There must have been two

Peter Vanderpump first entered the Parish Walk in 1998 and retired at Rushen Church will little fuss.

Today Rushen Church became his final resting place at the age of just 65. There was an enormous congregation and everyone who knew him thought he was a man and a half.

In fact I often thought there must have been two of him as he seemed to appear in so many places. He served on the committee of the Isle of Man Society of Chartered Accountants when my wife, Marie, worked for them and so when he was elected chairman he became her boss. I used to hear lots of good things said about him.

When I joined Mann & Partners in 1997 I heard his name spoken for one of my colleagues served on the board of governors at King Williams College, as did Peter. When he lined up alongside Paul Beckett (above) in the Parish Walk the following year he can be seen in my video.

The following year I joined Nampak International and was allocated a fine office on the 6th floor of what was then Bank of Scotland House and was told: "This used to be Peter Vanderpump's office." Touche Ross (later Deloitte and Touche and then Deloitte) had occupied the offices before Nampak who used Peter's firm extensively and so I would see Peter from time to time.

I joined Caymanx in 2001 and you can guess who the auditors were at the time. And a friend and former colleague at Coopers & Lybrand was his PA. 2001 was the second year he entered the Parish Walk and this time he reached Peel.

And then there was the London Marathon in 2003 when he went to watch his son and daughter, William and Katharine, raising funds for the Lung Cancer (Isle of Man) fund.

I was privileged to attend his retirement party at the Villa Marina Promenade Suite at the end of the year and I recall that he intended to spend more time working for charitable causes which I believe he did as well as with his family (his wife Julia is one of the few people to walk to St Johns in the Parish Walk when it was diverted in 1994 by kart racing in Peel).

I remember meeting him at London City Airport on at least one other London Marathon and he walked to Peel in the Parish Walk again in both 2004 and 2005. I've been searching on and off throughout the week but I can't find any photos.

I only know a little about Peter's life, and I didn't attend the funeral, but I do know that many people in Manx athletics have benefited from his contribution to the community without being aware. For many a time he would marshal at the Great South Run with members of the Rushen Round Table in all sorts of wet and windy weather.

And the reason why I have fond memories of him is that even if I hadn't seen him for a couple of years he would call out my name if you saw him with his marshal's bib in Port Erin - unless it was the other person who looked like him, because its hard to believe that one person could turn up in so many places.