THIS is the story of a brave man and some of the good things that have happened since his death. A long time ago, I was at school with a teenager named Mick May—an insubordinate youth, whom I was convinced would come to no good. I was wrong. After a successful City career, he did sterling work in the charitable sector and was awarded an OBE. Then, in May 2013, a deadly tumour was found in his lung, with a terminal diagnosis of mesothelioma, a form of cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. A punishing programme of surgery and repeated ‘lines’ of chemo ensued, and Mick somehow managed to survive until March 7, 2022. He published a notable book—Cancer and Pisces—which clearly and unsparingly tells the story of his illness ‘interwoven with the joy and succour of fishing’, from the Test at Mottisfont in Hampshire to Tierra del Fuego off South America. It celebrates the invigorating experience of angling, as well as con- templating ‘the nature of death’. Yet, as his Russian guide Yegor once put it, he was ‘the one who is always happy’.
During lockdown in 2021, Mick was put in touch with author and instructor Marina Gibson and they discussed the idea of a new, inclusive charity for cancer patients, which would introduce them to the therapeutic benefits of fishing. Mick also contacted Dame Laura Lee—former oncological nurse and now chief executive of the admirable Maggie’s cancer support centres—and it became clear they might work together. After a little magical thinking, the Cancer and Pisces Trust (C&P) was born
Esta historia es de la edición July 26, 2023 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor ? Conectar
Esta historia es de la edición July 26, 2023 de Country Life UK.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 9,000 revistas y periódicos.
Ya eres suscriptor? Conectar
Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.
