Sad news

Last week John Moss passed away after a short illness. He will be sadly missed in Stone.

His name will not be very familiar to many people in Stone but he has probably done more for the town than most over the past few decades. Ironically, he was not a resident of the town but lived in Clayton yet spent most of his time involved in various Stone community projects.

Principally, John's greatest achievement has been in his work on the canal. One of the founding members of the North Staffordshire branch of the Inland Waterways Association, John was assigned the Stone section at a time, in the 70's and 80's, when the canal was in a pretty derelict state. Over the years John has quietly badgered away to achieve what is, today, one of the town's crowning glories. Surfaced towpaths, solar lighting, moorings, public sculpture, notice boards, leaflet boxes and so much more - all thanks to John.

But he was also heavily involved in other town groups. He was a founder member of Stone in Bloom and played a major role in helping to organise the annual bonfire and fireworks display.

And the involvement of which he was most proud was, of course, the Food and Drink Festival - which is how I first came to meet him. The idea of holding a food and drink festival was conceived between John and the late Brian Blundell over eight years ago. They persuaded me and others to get involved and the rest, as they say, is history.

I spent an hour with John the day before he died and he was still thinking of ideas for this year's Festival!

He really was one of Stone's unsung heroes. A man of ideas who had a real passion for Stone. But a modest man who never sought publicity. A rare breed.

We shall all miss him.