Last updated 12 June 2005
Latest
 The sad news that John Hoy is missing, presumed killed by the Tsunami
reached us today, 6 January 2005.
It's a tragic tale with only his wife, Nim, known to survive. His two
youngest children are already confirmed dead and his oldest child is
missing along with John.John was a regular
Wednesday nighter until he moved to the Far East to work and was very
popular with everyone at the club with whom he came into contact.
6-01-05 |
|
12-06-05
Dear All,
I have heard from John’s father (Ted) with details of the
memorial service for John & his children. It’s 19 July at All Souls Church,
Langham Place (near Auntie Beeb) and starts at 2:00 p.m. There’s no restrictions
on numbers, but Ted needs to know if we’re coming mob-handed for catering
purposes. There’s to be a nice cup of tea afterwards at 3:00 in Waldegrave Hall
underneath the church.
Let me know next time you see me if you attend to come
along.
I thought that you would like to read Ted’s review of the
events since Boxing Day – very poignant.
Rob Brown
Summary of the events since 26th December 2005.
As you probably know, John and his family were on holiday in Kaho Lac and
were swept off the beach by the tsunami. Nim was battered but survived but
John, Robert, David and Kate did not. After searching for two days Nim found
the bodies of David and Kate. But by the fifth day bodies were physically
unrecognisable and the authorities moved everyone away from the area.
Identification was switched to DNA, dental records and fingerprints. There
is a team of 65 Metropolitan police forensic officers based in Phuket who
are engaged on this gruesome work.
Anne (John’s twin) and her family were out there on holiday with them.
About an hour before the tsunami they left to go to another part of the
coast to do some scuba diving. Fortunately they had about five minutes
warning and managed to reach the safety of some higher ground.
Anne found Nim with the bodies of the two children on the third day, and
managed to get through to us on the mobile phone. That was the first news we
had had.
I flew out there with our younger son Keith at the end of December. Our
son-in-law Richard returned to the UK on the 2nd January with their two
girls. Anne stayed on with us for a further week. Nim was holding up
remarkably well. It seemed an interminable wait until John’s body was
identified at the end of March. The funeral for him, and David and Kate was
arranged for the weekend of the 14th May in Cha Am. On 30th April we were
very relieved to hear that Robert had now been identified; recovery of the
bodies was very important to Nim: thus Robert was able to be included in the
funeral and all four of them were able to be cremated together. We went to
Thailand for the funeral, together with Anne and her family, and Keith. The
exhumation ceremony was on Saturday, the cremation services, were on Sunday,
and the collection of the ashes on Monday. There were about 500 people there
during the main Sunday service. It was a very moving and emotional three
days. It is a relief that Nim can now feel a sense of closure and has been
able to return to the UK without the recovery of Robert still on her mind.
Throughout this time the Embassy and DFID staff and the forensic team have
provided strong support to Nim in Thailand: and the FO, DFID and the Police
Family Liaison Officers have supported our family in the UK. Nim returned to
the UK on the 1st June. She has recovered well from her battering by the
water and the debris. She had a small operation on her leg at the beginning
of May and we hope this is the last of the treatment she will require.
Ted Hoy
|
13-05-05
I have just rec'd further news from DFID about John Hoy.
As we already knew a funeral service has taken place in Thailand.
Nim Hoy will be returning to UK at the beginning of June and a memorial
service will take place somewhere in London sometime in June. Further
details promised as soon as info is to hand. I have arranged to send a copy
of the latest B & B Gazette to be forwarded to Nim.
Grateful if you would pass this update on to all interested parties.
Stephen Hollingdale
|
7-02-05Dear
Darryl,
I don't know how to put this. John and I and the children went to Khaolak
for our X'mas holiday. We were at the beach at that time and managed to run
away for 100 metre. We took shelter at one of the bungalows. I told everyone
to step out of the roof and as I did so the water swept me away from my
family. I saw Robert and David cried and called me, John and Kate stood
there frightening. I told them I was going to be OK but then I was drowned
and struggled for life. The water took me to the edge to the pond. When I
got myself up, I shout for my family but there was no reply. I then looked
around but no living things in sight. I went to the man who was badly
injured. I helped him to safety and went back to look for my family. I asked
for help but everyone was still frighten and I started to pray. There was a
shout that another wave was coming, so I help people get on the truck and
jumped in. I was taken to somewhere high up. I asked and looked everywhere
but there was no sign of my family.
The following day, 27th Dec, I went to look for them at the hospital but
none was found. I contacted the British Embassy and they took me to safe
place. On the 28th Dec, John's bossm John's sister and my sisters were there
to support me. We went to the temple and found David and Kate but not John
and Robert. My sisters took the bodies to my home town but I stayed behind
in hope of finding John and Robert. There were lots of bodies and I didn't
have enough strength to look.
Please help me pray for them and hope that we'll find them soon so that
they can rest in peace.
Regards,
Nim Hoy
>From: Darryl Wayne <dwhilliar@yahoo.co.uk>
>To: John Hoy <john_nim@hotmail.com>
>Subject: Re: How's the running going'
>Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 17:09:30 +0000 (GMT)
>
>Hi John,
>
>With all the terrible news that we are hearing over here about the
disastrous effect of the Tsunami in Asia, I really hope that you and your
family are okay.
>
>Please let me know that you are okay so that I can tell the rest of
Blackheath Harriers.
>
>Although you must be living amongst very depressed and traumatic people,I
still want to wish you a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2005.
>
>My running's going okay. I'm still recovering from a calf injury,so I
haven't been able to train flat out for the London Marathon,but I'm still
going to focus on running 2:48.
>
>Cheers and let me know your news your side.
>
>Best regards
>Darryl Hilliar
John Hoy <john_nim@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>Dear Darryl
>
>Greetings from Thailand! Sorry that I have not written back for ages - life
gets rather hectic, having to travel so much with my work, and with the
demands of the family. I hope the running is going well. I was looking on
the Blackheath website the other day and saw that you have a rather tougher
handicap in the Bennett cup this year, but are still putting in some good
performances. Have you managed to break the 2.50 barrier yet in an autumn
marathon'
>
>I'm afraid that I am as unfit as ever, the delights of the Bangkok weather
and traffic not being very persuasive in getting me to build up the mileage.
I've also had a niggling problem with my achilles every time I do try to do
some faster runs. I did run in a 12km race in Phuket, but mainly because the
friends we were staying with work for the local TV station and wanted to
give the race some coverage. Unfortunately they got the time muddled up, so
I arrived 25 minutes late and got lost twice because the marking was not
great and everyone was miles ahead! I managed, however, to catch about five
of the back markers and finish in about 56 minutes (allowing for
diversions), appearing in the TV footage (probably a first for me).
>
>A couple of weeks ago I went for the first time on the Bangkok hash. Not
many lean and mean runners there, but plenty of beer bellies! It was nice to
run in the countryside for a change, but the route seemed designed to
maximise the number of rickety old wooden footbridges that we had to cross
to get over filthy canals, and we had to negotiate a number of people's back
yards, with lots of barking dogs. It was good to be one of the faster ones
there, since there were plenty of false trails and I did not particularly
want to be left behind with nightfall closing in.
>
>I heard from Cliff recently, who appears more or less back in form, running
a 1.20 half marathon in Sydney. He has not yet found a good club though
where he can face some challenge. We spent a couple of weeks in the UK over
the summer on holiday, but were mainly up north, so I did not get the
opportunity to come down the club - hopefully I'll make it next summer
(unfortunately all my work travels are in Asia, not back to the UK).
>
>That's about all for now. Please say hi to all the guys down the club for
me - I miss my Blackheath days! Do drop me a line when you get the chance
and let me hear of those pbs. Have a great Christmas as well.
>
>Cheers
>
>John
|
 |
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This article was taken from The Independent
OnlineWhy was I
spared'
Asks the woman who has lost everything after husband and three children are
swept to their deaths
By Jonathan Brown 06 January 2005 (note not our Jonathan Brown)
The Hoys were a loving and close-knit family. John
Hoy, born in London, was a diplomat. Working as an economist for the
Department for International Development, the government body now
co-ordinating the British response to the Indian Ocean tragedy, he met and
married Nim while stationed in Bangkok 15 years ago. They had three
children. First was 12-year-old Robert, followed three years later by David
and two years after that by Kate.
They were holidaying together at the resort of Khao
Lak with relatives from Britain when the tsunami struck. The family had been
playing on the beach, but sought refuge in a holiday cottage as they heard
the water roaring towards them. But the fragile structure was crushed. All
three children and Mr Hoy, 46, are thought to be dead.
Only Mrs Hoy was spared, being swept a kilometre
inland by the wall of water. Details of the Hoys' tragedy come 11 days after
a natural disaster in which 150,000 were killed and millions left homeless.
The spectre of suffering and disease hangs over millions more.
Billions of pounds have been raised as a continent
stands in united, silent grief; the world is engaged in the biggest-ever
relief operation. But, despite the continuing backdrop of harrowing
television images and personal tales of horror and grief, still the tsunami
has the power to shock.
Mrs Hoy, 40, suffered only cuts and bruises, but her
mental anguish is overwhelming. "I don't know why I survived; I should have
gone with them," she said yesterday. After the tsunami she was forced to
spend the night alone on the high ground until the waters receded. Then the
desperate search began.
"I was just hoping that someone would find my family
and that they were safe," she said. It was not to be.
After two days of increasingly frantic searching she
came across the bodies of Kate and David, stored in a temple that had been
converted into a temporary mortuary. Of John and Robert, more than nine days
later, there is still no certain news.
"Why was my life spared'" Mrs Hoy cried. "We were all
very close. John loved his family very much. The children were beautiful. I
married him because I had a sense that he was a great man and I was right. I
just hope that we can manage to find John and Robert, so we can be together
again in peace." To underline the sudden, brutal shock of their deaths, some
of the children's last moments together were captured in a family photograph
taken the previous night as they posed happily in front of a Christmas tree
on the beach.
Some 1,800 bodies were washed up on the beach at Khao
Lak, one of the worst-affected areas in Thailand. Hundreds were Western
tourists, although the grim task of identifying the bodies is still
incomplete. Many more are still missing. The majority of the 200 Britons
missing or dead were in Thailand, where the death toll has exceeded 5,000.
The relatives who were holidaying with the Hoys have
returned to Britain, while Mr Hoy's parents have flown to Thailand from
their home in Ellesmere, Shropshire, to comfort his widow.
One of the relatives, who works in Aberdeen but
declined to be named yesterday, said that they had left the beach just two
hours before the waters came.
The relative spoke of the desperate search for the
family. "We went looking for them but I cannot imagine them surviving now.
The place was flattened. It is very sad They were lovely kids, you could not
wish for a better set of kids. They were bright, lively kids with a great
future - that makes it all the harder."
Meanwhile, more details of the British dead and
missing continued to emerge. The Ground Force presenter Charlie Dimmock was
said to be inconsolable as she waited for news of her mother and stepfather,
who are missing from the Thai resort of Phuket.
Sue Kennedy, 59, a public relations executive and her
husband Rob, 60, have not made contact since the waves struck on Boxing Day.
The couple had flown to Cambodia on 17 December and were planning to travel
around the region during their holiday.
Pupils at Neville Lovett Community School in Fareham,
Hampshire, were told that their classroom assistant, Heather Gill, had been
killed while on holiday in Phuket. The 42-year-old from Lee-on-Solent was
separated from her husband, Steve, and 17-year-old daughter Charlotte, who
both survived.
The father of the backpacker Clare Jackson, 25, who
was studying at Exeter University, confirmed that he had identified the body
of his daughter. She died when the water pulled her away from her boyfriend
in Tangarra, Sri Lanka.
This article was taken from The Independent
Online |
|
11-02-05
I learned with horror about John Hoy's death, along with
his children, from the BH website; and have since heard from John's widow,
Nim.
I would like to add my own tribute to John Hoy.
John and I were almost inevitably friends when we ran
with the Wednesday nighters. We were the same age, same build, same speed
even 'though John was the more natural and disciplined runner' and with some
common interests.
John had lived in various different parts of the
world, including a few years in New Delhi. When my wife and I found we were
also heading to New Delhi for a year or so, John was kind enough to offer us
his collection of information (including a New Delhi local bus timetable,
the only one in existence as far as I can make out). Through this we came to
meet his wife, Nim, and his three young children.
John had originally met Nim when he was posted to
Bangkok, and they agreed to return there for a few years, partly so that the
children could get more in touch with their 'Thai' side. At around this time
we were heading down to Australia, via S.E. Asia, and we stayed with John
and family in Bangkok on several occasions.
The newspapers have reported John as being a
'diplomat'. He did have diplomatic status, but his involvement was with DFID,
the aid and development branch rather than international relations or trade.
He had worked in the development area before, with DFID and also as a
volunteer in Kenya.
In fact, John's history was a full one, with numerous
achievements and experiences, but was not easy to discover. You had to dig
quite deep to get John to reveal his accomplishments such as his 15 minute
5K, or being Kent Veteran 10K champion, or climbing Mount Kenya, or even
wearing the rather splendid outfit at his Thai wedding ceremony.
For me there were two aspects of John's personality
beyond the friendly face. He had a restless approach to life, he saw so much
that he wanted to do and he was bold enough to go and take it on, however
unconventional it may appear to others. I can guarantee that you would not
find another diplomat in New Delhi who would even know where the local buses
stopped, never mind actually using them to get from A to B. The other aspect
was in the way he would make life decisions based on what was best for his
family, which is what took him back to Thailand.
Personally, I will keep two memories in particular
about John. The first was of an Orpington 10K. I'd started off too fast, as
normal, and John caught me up. It was then an enormous effort to keep on
John's heels, dragging me round much faster than I ever thought I could
manage. I hope that he felt the same trying to shake me off. In the end it
was a dash to the finish. I came in a couple of yards ahead somehow - really
I think that John did not have it in his heart to beat me. The second was a
night out in 'Soi Cowboy' in Bangkok. Soi Cowboy is a street of nightclubs,
bright lights, bars, skimpily dressed ladies, men skimpily dressed as ladies
and every other combination. John and I did have our wives for protection,
even so this was a long way from John's normal environment. This was John
out of his comfort zone, slightly risky, pushing the boundaries - which was
how John most liked to live.
John leaves a big hole for his family and friends and
the World a poorer place. I hope the angels are ready for him, because I
expect John to be pretty nippy in a pair of wings.
Cliff Keen
|
13-01-05
Mrs Nim Hoy
C/o British Embassy
Bangkok
Thailand
14 January 2005
Dear Nim,
I am writing on behalf of all John’s friends and fellow runners at
Blackheath and Bromley Harriers AC in Hayes, Kent. We were all deeply
shocked and saddened to hear of the tragic loss of John and your three
children in the Tsunami in Thailand. Words cannot express our feelings
and the depth of sympathy we feel for you at this time.
John was a member of the same running group I belonged to known as
the ‘Farts’, although most of the time I was running with John I only
saw him at the beginning of a race because he was much faster than me or
indeed most of us. At our last regular Wednesday night meeting we all
remembered John and held a short period of silence in respect of him and
his children and to think of you. Several said a few words about the
quiet, helpful and kind man that was John. He will be greatly missed by
us all. Enclosed is a card signed by those who knew John. He was a very
good runner as I am sure you know and to help you remember this part of
his life enclosed are a few photos taken of him at club races and the
London Marathon.
I am sure at this stage it is difficult for you to see beyond the
terrible feeling of loss you must have. But if at any time in the future
you are ever in the UK and wish to visit our club to talk to some of
John’s fellow runners and friends you would be very welcome. You may
care to visit our website at
www.bandhac.co.uk where several members have said a few words
about John.
Thinking of you at this time
Kindest regards
Stephen Hollingdale
hollingdale.s@ntlworld.com
|
|
10-01-05
It is with great sadness that, seeking results for the
recent Kent Championships on the website, I learnt of the tragic death of
John. Although not part of the regular Wednesday night group, John and I
were increasingly regular sparring partners for positions in Mob Matches,
with a sporting handshake at the end of the race to whomever had finished in
front.
Having returned from Bangkok from a business trip just
before Christmas, I was particularly shocked by the scale of the disaster
and the personal tragedies each loss meant to everyone involved.
To his wife, in the particularly tragic loss of her
husband and children, I would like to extend the same hand in deepest
sympathy, as I did in sportsmanship to John so often in races.
John Beck |
|
9-01-05
What a sad week it has been. As the tragedy unfolded in
the wake of the tsunami, it has really hit home with the terrible news of
John and his family. On a personal basis, I found John to be a genuine,
friendly and caring family man. We had a couple of kids about the same age
and he was always interested in what was going on in our lives. He as indeed
a proud father who wanted to do the best for his family.
I recall congratulating John on his 2-45 marathon in
Abingdon about 5years ago and his was very modest about it and unassuming
but that was "little John".
Back in the summer of 2003 whilst running around High
Elms, John told me of his plans to move back to Bangkok for a couple of
years so to be near Nims family and then come back to the UK for the kids
secondary education. He was obviously looking forward to it. I expected to
see him appear again on a Weds night this coming summer but that is not to
be, and as we consider the fragility of life, prayer for Nim and Johns
parents that they may find some comfort in their time of distress.
Bernie Bater |
|
8-01-05
I'm so sorry to hear about John & his family, its
absolutely tragic, what we've all heard about in the past 2 weeks, but this
now brings it close to home.
He was a kind, quiet, gentle, unspoken man, of few
words, he had done very well in those handicap races and I'm sure managed to
get quite a few points in the mob matches.
I remember him very well; joining us rowdy lot at our
corner table and feel so sorry for his wife and how she's been left without
him or their children.
He spoke to me with great encouragement & support
during the early days of my little baby girl Grace, saying that he lived for
his wife & children and all that they meant to him.
Our thoughts are with his wife & can only hope for her
sake that there will be some news.
Jonathan Brown |
|
6-01-05
I read in today's Times - page 11 - that John Hoy, a club
member, is missing in Thailand. The report says a son and daughter are
confirmed dead and John and another son are missing leaving only his Thai
wife as surviving. John worked for the International Development Dept and
had been based in Bangkok for a couple of years. John was a regular member
of the Wednesday nighters 'farts' group.
I shall
try through contacts at DFID in London to get more info.
Stephen Hollingdale
I have made contact with someone in DFID Uk who is
collecting messages of condolence. I shall get a card which I shall bring to
Committee on Monday and next Wednesday for members to sign. Both the Metro
and the Independent feature pictures of John and his family.
Stephen |
|
6-01-05
I do not know if you have seen the Independent today, but
their front page spread carries the sad news that John Hoy is missing,
presumed killed by the Tsunami. It's a tragic tale with only his wife, Nim,
known to survive. His two youngest children are already confirmed dead and
his oldest child is missing along with John.
I am sorry to be the bearer of this news. As you know,
John was a regular Wednesday nighter until he moved to the Far East to work.
I am particularly saddened because he was a member of the "Farts" and was so
popular with everyone at the club with whom he came into contact.
Regards.
Rob Brown
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These photos are from Pat Calnan
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