RIP Steve Lord
Posted: Mon, 05 Apr 2021, 10:08 pm
Back last July I received an update from the groups most ardent supporter, Steve Lord, known to most as ‘txfsealord’. His told me his throat cancer had got worse and he was going to have to sell his Ansfold as he couldn’t foresee a time when he and Rosemary would be able to use it again. Steve being the person he was, wanted me to sell it for him and put all the proceeds towards the portafold.co.uk group. I refused point blank to take any money from him, but I did offer to come and collect it from him, publicise it and then sell it on eBay and get the best possible price for him and Rosemary.
We took a day trip over to West Sussex to see him and Rosemary and had an emotional couple of hours going through everything he’d done to the Ansfold, including the full size 3-way caravan fridge, sink, lights, cupboards and wardrobe, all engineered to cleverly fit into the collapsed Ansfold. I put the Ansfold on eBay and it found a new owner in Nic from Wales, who is enamoured with Steve’s modifications and doesn’t want to change a thing about it. After the sale had gone through Steve was still trying to get me to accept hundreds of pounds for selling the Ansfold for him. We compromised, and in exchange for selling his Ansfold I said it would be amazing if I could have the design rights for the roof lifter he had engineered. I had tried to persuade him many times over the years to make some more so I could sell them for him, but with his illness he just couldn’t dedicate the time to the project.
Things had gone quiet over the winter and I didn’t want to pry, but I plucked up the courage to call Rosemary the other day to find out how Steve’s treatment was going, but unfortunately she gave me the news I had been dreading that Steve had passed away (peacefully in his sleep) in October. Rosemary said the MacMillan nurses were brilliant and they had his pain relief just right so he wasn’t in any pain.
Steve attended all the National Gathering’s right from the start, in either his Morris Minor or Morris 8, and he’s still got the most posts on the forum. His engineering knowledge was invaluable and he was always willing to help anyone, just make sure you’d set aside plenty of time to talk! Take a look at the forum and you will see his posts everywhere, offering people help wherever he could. He was a true friend and an engineering anorak that you could talk too for hours and never get bored.
Steve’s technical knowledge will live on; when we’ve seen the back of Covid I will endeavour to put the ‘Sealord Roof Lifter’ into production to allow people of all ages and strengths to continue using their Portafolds and Ansfolds.
Donations to MacMillan nurses are much appreciated.
RIP Steve.
We took a day trip over to West Sussex to see him and Rosemary and had an emotional couple of hours going through everything he’d done to the Ansfold, including the full size 3-way caravan fridge, sink, lights, cupboards and wardrobe, all engineered to cleverly fit into the collapsed Ansfold. I put the Ansfold on eBay and it found a new owner in Nic from Wales, who is enamoured with Steve’s modifications and doesn’t want to change a thing about it. After the sale had gone through Steve was still trying to get me to accept hundreds of pounds for selling the Ansfold for him. We compromised, and in exchange for selling his Ansfold I said it would be amazing if I could have the design rights for the roof lifter he had engineered. I had tried to persuade him many times over the years to make some more so I could sell them for him, but with his illness he just couldn’t dedicate the time to the project.
Things had gone quiet over the winter and I didn’t want to pry, but I plucked up the courage to call Rosemary the other day to find out how Steve’s treatment was going, but unfortunately she gave me the news I had been dreading that Steve had passed away (peacefully in his sleep) in October. Rosemary said the MacMillan nurses were brilliant and they had his pain relief just right so he wasn’t in any pain.
Steve attended all the National Gathering’s right from the start, in either his Morris Minor or Morris 8, and he’s still got the most posts on the forum. His engineering knowledge was invaluable and he was always willing to help anyone, just make sure you’d set aside plenty of time to talk! Take a look at the forum and you will see his posts everywhere, offering people help wherever he could. He was a true friend and an engineering anorak that you could talk too for hours and never get bored.
Steve’s technical knowledge will live on; when we’ve seen the back of Covid I will endeavour to put the ‘Sealord Roof Lifter’ into production to allow people of all ages and strengths to continue using their Portafolds and Ansfolds.
Donations to MacMillan nurses are much appreciated.
RIP Steve.