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12 MAY 2018 FORESTRYJOURNAL.CO.UK
Remembering
Steve Dresser
STEVE Dresser passed away at home in
Scarborough on April 24th.
Steve has been a friend of, and a fairly
regular contributor to, this magazine since
well before my time as editor. In recent years
I have had the pleasure of chatting with
him by telephone on all manner of subjects,
though mostly chainsaw-related!
Sometimes, as our letters page will testify,
it was to point out an error he had seen,
which, I would add, he did with the utmost
tact, making sure that points were learnt and
understood. Latterly, we were unfortunate to
be able to discuss and compare treatments,
as we had both shared not one but two
diagnoses of that awful big C. That is how I
came to be aware of Steve’s resilience, his
bravery and most of all his ability to cope. He
never appeared to feel sorry for himself; he
just got on with life, despite his illness.
Back in 2008 Steve penned an occasional
series for the magazine, under the headline
‘Confessions of a Woodman’, documenting
his years in the industry from the early ’70s.
Re-reading them today, they are as funny and
insightful now as they were then – so much
so, I may reproduce
them for our
‘younger’ readers.
In more recent
years most of
his writing for
Forestry Journal
has been related
to his work with
FISA. I remember
one article, I think
from around 2013,
where he summed
the industry up
so eloquently –
‘Forestry is full
of personalities
and individuals. You
would have a job to fill a
minibus with like-minded
people.’ Steve was always
inclined to say it how it was.
Steve never made any pretence of the fact
that his time was limited. That doesn’t make
it any easier to accept his passing. He will be
truly missed.
Gillian Clark, FISA CEO, said, “Steve was
instrumental in the development of the FISA
Chainsaw Refresher course, heading the
Skills & Development Working Group. He
continued his fight to improve the lot of the
cutter, playing a major part in the production
of the AFAG Chainsaw Paper. He continued
to help with the FISA Chainsaw Project whilst
fighting his two-year battle with leukaemia.
“Steve pushed for forestry safety
improvements in a no-nonsense style that
justifiably made him a champion for safety
throughout the industry.”John Paterson of Egger said, “I was really
saddened to hear about Steve’s passing after
he had put up such a valiant fight against
his illness. It was only in the last few years
that I really got to know Steve through his
work with FISA, and I enjoyed his humorous
Facebook banter that continued up until
shortly before he passed away. The world is a
lesser place without him.”Simon Bowes, another of our regular
contributors, knew Steve very well and had
this to say of him:
“Steve was my contract manager for many
years. I worked a
number of estates
as a contractor
for him and he
marketed most
of the timber
that I cut on my
own jobs. It’s a
testament to Steve
that we could
work like that. We
trusted each other
and that trust was
worth far more
than an extra
pound on the
price of sawlogs.
“Weekly site visits to
check on progress were
always interesting where
Steve was concerned.
They could be brief, but, if he had time and
we were doing something interesting, he
would often spend a while on site. I was
felling some big poplar on an estate once.
Steve was moving it all as biomass, at a good
price which was quite an achievement. He
stood with me whilst one of my staff felled
a poplar with six or seven tonnes in it. Hestrolled across and took a long look at the
stump before saying, ‘I would have been
happy to have felled these once upon a time.
I’m pleased I only have to market the stuff
now but it’s nice to watch someone doing a
good job.’
“The lad who had felled the poplar was
made up. He never forgot it and that was how
Steve was; he knew a little bit of praise at the
right moment got much better results than
all the shouting and cursing some people
preferred.
“It was a shock when Steve announced a
few years ago that he had been diagnosed
with cancer and that he was taking time off to
have treatment. He was back at work within
a few weeks, but it was only a few months
later that he moved to a new role in health
and safety, eventually setting up his own H&S
consultancy.
“We kept in touch via text, email and the
occasional phone call. We would meet every
few weeks to have a catch-up over a coffee.
The local Sainsbury’s was just around the
corner from Steve’s home and we would
spend an hour in the cafe setting the world to
rights – at quite a volume, to the amusement
of many Scarborough shoppers.
“It was at one of these meetings that Steve
told me quite calmly that he wasn’t going
to beat the second cancer he had been
diagnosed with. I remember watching him
as he set off to walk home and I couldn’t help
thinking he was one of the bravest men I’d
ever known.
“We carried on our meetings and it
became quite surreal having a conversation
about his impending demise with no
perceivable fear or regret. We even joked
that I would write his obituary one day. It still
came as a shock when I got the phone call
from Marie to say Steve had passed away. I
had been thinking it was about time we met
for a catch-up. I was nonplussed for a while,
but I knew Steve wouldn’t have approved of
any hint of melancholy; he much preferred to
laugh at adversity.
“How would I sum Steve up? He was funny,
he could be awkward and he wasn’t afraid
of speaking his mind, but most of all he was
genuine.
“He was a good friend, and I will miss him.”And so say all of us. We send our sincere
condolences to Steve’s wife and children.Part two of ‘Confessions of a Woodman’ took us to
Low Dalby, where Steve became part of a permanent
gang of four featuring, from the left, ‘Ash’ Allardice,
Steve, Derek Coulson and Ray Duck.