Fond memories of Frankie1517- Andrew Luckley

[Purple Paris]

It is with great sadness that I am posting this thread, and some incredulity.
Andrew Luckley, known on here as Frankie1517, passed away on thursday. I am his girlfriend and at the time we were in Scotland climbing mountains- Andrew's second passion behind airguns. It had been gorgeous sunny weather, but that day there was heavy rain and thunderstorms. Andrew and I had parted ways at the top of a mountain as he was determined to go ahead and climb another, whereas I went back down alone. He said he would meet me at our tent. He was trying to climb down the side of a waterfall and we assume he must have slipped. Well he had multiple injuries and apparently it was instant, so I can take comfort from the fact that he wasn't in any pain.

Andrew absolutely loved his airguns- at times he drove me mad talking about them. But it's nice to think he had a hobby that brought him so much happiness. He was a member of both Woodview and Thorndell shooting clubs, and loved going there as often as he could. He snuck me into Thorndell once and we spent a lovely sunny january afternoon going round the course! He let me shoot his airwolf MVT while he used his steyr, brand new at the time and much loved by him. I'm glad I got that insight into the sport and what it meant to him.

Some of you may know that Andrew had just won the GP 5 at Dunfermline on the sunday before it happened; his second ever GP. It made him the happiest I had seen him in months! He was so shocked, so pleased, so proud of himself and he didn't stop talking about it in the following days. on holiday he was constantly using my phone to check the internet and ask "am i famous yet?" -joking of course because he was always so modest. Of his win he said, well every dog has it's day. I don't think he realised how good he actually was.

I don't know how many people on here knew Andrew in real life, but he loved the BBS and spent many a night sat on his laptop reading all the threads. Which to be honest used to piss me off at times because he was so obssessed by it! If anybody feels they would like to attend the funeral, it is going to be on Weds 15th July, 1pm, at Carlisle Cemetary, followed by a wake at the nearby Cumbria Park Hotel. Both me and his family would love anybody who knew Andrew to attend if they wished. I know it's hard though as most of his friends were in the north east, whereas Andrew himself was from Carlisle originally.

Please feel free to share on here any memories you have of Andrew. I will pass them onto his family; his sister especially would love to hear them as she would like to collect everyone's different stories and rememberences of her brother. If anybody needs to contact me please feel free to PM me on here and i can give you my contact email/number.

Thanks everyone,

Paris

[TURIN TURAMBAR]

Dear Paris

You already know my thoughts and sadness following your initial pm to me what seems like days ago now. I cannot fully put into words how I feel about the loss of him to you, his family, his friends - both at Woodview and Thorndell and beyond. The word and incredulity is spreading about the passing of such a fine and self effacing human being, the loss of a fun loving person I was proud to call a friend and honoured to be so regarded by him.

His being taken from us has haunted me for days as my shooting buddies at both clubs will attest. Gerard Costello and I have spoken at length about our loss.

I will post separately about the shoot we propose to have at Woodview for Andrew - the wearer of weird hats - the inimitable Talented Mr Ripley!

With great sadness

[mand]

Hi Paris
I must have been very hard for you to put up this post, and thank you for doing so. Also many thanks for letting Andrew enjoy this hobby of ours as he had already made friends and left his mark in a relatively short space of time.
I have posted on the AA forum about Andrew - hope you have read it and can pass my feelings/memories of him on to his family as well.
I am not far from you, so if there is anything that I can help with feel free to p.m me on here.

Very saddened
Mand

[TREV RYN]

yes very sad news indeed, so sad my thoughts are with his family and freinds you are in my prayers

im going to start a collection for andrew at byley this weekend and also at emleys gp, or you can send donations to me , and they will be passed on to his family

rip andrew

trev ryn
nefta seretary

[RobF]

I had only met him as me and Rich finished trying to work out what had gone wrong for us on the course at Dunfermline, and we walked up just as he was finishing his last shot to hold his 47 ex 50. He was modest, and we had to convince him that he stood in very good stead to hold the winning score across the day, having beaten Andy Calpin into 2nd place in the morning, on what was one of the toughest courses of the season to date.

Barely seconds after knocking over the last target for his win, he was up on his feet asking me about how to set up a website for a club.

He was one of those people you meet that you had an instant rapport with, keen and energetic, and with an obvious passion for his interests.

I was deeply shocked to hear of Andrew's passing.

There's a thread running here as well...

[delta1]

Please accept the condolences of the AirgunBBS Admin/Moderation team.

Sorry to hear of Andrews passing.

Richard.

[Rocket launcher]

Come off my holiday and this has
hit me like a bombshell

My last memory i have of Andrew was at Woodview

i had a few shots of his ultra with a strange home made stock which was his own work!!!! i commented if he could shoot that thing you will be good with a proper gun

then he got the good gun out his styer and a big cushion nearly as big as his hat


Andrew was on about how good his styer was that he hadnt touched the MFR since getting it and he wanted to do a few competitions

Andrew sat there practicing but wasn,t too sure of his groupings with all the differant pellets he was using

then Psycho got out his super styer
told Andrew his pellets were not very good for the gun and gave him some of his

Andrew tried Psychos crossman premiers and his face lit up as his groupings improved instantly

they then had a shoot off out to 80 yards i wont say who won but it was close

20mm groupings at 80 yards shows how good Andrew was at shooting and this shoot off was a pleasure to watch

Andrew sitting on the big cushion
Psycho mouning it was beginners luck

it ended with Psycho saying he shouldnt have given Andrew the pellets
as he had lost his edge, And his gun must be broken
then it was smiles all around

RIP
Andrew
a stolen Friend