Sorry it's taken so long, but I've eventually got round to scanning this from
The Darlington & Stockton Times dated Friday 17th Sept 2004 !

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Bill Foggitt, weather watcher and Yorkshire legend.
By Brian Redhead.
Bill Foggitt, the amateur weather watcher from Thirsk who was thrust into the
international spotlight with his uncannily accurate forecasts based on
observation of the natural world, has died aged 91.
At least one professional television meteorologist has admitted that in
earlier days, until the arrival of more sophisticated forecasting equipment,
he and his colleagues were worried by the accuracy of Mr Foggitt's
unconventional predictions based on signs in nature rather than science end
technology.
For many years Mr Foggitt was a household name in his native Yorkshire for his
long-range forecasts rooted-in the behaviour of plants and wildlife, supported
by climate records kept by his family for 200 years.
It was not until 1985 that, like Teesdale farmer Hannah Hauxwell before him,
he suddenly became an international figure. During a cold snap in that winter,
the Met Office warned of a prolonged spell of Arctic weather but Mr Foggitt's
reply was: "I don't think so. I have noticed a mole poking its nose through
the snow, that invariably means warmer weather is on its way."

Within a few days, he was proved correct and it was the signal for journalists
from all over the world to converge on the Three Tuns Hotel in Thirsk where Mr
Foggitt told his fields, called the Magic Circle, how he'd watched the
behaviour of seaweed, pine cones, flower petals, frog spawn flies and sheep in
assessing what the weather had in store.
One of his finest moments came when the Association of Science Education used
his sensing methods in a textbook for the national curriculum. Other
highlights included a television company giving him a slot alongside its
regular forecaster and BT setting up a special phone-in service called
Foggitt's Forecasts.
In a forecasting competition organised by a newspaper in the summer of 1985,
Mr Foggitt achieved a higher accuracy, 88pc, of daily forecasts than two
professional weathermen, one of them Michael fish, who scored 74pc.
Mr Foggitt was born in Sowerby, where his father ran a chemist's shop which
before the Second World War was said to rival Boots. He saw war service with
the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, after which he was turned down by both the
Church of England and the Methodists in his attempts to become clergyman
although he partly achieved his ambition later by becoming a Methodist local
preacher.
He tried a greet variety of jobs, including teaching, but on returning to
Thirsk in 1966 he was involved in a road accident in which he almost lost a
leg. He was unable to find work and his mother suggested that he study the
family weather records, started by his great-grandfather to help understand
flooding problems in Yarm.
Mr Foggitt had studied all aspects of meteorological behaviour, as well as
plants and animals, during country walks with his parents as a boy. He was
able to put the family records to good use with his quirky observations.
Few people knew that Mr Foggitt, who lived for most of his life at South
Villa, Thirsk, had been married because he appeared to be an archetypal
bachelor. Soon after the war he met and married a vicar's daughter but they
separated after a short time, although they newer never divorced. Winifred
Foggitt died five years ago. The couple had no children.
Mr Foggitt's biographer, former D&S Times journalist Mike Cresswell, said: "He
was one of the county's great remaining characters. He had the perfect name
for the interest he pursued but it was more than that.
"He will be remembered for the success of his methods against Multi-million
pound meteorological equipment. He taught us that for all the scientific
advances, the very behaviour of nature remains one of the best guides to
predicting the weather,
"He did not achieve the same sort of fame as James Herriot, who lived only
four miles away but be was certainly cast in a similar mould.
"He was always quite conformable with the media attention but a bit bemused by
it all.
He never saw himself as a figure on the world stage. He took it as it came. He
was a tremendously modest man. I think be will also be remembered for his
humour, his affable nature and his ability to take a joke against him and his
methods. He was completely guileless and trusting.
'Most of the famous records were lost, mislaid or found their way by accident
into the dustbin although several were rescued by the Met Office at
Bracknell."
Mr Foggitt made headlines for another reason when, at the age of 72, he met a
woman who hinted at marriage but who was eventually put on probation for three
years at Teesside Crown Court for offences involving his credit card. Mr
Foggitt said at the time with a Methodist fervour: "I always behaved with the
utmost propriety."
Recent years saw Mr Foggitt overtaken by blindness and loss of memory. He
spent some time in a nursing home in Northallerton and the Friarage Hospital,
where died on Monday. His funeral service takes place today (2pm) at St
James's Methodist Church, Thirsk.

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And the following is taken form the D&S dated Friday 24th Sept 04

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Minister eulogises weather watcher for reminding us of the importance of our
surroundings.

A simple service for an uncomplicated man who weathered poison pen and media
fame.
By Brian Redhead.
It was a simple Methodist funeral for an uncomplicated man who suddenly found
himself coping with the pressures of being au international celebrity.
Bill Foggitt, the amateur weather watcher from Thirsk who proved that he could
hold his own against some of the best professional forecasters, made his last
journey with none of the international media attention which marked the height
of his fame.
A discreet group of about 70 local mourners, joined by a handful of others
from such places as Kendal and Scarborough, were present at the quiet service
at St James' Methodist Church in Thirsk last Friday.
Mr Foggitt's coffin, on which his familiar deerstalker hat had been placed
alongside floral tributes, was taken to the church in a 1936 Rolls-Royce
hearse.
Mr Foggitt, who was thrust into the international limelight with his uncannily
accurate predictions based on signs in nature rather than science and
technology, died in hospital last week aged 91.
He achieved enduring fame in 1985 when he contradicted a Met Office warning of
a prolonged spell of Arctic conditions by saying that warmer weather was on
the way because he had seen a mole poking its nose through the snow.
He was not infallible, however, and his forecasting methods, supported by
records passed through generations of his family since 1830, were less
reliable eight years later, when Britain had one of its wettest summers on
record.
Mr Foggitt received a number of abusive letters, many from the Manchester
area, which had 36 days of consecutive rain. One correspondent threatened to
have him shot, but Mr Foggitt blamed St Swithin.
Mourners at his funeral were addressed by the Rev Geoffrey Bruce, who
delivered his, own warning in a time of climate change.
He said "Bill Foggitt reminded us of the importance of the world around us.
"It is part of what we are, it is where we have come from and, if we are not
careful, we are going to make even more mess of it than we have already.
"Bill Foggitt was a warm, open and quiet personality with a fund of stories
about all sorts of things. He always had a twinkle in his eye and humour was
always present."
Readings by Mr Bruce included one from St Matthew which, he said, had a
special relevance to Mr Foggitt's life.
He added that the three hymns, including Abide With Me, were those which Mr
Foggitt felt should have been sung at his funeral.
Mr Foggitt was turned down by both the Methodists and the Church of England in
early attempts to become a priest, but in later years acted as a Methodist
local preacher.
The arrival of the funeral cortege was recorded on a video camera, and the
service in sound, by 86-year-old Harry Whitton, an elder statesman of Thirsk.
The results will go on Mr Whitton's web site. http://www.harrywhitton.co.uk/
Mr Whitton, a former secretary of the chamber of trade, knew Mr Foggitt well
and be came his unofficial chauffeur because he was unable to drive.
He said: "I used to drive Bill all over the place to give talks.

We once went down to Ripon for a talk and Bill signed 50 autographs before he
had even started.
"There's an absolute fund of stories to be told about Bill. He was one of our
real old characters and now he's gone.
A retiring collection at the funeral was divided between St James Methodist
Church and Thirsk Community Carers.

There was a photo of Bill Foggitt's hat sits on top of his coffin as it is
carried into St James' Methodist Church in Thirsk - Picture taken by Nigel
Whitfield/D&S
--
Nick in Northallerton
www.whelan.me.uk
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