Francis Crane M.B.E.

CONGRATULATIONS

Extract from this morning’s New Year’s Honours List

M.B.E.

Doctor Francis Gibbs Crane. Head of Geography and Duke of Edinburgh's Co-ordinator, Stafford Grammar School. For services to Education.

You could have knocked me down with a feather – I never knew his middle name was Gibbs!

Francis Crane M.B.E. lunches at the Ship Inn, Danebridge

Francis is the originator and organiser of most of the walks posted on this blog; he is also the map reader who is never wrong. Above is a picture of Francis in the pub (not exactly alien territory) as it is one of the few I have of his face. I have, though, hundreds of pictures of his back as I plod along behind struggling to keep up.

Francis, rear elevation

Francis and I both arrived at Stafford Grammar School in August 1989. I have retired, he is still there. I do not know if he introduced the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme in the school, but he is entirely responsible for the huge success it has become. SGS is one of the smallest schools in the Stafford area but regularly gains the highest number of gold awards - in some years as many as all the other schools combined. Enrolment for the bronze award in Year 9 is entirely voluntary, though it is never far off 100%.

Francis turns left - well he is a Guardian reader

The time Francis has devoted to the scheme is mind-boggling. From the endless but ever efficient organisation, through the pre-expedition checks, six or more weekends every year for the expeditions themselves and countless hours chasing up unreturned tents and incomplete record books. And he gets to camp out in the Peak District in March. The reward for all this? The satisfaction of a job well done, the knowledge that hundreds (maybe thousands) of youngsters have had experiences and opportunities they would not otherwise have had, and the chance to drive into a cow in a Dartmoor fog. And that was all – until today.

Francis on Bredon Hill

Congratulations Francis, a well-deserved honour. You now, though, lose the title of Unsung Hero – you just got sung.

June 2024: A Sad Epilogue

I wrote in 2012 that I had retired while Francis soldiered on. In due course he too retired, handing over his beloved Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme, but continuing to walk. The epic 'South West Odyssey,' 4-years-old in 2012, came to its natural conclusion in 2019, and there were other projects with other walking groups and with ex-wife Alison. Then, in 2022, something went wrong. Francis lost his stamina, co-ordination and sense of balance. He received a diagnosis of vascular dementia and went steadily downhill, becoming an ever more diminished version of his former self.

At the end of March 2024 Francis moved to sheltered accommodation in Didcot, near to his daughter, Heather. In June his son Matthew came from Australia on a long planned visit, bringing his two older daughters to see their grandparents. Some days after they left Francis suffered a heart attack and died peacefully in hospital on the 25th of June 2024 attended by Alison and Heather. A sad and rather premature end to a life well lived. Rest in peace, Francis.

See also Shifting Tectonic Plates. The (N + 12)th Annual Fish and Chip Walk