twinned with The Cotswolds Canals.

Since twinning with the K&A, Jo championed linking the Nivernais with other European waterways, including the Royal Canal in Ireland through their Amenity Group, and with the Dutch Barge Association.

Jo became President of ACN in 2008, four decades after he first caught the canal bug on the K&A Canal in England and he always remained passionate about the potential of inland waterways for recreation and employment.

Whilst he was President, ACN joined with six other French canals to form l’Entente des Canaux du Centre-France (Canal du Berry, Canal de Bourgogne, Canal de Briare, Canal lateral a la Loire, Canal d’Orleans, Canal du Centre et Canal du Nivernais) to encourage tourism and strengthen their voice in negotiations.

Jo said “United we stand, divided we fall!  It is good to have the support of the other groups and it is helpful that we can share the cost of exhibiting at the major waterways events such as Paque Boat in St Jean de Losne. And it gives us greater access to local & national politicians.”

 In 2009, his last year as President of Les Amis, Jo nominated K&A Canal Trust Hon Engineer Mike Lee to be invested as a Chevalier into the ancient French wine-makers’ society Le Confrérie des Chevaliers des Trois Ceps at the end of the two-day Fête Nautique in Vincelles to honour his involvement  in the twinning association, saying: “it needs to be now, you never know what the future may bring”. How prophetic those words were and how typical of Jo that he ensured that public recognition was given where deserved.

"No canal, no tourists — no tourists, no canal" 

Jo’s presidency of Les Amis ended in 2010, but his passion for promoting the Canal du Nivernais continued. He said: “The Nivernais, like any other canal, is an amenity for walkers, cyclists and anyone visiting the area interested in history, architecture, wildlife, botany and fishing. The canal makes a linear park that anyone passing can step into for a picnic if nothing else — and sit and watch boats go by.

“The canal supports employment in many forms, it is an artery bringing essential tourists to an area with only agriculture and forestry and a small amount of industry. Tourism is absolutely vital to the Nivernais. “No canal, no tourists!” says Jo, “but equally important, no tourists, no canal”.

Jo has left a legacy on the canals in central France that is being continued by his friends and colleague at ACN.

Comments:
MERCI, très grand MERCI pour ce splendide article et surtout d'avoir fait le voyage à Auxerre... Di & Bob, nous sommes fiers d'avoir d'aussi bons amis...toute l'équipe de l'ACN vous embrasse et souhaite vous revoir bientôt. 
Philippe


The French inland waterways magazine, Fluvial, marks Jo's passing...

English Translation: 
Jo Parfitt embarked on the morning of 10 January 2013 for a very long trip and we, on the dock, are left sad and shivering. It seems that he took his toolbox in one hand and, with a turn, he gave us a wink. Noah's Ark was in need a serious check-up ... But, his family, Doret, and his friends are now alone.

As soon as Jo received his ten fingers, he dismantled anything that's operation he wanted to understand.  Later, as a qualified mechanic, he set his sights on the boats, as so often have the poets and free men. In France, he created the shipyard Migennes and designed, fitted out, repaired countless boats. He was also a co-founder and one of the presidents of Les Amis du Canal du Nivernais, with the goal of saving the canal he loved.

He loved to share his knowledge and his dreams and launched, two years ago and with the blessing of Fluvial magazine, a technical column, now an orphan.

Many today feel alongside his two sons Matthew and Sam.

Sad times ...