When I retired in 1993 I joined the Ramblers and was assigned to the Wycombe Group. After 6 months of walks with them I grew tired of their obsession with distance rather than admiring the scenery and stopping occasionally “to smell the flowers!”. On one walk soon after a group from East Berks Ramblers was present, including John Vint. John told me “you should switch to our Group, we like to take our time on walks”. Well, I did and have not looked back and been ever grateful to John for the suggestion.
I served for a number of years as Group Secretary on the East Berks Committee including the time when John was Chairman. John was effective and led by example when things needed to be done. This included reviving the application to reward with an MBE our Footpath Secretary, the late Margaret Bowdery, Group founder and, probably, the most respected Footpath Secretary in the Ramblers. John masterminded this successful application and was delighted with the outcome, even though they did not always see eye-to-eye over footpath priorities in Committee meetings!
In 1994 John, myself, Russell Spencer, Gordon Marrs and Jim Keehan (an American friend of John) decided to walk the Thames Path in occasional stages from the Thames Barrier to the Source. We completed this in 19 stages by summer 1996. John was a delightful companion and regaled us with innumerable stories. He told us that he had been a workaholic who dreaded the day that he would have to retire but on joining the Ramblers, and East Berks Group in particular, he changed completely and walking became a passionate obsession.
Soon afterwards, I took and passed the Guidelines Course to become a Walks Leader for HF Holidays. I can remember being on a Group walk that John led and him telling the walkers at the break with pride that I honoured the Group by becoming an HF Leader.
John led many walks for the Group but, inevitably, age began to tell and we began to see him less on Group walks. Then in a flash of inspiration (and perhaps his greatest legacy) John proposed the concept of the Strollerthon, a short walk from a place with a café to allow older Group members to continue to meet up and socialise. After a slowish start this has now become (prior to Covid 19!) a permanent fortnightly feature on the Group’s Walks Programme. John would often be found, leading initially and joining in latterly, with his all-terrain walking frame, until, in his late 90’s, this became too much for him.
John was an inspirational Group member, true friend and brilliant raconteur - he will be sorely missed by me and, I am sure, all who knew him.