ON returning to Melksham following a trip to Norfolk in mid-July playing clubs in the area, Avon Bowls Club travellers heard that popular and talented member, Chris Easton, had died at the club while quietly practising a game about which he was passionate and at which he excelled.
Chris loved sport, both indoor and outdoor – archery, road cycling, rugby (at school in Trowbridge) cricket and later, skittles in numerous local leagues at which he won 35 team titles and 11 individual titles over the years.
But his favourite sport was bowls, which he enjoyed for more than 35 years, playing against the best including David Bryant and even beating the great Tony Allcock at the Bournemouth Open. He qualified 3 times for the National Indoor Finals and was runner-up in the County Champion of Champions in 1991. His love of bowling was evident in his readiness to advise and mentor new and upcoming players.
Chris, born in 1951 in Oxfordshire, the eldest of four children, obtained an advanced degree in analytical chemistry. He worked in the laboratories at Blue Circle, testing cement samples, until the company closed in 2009. He ran cricket and snooker sections at the works, arranging exhibition games to which he invited Alex Higgins and Jimmy White among others and was also Secretary and Fixtures Secretary for Blue Circle Bowls Club.
He was a seasoned traveller with a particular interest in long distance train journeys, culminating last year in a 19-day trip on the Trans-Siberian Railway which went through eleven time zones, ending in a flight from Vladivostok to Moscow, then home!
And as if that wasn’t enough to exhaust even the most tireless, he also had a passion for sporty cars including Lotus Cortina and Jaguars – just a 1993 Mondeo for everyday use because ‘there’s nothing wrong with it’, he said!
He remained a bachelor, had no television, but enjoyed watching DVDs of his favourite ‘whodunnit’ detectives, was a generous donator to various charities and to all who knew him he was the most generous, unselfish, caring person and without doubt a true gentleman!
Everyone at Avon Bowls Club will miss Chris, none more so than his brother Colin who carries on the family bowling tradition, and to whom the club offers sincere condolences.
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