Keith Kerruish from Ballafayle has sent us a lovely tribute to his friend Malcolm Cleator, who died in November.

Malcolm Cleator’s funeral service was held at Kirk Maughold with a large number of family and friends attending.

Malcolm was one of five children and lost his father before he was six. He is survived by his brother David.

He did not like school but was fortunate that headmaster, Peter Hyslop MHK, was very supportive and called for him at the house every day until he gained the confidence to make it alone.

At weekends while under 10 he helped Bobby and Mrs Quayle at Lower Ballaragh, Bulgham and learned his stockmanship from a good teacher.

His wage was dinner, usually a sheep’s head, and six eggs to take home!

Later he occasionally joined his brother Terry who worked for my father, Charlie Kerruish, at Ballafayle Maughold.

At the age of 10 he met me and we became lifelong friends, largely based on mutual respect of our respective skills and talent.

Malcolm was widely known as one of the best all-round stockmen in the island, able to handle cattle, sheep and horses.

Malcolm had a keen eye for any stock ’off colour’ and the ability to cure it himself or with help of the vet.

After school, Malcolm trained as a mechanic for McCormick & Davies and others and then worked on deliveries for Harbatta & Daugherty.

His favourite customer was Ida at the Colby Glen Pump & Stores, gone long since, but still remembered in the south as a landmark village shop.

At the same time he signed on part time for my father and in 1971 after a six-month ’whirlwind romance’ Margaret and Malcolm moved to Ballafayle, where they embarked on 48 years of marriage.

Malcolm remained at Ballafayle for 25 years where he was a key player for ’himself’ as farmers used to be referred to.

During that time, outside farming he faced unusual happenings: a fighter jet tragically crashed near North Barrule; later the radioactive fallout from Chernobyl meant that all sheep had to be checked with a Geiger counter before slaughter.

As a close friend of mine he often helped with farm sales and sometimes antique sales.

He loved an early start and there was nothing that fazed him in handling livestock at sales or in Ramsey mart.

His place in Manx heritage is secured by a popular Facebook photo of him driving 300 sheep in Parliament Square for my father’s annual sale.

From Ballafayle he moved to Tommy and Audrey Acheson at Ballaskyr where he managed a very large beef herd from birth to slaughter plus a large flock of sheep.

He travelled to South Dakota in the USA a couple of times and enjoyed large scale cattle auctions and once ate a 24oz steak!

The massive scale of Wiese farms soya and maize cropping impressed him and the logistics of moving grain, often destined for China.

In South Africa with Tommy Acheson he once shot a deer for the barbecue.

Since having prostate cancer in 2013, which was cured, he was faced with many health challenges which slowed him down.

In his youth he was strong and fit; he competed in Border TV’s Top Town, Young Farmers’ concerts, the Viking boat races and swimming events.

But he was most noted for his pace on the dance floor doing his favourite ’the Christmas Polka’ which saw the girls lined up to be his partner.

Malcolm leaves his wife Margaret, a retired theatre sister, who is widely admired for her dedication to Malcolm in six years of ill health; also two daughters Nicola and Pammy.

He had a magnetic charm for little children and the ladies.

Malcolm was universally liked and a good friend to many.

With great Manx understatement the finest ’old style’ caption for this great Manx countryside character is ’he was’* a bad sort’!