I've just heard the very sad news that Steve Plowes one of the original contributors to "Sing When We're Fishing" has passed away.
Steve was a great Town fan long exiled to the Blackpool coast blessed with a brilliant sense of (often gallows) humour.

R.I.P. Steve.

Only know the name, not the man, but SWWF is and always will be a great part of our history.

RIP fellow Mariner.

Sad sad news. Met him a fair few times while selling programmes. Very nice bloke and a proud Town fan

Rest in peace fellow mariner

That's really sad news. A long serving, dyed-in-the-wool Mariner. I remember talking to him when ordering copies of SWWF. Always warm, funny, helpful and philosophical. It might be too much to ask that the club mark his passing with a minute's silence or applause, but it would be good if the Trust and club acknowledged his devotion and humour in some way.

Very sad. RIP Steve..

So sad to hear of Steves’ passing. I for one thoroughly enjoyed his wit and humour. RIP

I met Steve a couple of times a few years back. An avid Mariner and a great character too.

Very sad news.

RIP Steve

Quoted from barralad

I've just heard the very sad news that Steve Plowes one of the original contributors to "Sing When We're Fishing" has passed away.
Steve was a great Town fan long exiled to the Blackpool coast blessed with a brilliant sense of (often gallows) humour.

R.I.P. Steve.

Thats sad to hear.

I used to have a teacher at Harold Street called Steve Plowes. Was it him?

Also remember the name fondly, great sense of humour with some sharp insights into football matters too. How sad.

Sing When You're Fishing, Steve. RIP

I am very sad to hear this. Steve and I corresponded regularly when I was writing for SWWF. He came across a very clever and very funny guy.

I remember one time when he rang up a radio phone in to speak to then manager Brian Laws, not long after the Ivano Bonetti incident. He was no fan of Laws, and he said 'Brian, I have to say you are a fanzine writers dream!'.

Sad news indeed.  

RIP.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Thats sad to hear.

I used to have a teacher at Harold Street called Steve Plowes. Was it him?

Not sure. He taught me at Clee but wasn't there long so quite possibly..

SWWF was one of the reasons I kept returning as an exile. Steve could make a serious point in a funny or ironic way . A fine Mariner.

Sad news. Played hockey with him in the 70’s. remember him putting his Morris minor in a ditch down cheapside and we had to haul it out. His greatest contribution to his honour was when he asked the umpire to re-arrange these  words into a well known phrase or saying “off fu*k “. The umpires laughed too much to send him off . Great character , sad loss

Quoted from barralad

Not sure. He taught me at Clee but wasn't there long so quite possibly..

He taught English, at the time was a good looking lad with dark curly hair. The girls told me he was good looking I hasten to add.

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

He taught English, at the time was a good looking lad with dark curly hair. The girls told me he was good looking I hasten to add.

Yeah right, Lew Chaterleys lover.  ;)

Quoted from ginnywings

Yeah right, Lew Chaterleys lover.  ;)

Oops.  ;D

Quoted from barralad

I've just heard the very sad news that Steve Plowes one of the original contributors to "Sing When We're Fishing" has passed away.
Steve was a great Town fan long exiled to the Blackpool coast blessed with a brilliant sense of (often gallows) humour.

R.I.P. Steve.

Very sad news.  I have to thank Steve for publishing my first ever article in swwf when I was a teen in the early 90s. A piece about  how badly our players did when we sold them. He didn't just print it, he gave it a full page and encouraged me to do more, and I thank him for that.  

Swwf was a great publication and I remember an associated email list for exiles soon after and it makes me feel ancient 😉

Rip 😐

RIP to a fellow mariner.

Anyone have a pic? Would probably know by face.

Always used to buy a copy of SWWF on my in. Knew him slightly through Rob McIlveen who also contributed to that very fine and very funny 'zine. Definitely Town through and through. RIP Steve.

In reply to my own earlier posts it is indeed the Steve Plowes who taught at Harold Street circa 1969.

If you google his name there is a picture of him supposing to be at Edward St. school with the pupils.

They are my Harold Street urchins though - perhaps we went there whilst some work was done on Harold St. - I cannot quite remember. I am certainly on there with my old chums - I can remember about half the names.

So sad to hear of his passing.

Jimmy Lumby is on the photo - anybody remember him as a former Town player?

https://thefishy.co.uk/story.php?id=8434505

As for the picture, he wasn't a fish by the way,  ;D

RIP Steve, his fanzine was a great inspiration

Quoted from barrattstandman

Sad news. Played hockey with him in the 70’s. remember him putting his Morris minor in a ditch down cheapside and we had to haul it out. His greatest contribution to his honour was when he asked the umpire to re-arrange these  words into a well known phrase or saying “off fu*k “. The umpires laughed too much to send him off . Great character , sad loss

Steve did teach Clee Grammer and played hockey, but he never had  a Morris Minor. His first car was a Plastic Pig.

I know but he borrowed the car to get to hockey ,his wouldn’t start !

Quoted from lew chaterleys lover

Thats sad to hear.

I used to have a teacher at Harold Street called Steve Plowes. Was it him?

Yes he was at Harold Street for a while. His first teaching post.

Quoted from barrattstandman

I know but he borrowed the car to get to hockey ,his wouldn’t start !

That I didn't know! I'm his brother.

RIP  Steve I also remember the name but do not think we have met.

Quoted from Futchfan

Yes he was at Harold Street for a while. His first teaching post.

Aye. See my post a little further back! His first post - and he still carried on with it. ;D

My condolences - he must have been a great brother. He certainly cheered us up at Harold Street. He was the first progressive teacher we had - all the rest were right old school - hit you first ask questions later!      

Quoted from Futchfan

Steve did teach Clee Grammer and played hockey, but he never had  a Morris Minor. His first car was a Plastic Pig.

"Mr" Plowes achieved legendary status at Clee when he (allegedly) got caught trying to climb over the fence into B.P.

Sad news! RIP Steve

I first encountered Steve when he came across my fanzine SWWF around 1991, about three years after we first started it (first issue came on sale at Alan Buckley’s first home game as a Town manager). His letter was lengthy, effusive and very funny. He instantly became a primary contributor to the magazine and became its editor when I handed the reins over to him, I think, in the summer of 1991. We met several times and he was as engaging and funny in person as on paper. We lost contact when I moved abroad and it’s a sad day today learning of his death. He was a fine man and a true Town loyalist, with the necessary gallows humour that is an essential part of any Mariner’s make-up.

RIP Pedro.  I only had a few lessons with you at Clee Grammar but they were certainly fun.
Enjoyed SWWF too..

I first bought the SWWF by mistake as I wanted a program then thought I'd been ripped off by someone trying to do their own match day magazine. After I read the first few pages I couldn't stop laughing and told anyone who would listen about the SWWF magazine. I bought loads of them after that, great memories, so it's sad to hear that someone who contributed so much to the magazine has passed away, R.I.P. Steve and condolences to friends and family.

RIP Steve. Never knew the guy and can only echo the comments of other readers.

I know he didn't start SWWF, but he can take a lot of credit (and obviously you Tanga) for a mag whose direct descendants include this site, Cod Almighty, DN35, the Cod Pod, It's a Grim Exile, and whose extended family includes the Trust, Operation Promotion, Operation Mariachi, the Grimsby Drummer, rolling down terraces in rubbish bins, This Town Knows, Wigs at Woking, inflatables at Barnet, FISH, and middle aged blokes having a laugh and making prats of themselves all around the country  ;) Fans doing it for themselves owe a debt to SP.

I loved SWWF when he edited it, always a fun read.

"The only problem with supporting Town is having to watch them play" and similar articles raised plenty of laughs.

Sad news, RIP. Condolences to Futchfan.

Sad news to hear of a Mariner passing.

SWWF wasn't the only publication that he wrote for, here is an article in the Independent about Bonetti that he also contributed to.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/bonetti-discovers-paradise-after-juventus-1523732.html

Very sad, RIP Steve

Some of the SWWF content was simply brilliant,

Two items spring straight to mind;

The Hull speak dictionary, British Erm Sters, Herlderness Rerd, and of course the head of the Catholic Church The Perp, etc.

And the poignant bit comparing following Town to doing hard drugs

“ I do Town, but I could give it up anytime” etc. (when of course we can’t because we’re all addicts)

Excellent stuff  :)

Sad news indeed... I submitted several articles to SWWF , and still have lots of them along with old programmes...  RIP Steve... a true gent...  UTM  !!!

I can only echo what others have said Steve Plowes was a very funny man in word I didn`t know him other than to say hello to when buying my SWWF. One thing that did stick out  but pretty sure he was parked near us one game away at Leicester City when they played at Filbert St.We arrived about the same time which was quite near to kick off and we parked near an hospital as we got to the away end a large scuffle was developing at the turnstiles and irate Leicester fans not happy at having come off 2nd best where looking for Town stragglers. We got through unscathed but after the game they had gathered in big numbers with revenge in mind and it seemed quite a few other Town fans had parked in the same area as us.Running battles ensued and he along with everyone else got caught up in the melee and he made several references to this incident in SWWF his night of terror at the hands of the baby squad and his account was hilarious.I also remember him lamenting the Pontoon`s last stand and advising people to drink it in one last time before it went all seater.Bloody right Steve thanks for the words you made a lot of people smile with your humour.WE ONLY SING WHEN WERE FISHING

I travelled with him for that Leicester games, and did to many games from our North Lancashire homes.

My first post for years, I've watched The Fishy as a guest over the years but decided not get sucked into posting - it can be emotional and time-consuming.

Steve's death has prompted me to post again. We tore up the motorways together to Town games in the early 90s, home and away, in my old Peugeot diesel (see SWWF "Percy the Peugeot goes to Swansea" and other tales), we certainly would be breaching emission regs now...Steve described it once in SWWF as a "mobile waste disposal unit...the windscreen a vast insect graveyard". His writing was superb and beautifully crafted, mine was laboured in comparison. When selling SWWF outside Blundell Park, for some reason he always gave me the Harrington Street Osmond Corner, assuming at 6.2 I could handle the visiting fans. On a rare Imperial Avenue pitch on Boxing Day I sold a copy to the Rt Hon Norman Lamont.

We debated Town, music, life and everything in the car journeys. I suspect he enjoyed a toy boy / older woman episode in his youth because Maggie May used to send him a bit emotional. He preferred Dylan, I preferred Cohen and Punk on the way to the game - get your depression and anger in before the game...except we were actually a really good football team so there was nothing too much to get depressed or angry about. I lost touch when I moved to Limerick in 98, a few months after the double Wembley wins.

I'm not sure whether his passing is after a long illness, I haven't seen him at any game since I returned in 2003 although Town have had to share my attention with the egg-chasers of Leicester (attempted brain-washing by Munster fans in Limerick), so I've only been to circa half a dozen games a season on average.

RIP Steve - you were a highly-entertaining sojourn in my life with mostly good times for the Mariners - don't know what you'd make of the current fiasco but it would be worth reading that is for sure.  

Great post Limerick, lovely memories in that post and a touch of the old SWWF about it.
Let's hope we start to pick things up starting this weekend and the renowned GTFC humour can be applied to more positive happenings at this club.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

I travelled with him for that Leicester games, and did to many games from our North Lancashire homes.

My first post for years, I've watched The Fishy as a guest over the years but decided not get sucked into posting - it can be emotional and time-consuming.

Steve's death has prompted me to post again. We tore up the motorways together to Town games in the early 90s, home and away, in my old Peugeot diesel (see SWWF "Percy the Peugeot goes to Swansea" and other tales), we certainly would be breaching emission regs now...Steve described it once in SWWF as a "mobile waste disposal unit...the windscreen a vast insect graveyard". His writing was superb and beautifully crafted, mine was laboured in comparison. When selling SWWF outside Blundell Park, for some reason he always gave me the Harrington Street Osmond Corner, assuming at 6.2 I could handle the visiting fans. On a rare Imperial Avenue pitch on Boxing Day I sold a copy to the Rt Hon Norman Lamont.

We debated Town, music, life and everything in the car journeys. I suspect he enjoyed a toy boy / older woman episode in his youth because Maggie May used to send him a bit emotional. He preferred Dylan, I preferred Cohen and Punk on the way to the game - get your depression and anger in before the game...except we were actually a really good football team so there was nothing too much to get depressed or angry about. I lost touch when I moved to Limerick in 98, a few months after the double Wembley wins.

I'm not sure whether his passing is after a long illness, I haven't seen at any game since I returned in 2003 although Town have had to share my attention with the egg-chasers of Leicester (attempted brain-washing by Munster fans in Limerick), so I've only been to circa half a dozen games a season on average.

RIP Steve - you were a highly-entertaining sojourn in my life with mostly good times for the Mariners - don't know what you'd make of the current fiasco but it would be worth reading that is for sure.  

I well remember your arrival at our fathers house on Grimsby Road! Steve would wax lyrical about the adventures. I seem to recall you arriving with a flat tyre and no spare?
Steves illness was quite brief, a matter of weeks. Over recent years he has attended matches in the North West area. Sadly he was not aware that Russell Slade, who he did not rate, had paid the price. He would have had some worthy quote I'm sure.

always sad to lose a fellow mariner , RIP Steve.

Quoted from Futchfan

I well remember your arrival at our fathers house on Grimsby Road! Steve would wax lyrical about the adventures. I seem to recall you arriving with a flat tyre and no spare?
Steves illness was quite brief, a matter of weeks. Over recent years he has attended matches in the North West area. Sadly he was not aware that Russell Slade, who he did not rate, had paid the price. He would have had some worthy quote I'm sure.

I've a hunch that was Steve's car FF - the Peugeot, though unwashed, and with footwells full of general detritus and Clash tapes, always had a viable spare as I recall. Sad that we never met up again, how old was he FF?

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

I've a hunch that was Steve's car FF - the Peugeot, though unwashed, and with footwells full of general detritus and Clash tapes, always had a viable spare as I recall. Sad that we never met up again, how old was he FF?

Thinking about it it was a tyre with as much tread as one of Nigel Mansel slicks. He was 70. How time flys.  We had some fun times selling SWWF. It was always an adventure. My dad always usedto say it was wonderful to see him, but after re-living the entire 90 minutes of the match, he was pleased to see him go, usually with a pair of the old man's socks or a sweater. The memories are pouring back!

I am of the age as to have bought SWWF I didn't know the bloke but he sounds as funny as his articles and held in very high esteem by the people that do know him.
Instead of a minutes applause at the next home game maybe a rendition of SWWF would be a good send off.

Quoted from Futchfan

Thinking about it it was a tyre with as much tread as one of Nigel Mansel slicks. He was 70. How time flys.  We had some fun times selling SWWF. It was always an adventure. My dad always usedto say it was wonderful to see him, but after re-living the entire 90 minutes of the match, he was pleased to see him go, usually with a pair of the old man's socks or a sweater. The memories are pouring back!

Pretty sure Steve had upset the weather Gods whenever he was flogging SWWF you could virtually guarantee heavy rain and galeforce winds his green parka was essential :)

There are some wonderful comments and tributes coming out for Steve. I'm not sure what he would have made of all this. SWWF would doubtless have had some caustic comment. Memories keep flooding back of games we attended. Steve never lost his passion for GTFC and very recently was telling me what he would do to get us out of our current mess.
Reading all these comments and tributes is incredibly comforting, to see the regard people held for him and who shared his love for this great club.

Quoted from Futchfan

There are some wonderful comments and tributes coming out for Steve. I'm not sure what he would have made of all this. SWWF would doubtless have had some caustic comment. Memories keep flooding back of games we attended. Steve never lost his passion for GTFC and very recently was telling me what he would do to get us out of our current mess.
Reading all these comments and tributes is incredibly comforting, to see the regard people held for him and who shared his love for this great club.

Steve was a one off mate. I only met him a couple of times (and I doubt he'd remember me) but once you met Steve, you never forgot him. That's how big a character the man was.

UTM.

Just to say great that RH acknowledged Steve`s passing during commentary last Saturday and the many tributes to him show what he meant.UTM

Just to say I shared the article about him on the Lampeter Uni alumni Facebook site (the Lampeter Society if you're interested).

Apart from the condolences, this comment was directly related to Steve's time there.

David Young: "So sad to read this. I remember "Perce" Plowes very well. He was very keen on the "Aber Run" every Saturday night.

It was people from Lampy making the 29 mile journey to the Aber Union Bar / Dance to see what they might make happen!"

Quoted from 1mickylyons

Just to say great that RH acknowledged Steve`s passing during commentary last Saturday and the many tributes to him show what he meant.UTM

Thats really great. I wasn't aware of that.

I was messaged today by an old school friend/classmate. Very sad news. Steve Plowes (Plowsey or Plowes, as we referred to him), was a character and I think we all remember him well, and fondly. He taught me in the late 80's, early 90's (English). One of the tricks we used to pull was to ask him about how Grimsby were getting on, this would inevitably lead to 40 minutes of him talking about Grimsby, so we never did any work. I remember he caught me forging teachers signatures and gave me the most massive of b*llockings, and a Saturday detention, this was in my first year at senior school. I occasionally meet up with old friends from my year group and Plowsey will crop up in conversation. I'm sure I speak for everybody who was taught by him at King Edwards in Lytham, when I say its sad to hear of his passing.

RIP Steve Plowes