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Mark (thecat)


Teasel

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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 by Teasel
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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.

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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 by Browser
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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.

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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 by The Molinnis Crew
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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

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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.

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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

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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 :lol:

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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

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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

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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)

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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.

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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!!!

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