Vale Catshamlet

stunned to hear the passing of Catshamlet . His lighthearted humour always brightened my day .
Condolences to family and friends


Richard
 
It was supposed to be his password!

I am not 100% sure of what he said about it as it was many years ago, but the sign-in may have been preceded by a tipple, then it resulted out of operator error.

Mike also tried to join French Car Forum, but they rejected his application (I think due to the mass-market email host) and he never persevered. So we had his wry humour all to ourselves.
 
Bugger... Pommy gits as adept at bantering with us convicts are rare.

Take care out there mate.
 
I fancy Mike chose his handle as combination of two words

Cats (as in feline) + hamlet (as in isolated group of few dwellings). I could see Mike as being a "soft touch" for lost animals and providing all and sundry cats care and support.

You would need to ask Joanne or Clare, his daughters to be find out.

Good heavens, either Mike has an internet connection in thereafter or Joanne is logged on, because Catshamlet is logged on and viewing the thread.

Joanne - my, our , thoughts are very much with you...
 
"I came into this world with nothing and still have most of it left"

I often looked at Mike's motto and thought it probably described his character to a tee. He seemed a warm-hearted man who I can't recall having a bad word about anyone, other than in jest.

My condolences to his family. My late brother had on-line overseas friends through playing Scrabble which continued until his last days, and I remember how close those unseen friends seemed at the time. I am sure Mike's family can see the same feeling coming from all these Aussie Froggers.

R.I.P. Mike.

Chris (from Perth, Western Australia).
 
Condolences to his family and close friends.

Uniquely distinctive here (as far as I can recall) in never attracting any particular animosity ... from anyone ...
 
More than once I felt the feather light touch of his wit as he admonished me with a quip.

But more than this his droll self-deprecation was always a delight.

I am sure that he enjoyed his time among this ratbag fraternity down-under because we liked him for just being himself.

RIP ‘Aussie Mike’
 
Hi it's Joanne, Mikes daughter. Me and my sister Clare have read through the many comments through teary eyes and a smile. Keeping happy and seeing everybody send their wishes is amazing :') thank you so much for everything, it certainly seems he put laughter into everybody at some stage in his 'Aussie Frogs' life, and he enjoyed logging on in an evening to catch up.

His username 'Catshamlet' was because of the never ending love for his 4 legged ginger 'pal' that seems to know dad is no longer with us also. We live in a hamlet so that maybe sprung the second word together?! I'm not too sure!

The death of dad was really peaceful, for those of you who have just found out it probably came as quite a shock to hear he'd passed, but he wasn't in pain and the nurses did an amazing job of looking after him. It's just a shame he was so young, and he was so excited to be visiting you guys next year! I have a friend in Melbourne myself so might of even came along for the journey while he travelled!

Chin up though, a life lost but a memory made. He was a great fella and will be sadly missed by all. Funeral to take place this Monday.

Thanks again, Joanne x
 
Hello Joanne, thank you so much for your reply. It may be the internet and I'm not sure who may have met Mike in person but in the 8 years Mike came to mean a lot to many of us here. He was indeed a very respected and popular member. His little gems of humour could often brighten a day, laughter being such good medicine. Please give little ginger 'Pal' some Aussiefrogs cuddles and pats.
Will be thinking of you all on Monday.

Kaye x
 
I no longer come here as often as I once did. These days it's just a quick browse while eating lunch in the office, and the occasional post when I have a comment to make or question to ask.

But today's lunch has been spoilt. The first shock came when my eye caught the title of this thread as I scanned the list for topics of interest. The second hit when I discovered that it was old news, and the final blow came when I discovered that today is the day of Mike's funeral.

In the 9 years that I've been coming here, there has only been a handful of fellow Froggers with whom I've communicated directly by PM and e-mail, other than for reasons of exchange of parts or technical information. Mike was one of them. Several years ago he helped me in my search for a 406 Lucas diesel pump in the UK and prior to that I'd sent him an assortment of historical stuff on the 203 in Australia. I remember him describing with glee how he'd forced the kids to sit through the old REDeX videos I'd sent him, just so he could point out the 203s.

We hadn't "spoken" for quite awhile and I had no idea he was unwell. It's nice to know that the opinion I had formed of him is echoed by those who knew him well.

Farewell Mike, and my deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Warwick
 
Bloody hell. This came out from nowhere and knocked me hard. RIP Mike, you will be truly missed.

Matt
Workshy
 
Mattinson Michael (Mike)

MATTINSON, Michael (Mike) - Joanne, Clare and all of the family of the late Michael (Mike) wish to express their sincere thanks to all relatives, friends and neighbours for their kind expressions of sympathy, also cards and donations to the Eden Valley Hospice and Macmillan Cancer Support received during their recent sad bereavement
 
Well, I've come late into this, having been absent from the forum for some time, and am no less staggered by the news than others here.
Yes, Mike will be missed - sorely - and I suggest that fora such as this are greatly lessened when a contributor like Mike is taken from us: his light touch and sense of humour could well be adopted by more - many more.
I have this mental image of Mike's beloved Pug travelling through the dusty Aussie Outback - it is one which I will keep, along with memories of his valued contributions in this place.
My thoughts are with his family and friends...
 
Really sad news as I had sent him some parts for his car and even took some bits to the UK with me in May for him and had a drive of his awesome machine on the backroads of Kendal into West Yorkshire. Sorry I won't be able to see him again next year on my European rambles. He truly was a lovely bloke.
 
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