A Tribute to Noah    Paul Andrew “Noah” Yates 1958 - 2005

Paul “Noah” Yates was introduced to the bash via Alistair “Mad Al” Cope a long standing friend going back to their school days. Mad Al, who we may know better as the “Axeman” was in turn a climbing friend of Paul “Wan” Kerr. Thus through this association “Noah” was introduced to “Wan” and because they had a common interest in motorcycling and European travel they became friends.

Noah had a powerful Kawasaki ZZ R1100 – an awesome machine which he called Karen, whilst Wan called the Triumph he rode Timmy. Noah was a very competent rider particularly in respect of London traffic and helped Wan to ride in these stressful conditions.

But Noah was not only a good motorcyclist. He was also a very good skier who could tackle black runs. He could cook, sail and read a map better than most. He also had a high level of IT skills and could do justice to many a pint of real ale. Wan and he also rode mountain bikes together and it was during these times that Wan spoke to Noah about joining the bash.

I’m not certain about his first bash ride but it was probably from the Seven Stars, Kennford - Thursday 5 December 2002. Fortunately he liked what he saw and quickly got into the spirit of the bash. He came with a nickname from another drunken troupe the “Osca-Petey-Tors” of “Fat Belly” – but he soon earned his bash handle of Noah (I will explain if you ask).

His rise to stardom was “meteoric” as in his first full year with us he won the “Drinker of the Year Awards” 2003, mainly for his boozy exploits on a tandem with Nick “Satanic” Mills and because it was noted that he was often first in the pub but the last to leave. He did a lot of good work acting as Nick’s “eyes” and he eventually accompanied “Satanic” on a tall ship voyage to Lisbon. It was during this trip that his illness first started to trouble him. He was diagnosed as having piles and was treated for same without any improvement. Some months earlier he was in hospital abroad with chronic appendicitis and complications yet nobody picked up any abnormalities to his bowel from the x ray taken at the time.

Eventually on Thursday 17 February 2005 at the Great Western Hotel in Exeter Paul informed us that he had been told he had bowel cancer that by this time was so advanced that no operation was possible. In view of all that had happened before how unlucky can you get? Strangely the ride number that night was 1133.

From that night on Paul “Noah” Yates became a “model man”, given the background of such chronic adversity. He showed us all the way to live life to the full even in the face of a certain ad painful death.

Because of his superb demeanour you were not made to feel as though walking on egg shells when you spoke to him. He in turn talked to us about the love and warmth that radiated from bashers and friends whom he came into contact with. Something he’d never experienced before.

Paul had always been a popular character both intelligent and witty with a unique sense of humour. A big man - both physically and mentally with an equally large personality. So it was no surprise that on 27 July 2003 at Mrs D Harrow and Wiffy Runt’s BBQ Di succumbed to his charms and their first ride together was, no surprise too, 1031! They were married in May 2005. By this time Di had given up work to look after him full time. He had both a loving wife and a nurse and though their time together was short it was both happy and memorable and what they wanted given the circumstances.

Everyone in the bash, without exception, admired his and Di’s positive attitude and Paul’s great bravery throughout his very painful illness.

He was only 47 years old when he died. Most of us had only known him for 3 years yet such was his impact on all of us that he leaves the bash and this life with such vivid memories of how he coped with the good times and the bad that he will never be forgotten by everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.

In fact such was the example that he set others to follow that his bash name has been given to a scale of adversity – The Noah Scale – which many of us will continue to use in future to measure the magnitude of our own problems. Thus also in this way his name and memory will be eternal.

Ride on Noah.

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