Tom Rowley Snr came from a family of fishermen spanning back several generations. Tom helped the Maritime Centre right from our early days being very supportive and informing the ‘landlubbers’ of the team what a fishing life is all about. He volunteered in the Centre passing on his enthusiasm for life at sea but also warning about the great risks involved and the many friends he had lost at sea. Tom had his own trawler, ‘Our Margaret’, that he was extremely proud of but was sadly cut up due to new fishing quota restrictions in the 1990s. Tom volunteered at the lifeboat station and helped out at Seafest every year showing youngsters how to mend nets and make crab pots. Tom often spoke to community groups with his wife Lindy. He was a larger than life character with a great sense of humour and will be greatly missed by the whole team. His son, Tom, spoke at the funeral saying his last dad’s last thoughts about life were about ‘Time, Tide and Taxes’. Time and tide wait for no man so get on and do things, don’t wait around. Monetary taxes are inevitable but we also all have a duty to put back into life care and love for one another, a kind of life tax. One of Tom’s legacies is his book ‘A Netfull of Memories’, available from the SMHC for £8. Donations from the ‘standing room only’ service at St Mary’s church went to the SMHC and St Catherine’s Hospice.
See Tom talking about his life at sea.
See a recording of Tom explaining net mending.
See a recording of Tom explaining rope knots.
Tom's eulogy in St Mary's church by his son Tom and grandson Joseph & grandaughter Megan
