RIP Pooh

Cliff "Pooh" Gingell

Yesterday I lost a friend by the name of Pooh.

Cliff Gingell or Pooh as he was known was a bloke I knew from one of the forums I belong to. A few months back he started to complain of severe stomach problems and when he went to the doctor to get checked out, they "didn't know what was wrong".

This went on for quite a while until just recently when one doctor finally diagnosed him having pancreatic cancer.

Of course this was a terrible thing to find out, made even worse in my opinion by doctors who "couldn't find the problem" either through sheer stupidity or laziness.

Either way, he had limited time left even though these doctors gave him 8-9 months to go. Anyone with pancreatic cancer usally lasts for about 90 days and Pooh was nearly there when the diagnosis was made.

I met Pooh two years ago when I made a trip home. He lived in Daventry which is about 30 miles from the village I lived in.

Through correspondence on the forum Pooh offered me the loan of one of his BMWs for the time I was gonna be there and I took him up on it.

The BMW was a K100 model, this one in fact:

I used this bike to go to Scotland and to ride around the local Banbury area while home. A trip to London to the Ace Cafe was cancelled due to heavy rain that day. 

Pooh didn't know me from Adam at the time, but he trusted me with his bike. He and his wife Sue had me as a guest for the day prior to getting the bike. Pooh picked me up at home, we drove back to Daventry and spent the day talking. They also made a curry dinner for us all to eat.

There was one thing that Pooh did that made him stand out and that was his low tolerance for racial bigotry. Several times on the foum when some character used racial comments, Pooh would let the person know in no uncertain terms that it was not to be tolerated.

Pooh was one of the good 'uns and will be greatly missed. The world needs more bikers like him.

RIP Pooh. 

Pooh was buried today, June 7, 2010. From what I hear, there was a good turn out of members from the ClassicBikeForum who came from various parts of England to pay their respects. Rest easy mate and I'll have a dram in your memory.