Book worm Stan’s endearing legacy

The cheque was presented to Julie Grace, chair and co-ordinator at Oldham MS, by current Saddleworth Rotary Club President Clint Elliott after Jon Stocker and Sheila Bowes recounted the story of how the money was raised to an interested Oldham MS Group meeting

Rotary Club of Saddleworth member Stan Bowes was to many at the club, the font of all knowledge.

With his broad experience of life in diverse occupations he had an interest in a wide range of topics and producing a weekly fact sheet for members over the many years he was a Rotarian.

They included facts specific to the date of actual club meeting, births and deaths of famous people or important events which had occurred on that date in history, linked with a mixture of quirky or amusing anecdotes.

Over time they gained a much wider audience with other Rotary Clubs, friends of Rotarians and even the local media interested in the facts he researched.

And, following Stan’s untimely death during the Covid pandemic, his widow Sheila contacted the club for help in dealing with Stan’s astonishing library of an estimated 5,000 books on a range of topics including languages, birds, wildlife, history, geography, science and sayings. 

It was going to be a mammoth task to get these books back into circulation, but Rotary Club member, Jon Stocker, took up the challenge and managed to redistribute all the books.

Some special editions sold for quite a good price, others made less money and some went to charity outlet to benefit their causes.

It took Jon over a year to complete the painstaking task but, in the end, he made in excess of £500 for the sale of the books. 

When asked what she wanted to do with the money, Sheila had no hesitation in deciding a donation should be made to Oldham Multiple Sclerosis as her son Edward suffers from this condition. 

Saddleworth Rotary Club were happy to have been able to help Sheila in what for her was a difficult task, and they were more than happy to round the money made up to £600 to donate to her chosen cause.

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