“Why don’t we try this now?”
I first met Ian shortly after I’d bought my chalet in Chatel. One day, early in 1986, I walked into the offices of the estate agent through whom I’d bought my property, to be confronted by none other than Jane who was cradling a babe in arms – Tamsen! I was attending his offices to take the agent to task and Jane was waiting her turn to do the same for a similar reason. It was such a surprise to bump into Jane whom I’d previously met a number of years earlier when she was teaching in Niederau. As far as I can pin it down this would have been around about 1976 and after that I occasionally saw her when she’d visit the Sun Inn in Barnes. Gradually these chance encounters diminished and a number of years had elapsed before we met up at the estate agent so we had a lot of catching up to do! Jane introduced me to her husband Ian, a very pleasant unassuming guy with a smile playing around his lips and a twinkle in his eye, who listened with interest to what Jane and I were chatting about. We must have made an arrangement to meet up and that marked the beginning of one of the most meaningful relationships of my life. Our families have become entwined as our two boys are a couple of years or so younger than Tamsen and Kirsty. We were together often for Christmas and the New Year. For a number of years at New Year’s Eve I’d set off a firework display and although it might be hard to believe if you’ve seen Chatel on New Year’s Eve in recent years – how the entire valley erupts with firework displays at midnight – when I was first doing it there weren’t any! As Jane and Ian’s business The McGarry Ski System grew they always had a big party on New Year’s Eve and Ian and I laid on a firework display for the guests. For many years I transported large quantities of fireworks from the UK through the tunnel for the party, with Ian and myself in charge of the pyrotechnics, and I do believe that together we were responsible for starting the valley firework displays.
Our friendship led to my opportunity to ski with both Jane and Ian and I’m sure that Jane won’t mind me saying that Ian became my skiing Guru. It doesn’t need me to say what a brilliant ski teacher he is because he has all the professional qualifications that endorse this, but his manner was always so encouraging and he was always coming up with ideas to help you improve. A pet phrase of Ian’s was “Why don’t we try this now” as though it was going to be a surprise how things would turn out, when he knew exactly how it would work and something that you’d been struggling with was transformed by this other method. The image I always carry in my mind when skiing is that of Ian on every slope. I hold the image of Ian in my mind and think ‘how would Ian ski this?’.
Besides his skiing Ian is one of the nicest guys you could meet; a smile is never far from his lips and I’ve never heard him say a bad word about anybody. With his many skills across many different mediums in music, the arts, and television he is truly Renaissance man.
Over the years there have been occasions when I’ve been able to lend a hand, from the odd vehicle breakdown rescue to the installation of a Jacuzzi which was showing a great deal of wilfulness in wanting to head off down the mountain towards the centre of Chatel rather than take its place outside Jane and Ian’s chalet. It is always fun with Ian and his family. I have spent some of the happiest times of my life with the whole McGarry clan and I look forward to spending many more.
Garry Haywood
22/03/2021
