I’m sure, like me, that many of you have been finding coming to terms with the loss of our dear friend Bods very challenging. I have been asked to share a bit of information about the past week, for those who weren’t aware of the events. There will possibly be gaps about things I was not aware of and maybe names that I miss, so apologies in advance.

  Bods made his own way to Guildford station on Sunday morning where he was picked up and given a lift to Puttenham Common Top Car Park by J Arthur. Unusually I was early and spoke to him, he was in good spirits and even offered to pay his £2 visitors fee before we set off. He made a joke to RHUM about his long beard that he hadn’t unpacked his razor yet (following his recent move to Byfleet); I thought he was modelling his hairstyle on Stevie Blunder’s as his locks were quite long too!

  I’m aware he set off with the pack, had a bit of a tumble early on, tripping on a root, but he picked himself up uninjured, brushed himself down and enjoyed time with some of the knitting circle.

  Probably about two thirds of the way round Stevie Blunder and I were checking and saw Bods on a path, Stevie left me and kindly took it upon himself to shepherd Bods home. He walked with him for some time and then got to an unmarked check so asked Bods to stay where he was whilst he found the trail; a few minutes later he came back and Bods had vanished and he could not find him anywhere.

  When there was still no sign of Bods at the circle I retraced the end of the trail and Terminator, Clever Trevor and the Blunders drove some of the lanes; still no sign.

  Half expecting he might appear at the pub having got a lift, as he had done a few times before, when it was apparent that he hadn’t, Birthing called the police and raised the alarm as a missing person.

  I went back to the Common and went round the whole trail again. Uncle Gerry and J Arthur stayed on guard in the car park. By the time I got back from re-running / walking the trail there were six police vehicles in the car park; a police search dog had already been deployed and a second one then went out too. Drones had also already been launched to scour the area.

  By now Kelinchi was back on site, on her bike retracing the route and assisting the police. Stevie Blunder messaged through his last know location on a map. A team from the Hampton Estate was already searching their land and one of them came up to talk to the police on his quad bike. Master Bates checked his local pub where both of them had enjoyed a drink post hash only a few weeks ago.

At 6pm a search helicopter flew in and we were all asked to stay out of the trail area to enable the heli to search using their high magnification scopes and heat seeking devices. They commented on being able to see the flour blobs marking the route.

  Surrey Search and Rescue (SSAR) deployed their volunteers and took over the Britty Wood Car Park early evening, closest to Bod’s last known location; deploying numerous teams with search dogs as well.

  Birthing was joined by Hannah (their daughter) and her husband Simon. No Nookie returned to the search area with SFB. As darkness fell Birthing and I drove round local roads, excited at one point by reports of a potential sighting, J Arthur checking too.

  Alas, the searching on that Sunday and night was fruitless, so Operation Find Nigel was launched and continued over the following week. Every day and evening hashers from Surrey (Birthing, Uncle Gerry, Big Foot, Chundy, J Arthur, No Nookie, Le Pro, Hash Flash, RHUM, Kelinchi, Petal, Ms Bean, Stevie Blunder, your scribe and even Popeye (who drove down on a number of days from Salisbury), joined members from Guildford H3, Deepcut H3 and scores of the local community on the searches, all carefully co-ordinated and recorded by Simon and Hannah.

  Posters went up, community centres notified their networks, hospitals and stations were checked, local media and police posted missing person alerts. Hope of reported sightings, even as far as Tongham and his local pub in Byfleet, were sadly dashed when checked. Police and SSAR remained present throughout.

  It just felt incredible and unfathomable that he hadn’t been found with so many resources that were so quickly deployed.

  A massive search was being planned for Sunday when all the hashes and local community were going to flood the area with searchers. Clever Trevor and Terminator had soup prepared to feed those turning up.

  At 08.14 on Saturday morning we received a message that the police had asked that everyone stop any further search activity for that day until further notice. I dreaded the worst but clung desperately on to hope that he had been found alive and well. As you now know, sadly this was not the case.

  Many questions will likely never be answered; some we may hear in time. What I do know is that he was found close to where he was last seen – which makes it even harder, knowing that we and all the professionals were so close for so long. I believe it was a specially trained sniffer dog that can seek out SIM cards that managed to find his phone and then Bods was found close by.

  Our GM wants to send his utmost thanks and appreciation to all that turned out to help with the search.

  We collectively send our condolences to Birthing, Hannah, Emily, Jonathan and their respective families.

  Rest in Peace, Nigel Bodyshop.

  On On,
  Atalanta

Tribute page for your memories of Bodyshop.

We have set up an on-line tribute page for people to record their memories and post their own pictures.  We shall share it with the family in due course.  As this has only just been set up, the introduction is being finalised.