It was with great sadness that we heard mid-January that Tim Owens lost his nine-month battle against a brain tumour and passed away. He was only 58.
Tim came to Weybridge Rowing Club through his daughter, Kirsten, who wanted to learn to row back in 2004. Although not wanting to row himself, Tim was one of those people who was ever-willing to help out.
As a Chartered Surveyor, he was soon persuaded to sit on the Club Committee to use his skills with the pressing matters of the time, chiefly negotiating a new club lease with the National Trust and investigating an alternative site for a new boathouse. As if these matters weren't time-consuming enough, Tim undertook to secure the complex paperwork necessary to allow us to install a sewage connection from the club, across the footbridge and into the mains connection next to the lock-keepers cottage. Most club members have probably forgotten, or never knew, that prior to this project we had to pay for a specialist tanker to extend pipes over the bridge every couple of months to empty out our sewage tank.
Tim served on the Committee or as an adviser to the Committee for over ten years and the club is deeply indebted to him for all his work and achievements throughout that period. During those years, we also started his son Lewis on the path to a successful rowing career at Hampton School and his wife, Sheila, took charge of the catering at the Walton & Weybridge Regatta for a number of years.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Sheila, Kirsten and Lewis during this difficult time for them. May Tim rest in peace.