It was with great sorrow that we heard of the death of TACH member Bob Musson in February. I was lucky enough to be able to represent the club at his funeral on Friday 3rd March at the packed church in Congresbury, which is only a few yards from the Old Inn, where TACH was founded nearly eleven years ago.

Bob joined three years later in 1998, the same year as Pete Brown, Jan and Turtle, John McDonough and Brian Burr. It was clearly a vintage year for TACH. It was also the year when Bob’s brother, Tony Musson, enrolled with the club. It was Tony who introduced Bob to running, after he had injured his back playing in the second row for Yatton Rugby Club. His first race was the Rowberrow Rabbit Run in July 1998, the month before he joined TACH.

I was alerted to this fact, when I spoke to Jim Wemyss, Bob’s running partner, in the Plough after the funeral. Jim read the eulogy to the packed Church. (There must have been nearly fifty people standing at the back!) He mentioned how Bob had run for TACH and how he had set trails for the Hash. I recalled one of his trails (I think he set it with his brother) when we were out running on Blackdown the previous evening. For a hash trail, I remembered, it seemed very long and used some of the trails we were running on in the moonlight. (I was glad to see Stretch representing the Hash at the funeral.)

Bob was not able to come out on as many training nights as he would have liked, due to business and family commitments, but he had resolved to come out more often, when his final illness prevented him. He represented TACH in a number of races over the years, both as an individual and as a member of the Cotswold Relay Team. He also completed mountain marathons with his brother Tony.

Living as he did in Congresbury, Bob had little need of TACH, because he had the countryside on his doorstep and his friend, Jim Wemyss, to run with. Jim described his last run with Bob along the Yeo to Wrington, up Bullhouse Lane and through the woods along the ridge back to Congresbury, a typical TACH run from the Plough. Bob clearly shared TACH’s enthusiasm for the countryside, with its mud and hills and rocks, to the end.

Bob leaves a wife, Tess, and three daughters, Sophie, Jenna and Ellie.

Chris Bloor.