In reply to Dolomight:
Please see attached email I received yesterday. It is from Chris Ellison
I have not seen Duncan for about 20 years. Last night Kate
& I were watching the Joe Simpson film & I said I knew a
bloke who was on the Eiger. I did a search on Duncan's
name just to see what he was up to and was shocked to see
the news.
In 1978/79 I was 16 and just started getting into caving.
I used to go to Richard Dunn to the climbing wall to mess
about and saw Duncan there. To me, a young lad, he was
both a man to look up to but also a very kind bloke with
all the time in the world to talk to me. He then
recognised me as he was the conductor on the Tong Street
bus at Bradford. His mass of curly, fair hair sticking out
from under his Bradford Council peaked cap and his eyes
behind his gold rimmed 'Lennon' glasses shining brightly.
As I was going to school on a Monday morning I would tell
him what adventures I had been up to and he would tell me
his. We talked so much, he never collected any fares!
About that time I bunked off school and we went in his Mini
van to climb at Malham by the Tarn. I was no climber, he
was fantastic, but again all the time in the world as he
dragged me up, me in my Willans harness and EBs fro Alan
Austins. I still remember the tape of George Harrison
playing 'give me love, give me peace on Earth'. Some times
he would see us at the Metropole pub on a Thursday night
and go for a curry.
I went my caving way and he his climbing, but I'd still see
him around the pubs in Bradford, normally the rougher more
characterful pubs and in the curry houses. One time I
remember him showing me his photos of the Eiger, which was
of course a place I'd known about, but just confirmed to me
that he was a class above most other climbers.
Now I'm 44, live in the Dales and still ride my mountain
bike past the tarn and that crag I have always thought of
Duncan and wondering what he is up to. Whenever I hear
that George Harrison song I think back to that time with
the van parked under the crag, us sat there in the sunshine.
I am very saddened now, but know that things were made much
better by Duncan being around at that time, my life was
shaped by those formative times.
Duncan, I know that if we meet at another place, it will be
all the better for you being there.
Chris Ellison