I suspect that not many of Hugh's family and friend connections will be aware of the huge part that he played in the website and forum.
I first met Hugh in June 2010 when he joined our forum as a new member called Crusty. He quickly became a regular poster and soon after a friend to both myself and other members of the forum. After a few months he started to post on our BLOG which is dedicated to all aspects of retro computing, collecting and gaming and it was obvious that he was fascinated with his new hobby. He read a great deal about old computers, researched the internet tirelessly and asked me personally a lot of questions, which I was only happy to answer. As he learned more and more his posts on our BLOG and also his topics in the forums became every more detailed and I appreciated his help a great deal. When he acquired the huge collection of old computers just over a year ago he also became somewhat of a website celebrity, having instantly created one of the largest private collections of old computers and game consoles around.
I spoke to Hugh (aka Crusty) many times via the forums but also via email and letter. There was not many days he did not make an appearance on the site even when he was very seriously ill, sometimes just to say hello and let us know he was still alive because we feared for him during that period. He faced his illness with great strength and a 'matter of fact' approach which I very much admired. When we spoke he would say that he did not expect to have long but that he would take each day as it came.
The loss of Crusty from our website will be a great one, both at a personal level for myself but also to our community as a forum moderator (which he did an excellent job of) and as a friend to other members.
I want to pass on my personal condolences to his partner and family, I can only imagine what a character he must have been face to face, something which I sadly never got to do. I share your grief and feel your pain and I will sadly miss my friend Crusty.
