Mark (thecat)

[+Teasel]

It is with great sadness that I must share the news that Mark Thompson, TheCat, passed away last weekend. The details are still a little sketchy but it seems that Mark suffered a heart attack whilst in his new home on Shetland.

 

Mark's boundless enthusiasm and endless optimism will be well known to everyone who knew him. Despite all the knocks he suffered (including four previous heart attacks!) he was always looking towards the next challenge.

 

Mark was attracted to geocaching as a way to increase his exercise whilst still feeding his technical mind and, like everything, he embraced it wholeheartedly. Anyone who has met him will remember his enthusiasm for the sport.

 

Perhaps his biggest contribution to caching in the UK was the setting up and running of GeocacheUK, a platform used by many UK cachers. For a while also Mark supported us all by providing a geocaching merchandise service, making it possible for us to get our caching stuff cheaper than before.

 

Mark was always finding ways of putting his talents to good use to help others. Many of you will have caught him on one of his charity "Fox Hunt" caches. (His eagerness to be caught making him known as the kamikaze fox!)

 

I'm sure you will agree with me that the UK caching community will miss Mark "TheCat", and join with me in expressing our deepest sympathies and condolences to Mark's family and friends.

 

Cheers Mark!

Ian

 

[i'll post details of funeral arrangements etc as soon as I hear them]

Edited September 19, 2004 by Teasel

[+Brenin Tegeingl]

I for one am devestated at the news, he will be sorly missed. The thoughts of myself and my family go out to his family.

Dave

[+Pharisee]

What can I say...? I'm totally gutted.

I'd met Mark on a number of occasions and drunk beer with him on one or two of them. He always struck me as being a genuine and helpful sort of guy.

My deepest condolences to his family.

[+Cave Troll and Eeyore]

Though we never got to meet Mark "The Cat". We came to know him through his work for the Geocaching community. Our deepest condolences go to all his family and friends at this the saddest of times.

 

Mark & Joan (Cave Troll and Joan)

Edited September 19, 2004 by Cave Troll & Joan

[+rutson]

As a new geocacher, I never had the pleasure of meeting Mark, however as a user of G:UK and having read many past posts/pages written by him, I feel I knew him in some small way.

 

My thoughts go out to his family and all those who knew Mark, the man, not his cyber-incarnation.

 

May he rest in peace.

[+Flackadder]

Why can I never find the right words on occasions like this. A sad sad day.

[Browser]

A sad day indeed.

 

I had the good fortune to meet with Mark on two occasions and was struck by his enthusiasm and support for Geocaching. I have used his website as my own portal to Geocaching with little thought for the commitment and sacrifice that it represented on his part. He will be sorely missed.

 

I hope that in time, a charity event can be organised in his memory. As he devoted so much effort with his fox hunts, something similar would be a fitting tribute.

 

As previous posts have stated, our thoughts are with his family and friends at this unhappy time.

 

RIP Mark

 

Jerry

Edited September 19, 2004 by Browser

[+THE BRAMBLERS]

We are really saddened to hear of this tragic news. We will always remember Mark as one of the nicest and most genuine people you could ever wish to meet.

 

Our first meeting with Mark was when he drove from Bradford to Winchester to help us set up the Winchester 2003 Event where his technical expertise proved invaluable. Our boys enjoyed making all those badges with him on his "special" machine, all of which he gave away for free.

 

Our boys were particularly fond of Mark and are very upset by this news. They will always remember him by the caches he has sponsored for them both.

 

Our deepest condolences to Mark's family and friends.

[+The Wombles]

That is really dreadful news and our thoughts are with Mark's family and friends.

[+DesG]

What can we add to the previous posts, our condolences to his family.

 

R.I.P.

 

Des & Bren

snerdbe

[+Birders]

We offer our sympathy and prayers to Mark's family. Really dreadful news.

 

God Bless you dear Geocaching Friend +

[+yorkstan]

I too never met Mark, but I have used the website so much and also purchased from him in my early days of geocaching.

May he rest in peace

[+John Stead]

This is really sad and all I can add is my sincere sympathy to Mark's family and friends. Mark has made a great contribution to all our lives for which we are truly grateful.

[+klaus23]

Shame to hear that. I had never met the man, and had only been in touch with him through gcuk and the shop that he was running, but he struck me as a very nice guy. He'll be sorely missed.

 

Condolences to all that knew him.

[Deego]

I too was shocked and saddened when I got this news. I only met him once but spoke on the phone a few times and he was always happy and helpful.

 

All I can say is he will be missed

 

Brian

[+G Force]

We also pass on our sympathies to his family. We never met him but corresponded with him a couple of times and saw the work he has done for UK geocaching. I'm sure he will be greatly missed.

[+harold1066]

Really sorry to hear this

 

Condolences to his family and friends

 

Geo

[SlytherinAlex]

Sad news indeed......

[+Molinnis]

Sad, Sad news.

 

We met Mark on both of his CIN fox hunts and also I think at one of the Winchester Late Xmas cache meets.

 

A great guy who was always full of enthusiasm for our hobby. There will now be a huge void in our lives when CIN comes around again in November. He will be greatly missed.

 

As above, Our thoughts our with his family and friends.

 

R I P Mark.

Edited September 19, 2004 by The Molinnis Crew

[kiteflyer]

Very sorry to hear this, our thoughts are with his family

[+Lizzzzeeeee]

Mark was one of the first people I communicated with in geocaching . . .

 

I met him at the Chi meet and also when he was broken down near Guildford on the CIN fox hunt, he really had a heart of gold and always seemed to be in it to help other people, I am shocked and saddened to hear the news today.

 

Best wishes & love to Mark's family,

 

RIP

 

Lizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeeeeeeee

[+Lance Ambu]

I didn't really know you,

But felt that I did.

Now that you are gone, I feel the loss.

 

Heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.

 

 

Bryan

[+wildlifewriter]

Those who contribute to any activity, as much as Mark did to ours, are always a great loss.

 

Our thoughts are with his loved ones, this day.

[+Subarite]

This is really sad news. I met Mark on the last CIN fox hunt and found him to be very enthusiastic - a truly exceptional person.

 

My sincere condolences to his family and friends.

 

Andy.

[+minstrelcat]

That is terrible news. We met him a couple of times and he was a great guy. We really enjoyed his Shetland caches.

 

My heart goes out to his family and friends.

Lisa

[Team Tate]

We are very saddened to hear this terrible news.

Have met Mark on a number of occasions and always found him to be cheerful, helpful and a generally all round nice person. He is going to be greatly missed.

Our heartfelt sympathy goes to his family.

 

Sarah, Bob, Beckie & George xx

[+Bill D (wwh)]

I'm very sorry to hear this.

 

I only met Mark once, on his charity fox hunt last year, but I was very impressed with his enthusiasm and his persistence with that fox hunt despite its early problems.

 

And, as has been said, Mark set up GeocacheUK, which is a tremendous service for cachers in the UK.

 

His death is a very sad loss for us all.

 

My sympathy and condolences to his family and friends.

[+leecee]

I first met Mark about ten years ago through a mutual interest in computers when we were both running successful Bulletin Boards from home. I remember him then as a generous, kind and warm person with a very dry sense of humour, endless enthusiasm for life and always looking for the next challenge.

 

Mark had heart bypass surgery a while ago and I visited him at the hospital in Sheffield shortly after his operation. He was in great pain and could hardly speak but still managed a joke with me, that was the sort of man he was.. nothing could keep him down for long. Shortly after this he spent time driving across Australia on one of his many adventures and phoned me one night after climbing to the top of the Sydney Harbour bridge!

 

Although not in the best of health in recent years, Mark made no concessions to his condition and still loved to travel and seek out new experiences, and it seems fitting that his passing should occur in a place I know he would have loved to settle and spend the rest of his life.

 

I will miss you Mark, you were a good friend. God bless you mate.

 

Lee

[+dogastus]

I had the privilege to meet Mark at last year's Children In Need event where he demonstrated his generosity and dedication to both the event and the geocaching community. A sad loss for us all.

[+mongoose39uk]

Really do not know what to say.

 

I only had limited contact with Mark but the contact i had was positive and helpfull. A positive contributor to our community whose input will surely be missed.

 

My condolances to his friends and Family.

[+MarcB]

I met Mark when he kindly drove to my house during the Children In Need Fox hunt and previously at the Winchester Cache Bash. He was a truly great bloke...

Rest In Peace

[+Rocky Balboa]

Thats gutting news. I had the pleasure of Meeting Mark during a day out filming a vid for Geocacheuk with Pid & MCL. He was a really nice bloke & only interested in having a good time with what he was doing.

 

Thought's go out to his family & friends. rest in peace mate, it was a pleasure knowing you.

[Ben Pid]

This is very very sad news.

 

I remember The Cat for all the right reasons, we had such a wonderful time filming the video in and around Bucks caching locations. It was great fun and Mark had no bother in driving around everywhere, All I can say is it was pleasure being able to be with you at some of those great views and I hope one day we get to go and take another look!

 

Rest In Peace Mark - I am sure you are in a far better place and your still planting caches there.

 

Til we meet again.

 

Pid

[+NickandAliandEliza]

This is unbelievable. A real shock. We only had the pleasure of meeting Mark once - what a nice guy.

 

Please pass on our deepest sympathies to Marks family.

[nobby.nobbs]

unfortunately i never met mark but was aware of how much he did for the community. sadly missed.

my thoughts go out to his family.

[+Papakas]

Although I didn't know Mark personally my condolence to all of Marks' family and friends.

[+MoonHerb]

Very sad news.

 

We didn't know Mark but our thoughts are with his family and friends. . . .

[+Eckington]

I don't think I can add anything to what has been said.

 

My thoughts are with his family.

 

I am sure that Lactodorum would wish to join me in this.

 

Cheers Mark, and Cache Well.

 

Eckington

[+Chris n Maria]

What awfull news.

 

We had the pleasure (and it really was a pleasure) of meeting Mark on two occasions. On the first he drove all the way down from the chilly north to run a fox hunt for us, he was completley happy to drive around Essex for the day having driven down to us for 9:00 in the morning.

The second was on the children in need foxhunt where we sat and talked for a while and put the world to rights.

 

He was a true gent who loved the game and spent an awfull lot of time and money trying to make it better.

 

He will be sadly missed.

Chris n Maria

[DeputyDawg]

This was so sad to hear!

 

My deepest sympathies and condolences go to Mark's family and friends. I had the privilege to meet TheCat only once, during last years CIN foxhunt, and his enthusiasm, generosity, effort and help are well remembered, and much appreciated. He will be sorely missed and a sad loss to everyone in the Geocaching Community.

 

Thanks, Mark…Your life has left Your mark on many, and continues to be an inspiration for us all.

 

Cache Well as always, wherever!

 

DeputyDawg

[+harrogate hunters]

Again what can we add.

 

I met mark as a lot of people did on his Children in need run around the country.... now that is dedication especially the problems he had with vehicles last year.

 

He called into our offices for breakfast early one morning, and I must admit we had a delightful 1/2 hour.

 

Long may his memory continue..... We shall think of him annually at Children In Need day.

 

Robin (Harrogate Hunters)

[Wronskian]

Very sad to hear this news. I met Mark on his first Children in Need fox hunt quest. His dedication to both caching and CIN was incredible, and the UK community owes him a great deal. He'll be missed.

 

Sam

[choccymandm]

Our condalances go to all his family and friends.

 

Although we never had the chance to meet him in person, we did get have the pleasure of a long, extremely late night phone call to discuss web site building (and then all things geocaching!) To us it just showed his generosity, commitment and helpfulness when it came to the game.

 

rest in peace Mark ... and long live GeocacheUK.com, a legacy he leaves behind.

[+The Hole-in-the-wall Gang]

Very Sad to hear this, the world will be a lesser place without him.

[+Haggis Hunter]

I never knew mark, but I have used & bought items from GCUK.com.

It is obvious going by the past comments that he was a well liked and generous person.

Obviously a great loss. My deepest condolences go to his family & friends.

[+Gavotteers]

A very sad farewell Mark

 

Took nothing Left Plenty

 

Our condolences to his friends and family.

 

Mel & Barbara

[+68 GUNS]

I would like to add our condolences to those already sent and to say that our enjoyment of the sport has been much enhanced by the great work carried out by GC:UK.

[Krazy Kats]

Just heard the news from Geoff (Geoff and Bonnie). What a real shame. I met Mark on a few occasions and you could tell how much he enjoyed the sport. I regularly use his website and find it very useful.

 

I particularly remember the Fox Hunt last year where Geoff and I raced up to the Garmin office in Romsey to catch him. We were soon joined by others and as June said earlier it turned into a cache meet. I can only send my condolences to all his family and friends and say that he will be sadly missed.

 

Totally agree with the Gavotteers. He took nothing but left loads!!!

[+windswept]

Just heard the news he will be sadly missed.

[+Mr & Mrs Hedgehog]

We too are shocked by this news... We met Mark on a couple of occasions and we have nothing but respect for him and especially what he has done for the caching community..

 

Like everyone said..... very sad news...