Roly Drower

[pamdaw]

i dont live on the IOM any more, but the years that i did where greatly enhanced by knowing Roly. He was witty, intelligent, very kind and the most loyal man i have ever met. I remember well listening to him and his dad recording the pigs love cheese tracks and i laughed until i cried. i will never forget the Sulby Fringe 1991..laughed till i cried.....Bill, Vinty, Roy....Roly...my goodness me we drank some beer that night.

 

I will never forgive the IOM for what it did to Roly, he never stopped loving the place, and fighting for it...and i will not forget Roly...he cant be replaced, but i hope his passion and commitment can live on in some way.

 

If the politicians there have an ounce of sense ( and i very much doubt it) they will think about what they are doing to that beautiful island and stop!

 

RIP Roly, God Bless his family

[Sheena]

Just read the news about Roly and can’t quite believe it. I can’t imagine how his family are feeling but my thoughts go out to them.

 

No longer living on the Island – Roly was very much part of a history there for me.

I’ve spent all last night remembering him and everything I remember makes me smile. He introduced me to among other things, the internet when that seemed like some far-off dream, digital cameras, the joy of olives and houmous, raspberrys with cream eaten off the finger, how to caramelise onions, skinny-dipping and port on the beach, going up North Barrule at 3am in mist, rain and wind to welcome the sun (no such luck) complete with bone china tea-set.

 

He was great company, incredibly kind and thoughtful, a wonderful verbal adversary with a lively intelligent mind and sharp sense of humour. I have some fantastic memories of his kindness and I will never forget him. Thank you Roly.

[thebees]

I was reading some of Rolys poems recently, in an old issue of Under the hill (Issue 4). There are several things in that Under the hill that are 'quite sweet', the first is in the Editorial (penned by the late Mr Drower) telling of how The poetry society had removed email addresses from the cover of the magazine their other option being to pay £40 to the data protection registrar - haha! A poem by Roly about the DOT & Douglas Quay made me smile for ages (Concrete), he was so right about so many things.

[miguelm]

I had the good fortune of living at the farm with Matt and Roly during his pigs like cheese faze.

 

They took me in shortly after I had arrived on the Island looking for employment. The promise of a job turned sour and prospects were looking glum.

Penniless and destitute Roly was not only kind enough to put me up but also ended up using his contacts to get me a job and so I joined the Ballacreggan crew.

Roly in his nine-volt studio would have endless hours composing his music which I grew to love secretly. He and Adie and matt and others would contribute it was amazing to see this creative process happening in front of my very eyes.

It was a pretty special time for me that I remember with great fondness.

Not everyday was a happy encounter with Roly, I remember that I was developing a relationship then with my other half and Roly suggested I had an extra phone line put into the farm because every evening I hogged the phone, talking to Sue. One evening 3 hours into my chat with Sue Roly came into my room with a pair of huge scissors and my phone line in his hand and as he looked at me with a wry smile on his face he proceeded to snip the phone line into little bits (mid conversation). I flipped and chased Roly round the farm looking for something to damage him with and could only find a pair of large wooden spoons. Threatening to do him great damage I chased him round the kitchen with the wooden spoon whilst he laughed his head off.

If I remember correctly Matty came to the rescue otherwise that night I would have put Roly in the pot.

 

It never made Roly angry but just made he always kept his cool.

This but one of many stories I could tell about living on Ballacreggan with that great man that was Roly Drower

He was inspiring in many ways, eccentric some may say, but very endearing and someone I am glad to have know if only for a brief period of time and sad not to have known him better.

 

Maybe I'm just ranting on but I just can't seem to find the words to tribute Roly

 

I shall remember him always.

 

I think I have a photo of Roly on his MV Agusta bike if I find it I shall post on here.

 

Alas life has this way of not allowing oneself to do what makes one happy and so I still live on the big rock under the smoke of the M25.

 

I am sorry to have missed the funeral and wake to offer my condolances to Rolys family.

 

 

Migs

[BPs]

Roly often invited me round to his home for a drink. I was always too tied up with other matters and so was he.

 

I regret not making time for him as he contributed so much to the Isle of Man.

 

I hope Mr 'G' sleeps well and reflects in the autumn of his life.

 

Roly's passing marks the end of free speech and opinion on the Isle of Man.

 

R.I.P.

[miguelm]

AS promised a scan of photo taken at ballacreggan on his beloved MV Agusta

 

If anybody would like a better scan let me know

 

Migs

[miguelm]

One of Roly when he was showing me n Sue round his favourite places on the Island

 

Migs

[%age]

AS promised a scan of photo taken at ballacreggan on his beloved MV Agusta

 

If anybody would like a better scan let me know

 

Migs

 

After the obligatory lap, I had just pulled in at the Grandstand on Mad Sunday 1997 (?). The above bike pulled in and off got Roly and a few of us started chatting. It was the first time I had met Roly. It was a memorable meeting, not just because of his obvious interest and knowledge about the Island, or indeed the MV itself, but because we had to push the bloody thing to get it going again!

 

When it cracked into action it turned a few hundred heads that day alright.

[Lee54]

I was due to spend some time with Roly this year over on his House Boat, up some cannel eating and drinking real beer, which he liked. But time cut him short.