Michael Dewey

 

Michael and Gillian Dewey

On the 5^th November 2022 Michael Dewey died.  I had considered him a friend for many years.  Our friendship was mainly through correspondence and communication.  We only met once as I had propositioned Michael for a YouTube interview and this was conducted close to Kendal in the southern Lake District where he and his wife Gilliam had retired to.

Our friendship developed from communication indirectly relating to the listing of The 500-Metre Tops of England and Wales, which appeared in the Mountain tables book published by Constable in 1995, as I had compiled the equivalent list for the Irish hills.  I sent Michael a copy and he responded saying that he had done likewise and suggesting that we co-author the list.  This started a line of communication through letter and more recently email and then telephone.  This communication carried on for over twenty years.  Our co-authored Irish lists; The 500-Metre Tops of Ireland  and the Irish Dodds which was extracted from it, will remain just that, co-authored and will retain Michael’s name.

Michael’s interests were varied, but his main ones all concentrated on the outdoors.  I had known for a number of years that Michael was not well, however his death is still a surprise and he will be sadly missed.

Myrddyn Phillips (December 2022)

Michael produced his lists including the 500 metre tops for his own use with no thought of publishing.  I mentioned the mountain tables to a colleague at work who then asked to see the lists.  The colleague was impressed and contacted a publisher.  The rest is history.

I have decided that Michael would have liked the The 500-Metre Tops of England and Wales to be continued and updated by Myrddyn Phillips.  They had co-authored the 500m Irish list and were in regular correspondence about that list.  The Dewey The 500-Metre Tops of England and Wales list will in future be co-authored but retaining Michael’s name as compiler and originator and therefore still be called the Deweys.

After Michael retired from GCHQ Cheltenham we moved to Cumbria.  He joined the Westmorland Geological Society and he was a leading light in the Millennium project geologically surveying the Lindale and Witherslack area.  The work resulted in the British Geological Survey publishing Sheet SD4B8SW.

Michael for some years was Secretary of Cumbria GeoConservation.  He added new sites found on walks that needed recording and protection.  He digitised the records of the organisation and produced leaflets introducing people to the geology of Cumbria.

Fungi and lichens interested him with finds photographed, researched and catalogued.  One of his lichen photographs was displayed at Kew Gardens.  He gave talks on a wide range of subjects in the locality and took groups out on field trips.  I was always with him on his adventures and have walked all the 2,000ft mountains.  We were a team and I contributed to his projects and interests.

Gillian Dewey (December 2022)