JIM FISHER – Eulogy
by GEORGE REAVLEY
I have been asked to say a few words by Mary and to pass on our thanks from people who knew Jim, but it is tinged with great sadness and regret. Even in these trying times of social distancing, people just wanted to show their appreciation for Jim today and say their goodbye’s to a Fet Lor legend.
Jim was a jovial character and an inspiration to many young people who met him. Jim was Scottish and proud of it, strict but fair. He loved to wear his various shades of tartan and he was the kind of guy who liked to get things done in a certain way. “My way” as we were reminded at the start!
A few weeks ago Jim got chatting to a Clinical Support Worker when he was in Ward 27 at the Western General. Seeing her name badge, Jim realised it was my daughter and she was asked to phone me to let me know. Fortunately, Jim never revealed that I had been a wee tearaway sometimes in the club and luckily for me, he was always good at keeping your secrets safe!
Jim was a mentor to me and many others. He was a positive role model for young people who were unsure how to behave in life’s tricky route to becoming an adult.
Like Jim, I got an Apprenticeship at 16 and he had a hand in helping me write letters to get my first job. So I started working as a Floor-layer and became a voluntary youth leader in the same year.
I was inspired by Jim and his ability to think positively with a glass half full attitude. He would say if you want something badly enough you will get it but you need to do the homework first!
I was fortunate to learn from Jim as a teenager then as a volunteer and a part time youth worker. Fet-Lor was actually a Boys only club when I first went in the mid seventies. Jim had a vision for the Club and at one point the club was open seven days a week!
It was indeed a vocational job for the dynamic duo that was Jim and Mary.
They regularly worked longer hours than they should have. However, Jim knew the value of being prepared from his coaching days and was always ready and willing to do any extra work to get the job done right.
We used to have competitions and sponsored discos and ‘all nighters’ to raise much needed cash for the club. It was a brilliant atmosphere in the Club which was fostered by Jim & Mary.
It was changed in the eighties after many requests from males and females who wanted to turn it into a youth centre. Jim realised that the place needed to change and to offer more opportunities for girls and single sex work in a youth work setting.
As usual, Jim would need to tinker with the mechanics of the ‘new’ club which saw the disco room becoming the new girls room/computer room! This all dovetailed into the meticulous planning and practice that was part of Jim’s work ethic and DNA.
Jim was a great club leader and showed us by example how it should be done. Clean living, hard – working, determined to do the best he could. This summed up how Jim lived his life.
He never stopped trying and he was always reflecting on how to be better at everything. He had a lust for life and was always looking for ways to improve.
He had an unquenchable thirst for learning new activities no matter what the subject matter was. Video work, air rifle shooting, carpentry, calligraphy, snooker, table tennis & boxing just to name a few!
He never stood still and was always on the go and he loved to learn about new places and travel to these locations.
Jim created the opportunity for young people to go on our very first trip abroad. He was like a father figure in our lives as some of us never had a really good male role model to look up to.
This was a huge deal for us as we were relatively poor working class kids who could hardly afford a holiday abroad. We completed practice weekend Residentials to Bailleymill Farm, etc to see how we behaved. Jim was always conscious that we would be representing our country when we travelled abroad.
We were able to pay up our holiday costs weekly with our ‘individual bank books’ for the two week camping residential to Brittany. These home – made ‘bank’ books were an incentive for members like myself to see our savings ‘grow’ and to save pocket money for the holiday and do some fundraising too.
We even had the opportunity of doing some basic conversational French that Jim arranged at Telford College! Jim often said to me “if you don’t use it, you lose it!” which still resonates with me to this day! “Je parlez petit Francaise!” (I speak a little French!)
Jim wasn’t scared to give you some responsibility and he reassured you when things went wrong. On holiday to Brittany, we travelled through the night and I helped with driving to Plymouth to catch the ferry to Roscoff.
When we arrived, he let me drive on the wrong side of the road! Don’t worry it was all legal because we were in France!
Jim would go on to let young people represent Fet Lor in Canada, Denmark and we returned to Brittany again in 1996 where I was one of the youth workers.
He used to say ‘you don’t prepare to fail, you fail to prepare’ if anything goes wrong. You always knew that you had made a connection with Jim if you had beaten him at anything (even tiddledywinks!) he would say “you’re just a ‘bandit!
Thanks for all the memories, stories and the opportunities that you gave to so many people, Jim. Your infectious smile and presence will be sorely missed.
GEORGE REAVLEY
May 2020
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