A tribute to CURLZ

[Lake]

Many kind words have been said about Kevin Thurlow or CURLZ as most of us referred to him as and justifiably so.He was also known as “Curly in cloggy” which came about for two reasons. He worked for a number of years in Holland and did on occasions go to games in clogs much to everyone`s amusement.

He was born and brought up in Middlesbrough and often referred to himself as a smoggy and was proud of it. He had a soft spot for Middlesbrough but Luton was his first love and that love coursed through his veins.

He was quite an extraordinary man, he was given three months to live at the end of April an was determined to go down fighting and oh how he did. His first ambitious deadline was to see us promoted, and he did so by attending Wembley for the final whilst filmed celebrating as promotion was confirmed.

The next deadline was to see us play in the Premier and he achieved that at Brighton,deadline number three was to see us win in the Premier and that he did at Everton.

The final deadline was for him was to celebrate Christmas but sadly, despite his bravery and determination his body succumbed to the dreadful illness but had doubled his life expectancy

Despite his severe suffering, he maintained a cheery demeanour throughout without complaining at all rather accepting his fate.

His personality embodied generosity of spirit and kindness, and he lived life to the full particularly enjoying the company of his friends of which he had many.

He was an integral part of the Fool with his opinions and Bobberman predictions and as such his name will be forever visible on the site.

Rest in peace humble warrior.

[bms]

Thanks Lake, a fitting tribute to a real Hatter and a contributor to both this forum and its predecessor. Both Shatter and I raised post match pints of Guinness in his honour on Saturday.
He was the first (and almost certainly the last) ‘Fool’ to greet me with a slobbery kiss many years ago at a Gateshead game! A lovely bloke - RIP Kevin.

[hatter28]

Lovely bloke and a fitting tribute.

I bumped into him at the Sunderland  National Express.Cosch Stdtion after the Sunderland away play-off leg.

He told me then about his diagnosis and indeed was taking morphine on the coach.

We stopped for a break at Leeds Coach Station and I said I would buy us both some sandwiches for lunch. He said 'I'll buy the coffees then."

I replied "I'll buy you a coffee as well you silly old sod.".He slept for some of the journey and reminisced for the rest of it.

I gave him a hug as he got off at MK and he messaged me later to say he was in the pub in Stopsley drinking bloody Mary's.

That was last time I saw him but did keep in touch by text. One of the last one he sent to me he'd just been to Great Yarmouth races for the day.

I messaged him Saturday morning as hadn't heard from him for a while, but sadly he'll never have seen it.

RIP Curlz, a truly lovely man and character.

[LTFCMick]

Excellent Lake, that little tribute has brought genuine tears to my eyes,

He really was an extraordinary man who lived his life to the full, gone but not forgotten is a well spouted cliche, but in Curlz’s case it’s definitely not a cliche.

The pain and suffering is finally over,

Rest in Peace Curlz.

[humblehatter]

Great tribute Lake. It is morning here, and I logged in for the first time in a couple of days.
What horrible news to wake up to!

I remember meeting Curlz for the first time here in Melbourne, outside the Young & Jacksons Hotel.
He greeted me, as I am sure he has greeted many, "hello, Bonny Lad".
We had a couple of beers and a great chat. After only a few minutes it seemed like we had known each other years.
Zena and I had the pleasure of his company as he stayed with us for a few days. Lots of great laughs and conversations.
He was always there to greet us when we visited the UK and attended a game.
An amazing character. We both loved him. We will miss him.
RIP Bonny Lad, it was indeed a pleasure to know you.

[ikjp1]

My memories of Curlz.
One of life's characters a true hatter, who had his share of tragedy in life, I first met him in 2012 when someone organised a 606 meet up in the Brickies. My memory is shocking but another character I met for the first time there was that old chap from Norwich, who's name cannot be posted. , these two immediately hit it off. The Insane pig, I don't think was there but can't be sure, another there was Happy Hatter who I have never heard of since.
My abiding memory of Curlz is when Alan Adair RIP put myself and Curlz in a double room on his Hyde, Blackpool weekend, unlimited free alcohol.
On Friday night, I went to bed at about midnight, at about 3-30am I was woken up by Curlz arriving home from the Soul Suite where he and Al had been enjoying themselves, needless to say that was the end of my nights sleep, his snoring was legendary.
The following night, Saturday, the same thing but I had sussed out a sofa in one of the bars, he lived the weekend like he did his life, to the full.

Earlier this year I was shocked when he said he was having his "last" drink with his friends in the Leicester Arms before Hull, our last game of the season.
The man was amazing that day the way he accepted his fate, his cheerfulness in the circumstances.
Thankfully he lived to see our success.

Curlz was man who lived life in his own way, and Curlz was a man who died in his own way.
I'm glad I knew you Curlz.
RIP Kevin.

[Wimbo]

Curlz was quite a unique character; a proud yet very caring man. He had his share of difficulties in his life and I will always remember the loss of his son who died tragically in Thailand. As was his way, he then made a trip to Thailand to visit the scene of the accident & try to gain some closure; all fairly quietly done by the brave man.

I greatly enjoyed his company, his humour, his endless speculation of who may be joining the playing staff at Luton. His spirit was so positive and that applied to his battle with cancer. Eventually, when no more medical intervention could be offered for his illness, he accepted his fate yet at the same time was determined to last longer than his doctors predicted and also as others have said, meet as many stretching targets as he could with his beloved Luton: what strength and determination he showed.

As he was a lad from the North East, football was in the family blood & indeed his dad was at one time on the books of Stoke City. I remember asking Curlz “how come you support Luton”. He answered that a long time ago he was watching the scores come through on TV and there was Luton’s score, I think he said we scored 6 or something like that caught his eye and he said “That’s the team for me”.

I met up with Curlz lots of times from the Conference days right up to his farewell drink at the Leicester Arms and even on that day, what wonderful spirit & bravery he showed; he was so delighted that so many people had come along to be with him.

For sure I will miss our friend Curlz, a very kind caring man whose company I genuinely enjoyed.

RIP Curlz

[hatterinSW19]

I've been mulling this over today and consequently recalling a lot of non-league awaydays. Including:

- Completely ridiculously, going to a Tuesday night FA Cup 1st Round replay at Nuneaton (which Stevo talked me into on the promise of a lift back to Luton). LTFCMick was to provide the lift and had gathered a car-full of us; Curlz, who was also there and on crutches, decided he was coming too and with his limited mobility obviously went in the front, leaving 4 of us squashed in the back all the way to Milton Keynes.

- Norwich away in the Cup: I got my ticket from the ticket office in the normal way, Curlz being Curlz, and not a season-ticket holder at the time, got one from Gary Sweet, but it turned out we were next to each other. We said maybe it was a sign, and it was...

- He and I both getting a lift back from Braintree as far as Luton with Lutonloyal. That was the night when John Still nearly asked Dagenham to take him back, and even with those 2 chatterboxes in the car it was a pretty quiet journey...

- Gateshead away at Carlisle, along with a fair few other stalwarts, sitting in glorious sun in the Beehive pub before things went downhill once the football started. I walked back to the station with Curlz, both a little stunned by the scoreline. He was fortunately only travelling back to Middlesbrough that day though, whilst I had to contend with a replacement bus from Oxenholme to Preston.

I realise these are all from the 2012-13 season, in Curlz's away games heyday. It was times with friends that made that season memorable, as the football certainly didn't.

With LTFC back in the football league, finances and ill-health curtailed his away attendances quite a bit, but he had his season ticket, and many post-match hours were spent in the Bobbers Club analysing our latest win (we did win a lot in those days) and generally putting the world to rights.

Curlz certainly lived his LTFC life to the full after his terminal diagnosis, starting off with one of the Fool places at the end-of-season dinner. Then Sunderland away, then Wembley.

Coming out of the Amex after Brighton away, I spotted a pair of orange clogs and a walking frame. We sat on a seat for quite a while waiting in vain for the train chaos to sort itself out and he described his "coffin outfit" which he was planning to organise the following week. I hope he managed to, as it sounded very dapper.

The last time I saw Curlz was at Everton, where he was sitting a few rows in front of me and we had a celebratory hug at the end of the game. Someone had sat on his hand, so he was off to the first aid room to be patched up, but the important thing was that he was there for our first PL win.

I'll miss so much his texts asking for my assessment of a game he hadn't been at, or some obscure LTFC fact he was confident I would know, and his relentless optimism about the Hatters, but most of all his resilience in the face of all life threw at him, and his warm friendship.

[Lake]

Superb Dawn.

[Lake]

Oct 31, 2023 18:21:19 GMT Wimbo said:

Curlz was quite a unique character; a proud yet very caring man. He had his share of difficulties in his life and I will always remember the loss of his son who died tragically in Thailand. As was his way, he then made a trip to Thailand to visit the scene of the accident & try to gain some closure; all fairly quietly done by the brave man.

I greatly enjoyed his company, his humour, his endless speculation of who may be joining the playing staff at Luton. His spirit was so positive and that applied to his battle with cancer. Eventually, when no more medical intervention could be offered for his illness, he accepted his fate yet at the same time was determined to last longer than his doctors predicted and also as others have said, meet as many stretching targets as he could with his beloved Luton: what strength and determination he showed.

As he was a lad from the North East, football was in the family blood & indeed his dad was at one time on the books of Stoke City. I remember asking Curlz “how come you support Luton”. He answered that a long time ago he was watching the scores come through on TV and there was Luton’s score, I think he said we scored 6 or something like that caught his eye and he said “That’s the team for me”.

I met up with Curlz lots of times from the Conference days right up to his farewell drink at the Leicester Arms and even on that day, what wonderful spirit & bravery he showed; he was so delighted that so many people had come along to be with him.

For sure I will miss our friend Curlz, a very kind caring man whose company I genuinely enjoyed.

RIP Curlz

Lovely stuff Bill.

[shatter2]

Thanks Bill, Dawn and others what a man who I was glad to have known.
I first met Curlz in the York City supporters club before a Luton away game, God knows how we both managed to get admission but we did!
The second time was at Carlisle I walked to the ground with him may well have been the Gateshead match?
At the Leicester Arms for the "farewell" drink he gave me his credit card and I bought a pint of Guinness for myself, returning to the table I raised my glass and wished him good health, he laughed like hell saying he'd rather have tongue in cheek humour than sympathy! I hope when my time comes I can show half the bravery that he showed.

[Lake]

Oct 31, 2023 21:28:34 GMT shatter2 said:

Thanks Bill, Dawn and others what a man who I was glad to have known.
I first met Curlz in the York City supporters club before a Luton away game, God knows how we both managed to get admission but we did!
The second time was at Carlisle I walked to the ground with him may well have been the Gateshead match?
At the Leicester Arms for the "farewell" drink he gave me his credit card and I bought a pint of Guinness for myself, returning to the table I raised my glass and wished him good health, he laughed like hell saying he'd rather have tongue in cheek humour than sympathy! I hope when my time comes I can show half the bravery that he showed.

Well said Steve.

[Lake]

Thanks 8two for your artwork.

[humblehatter]

A photo taken on Friday evening August 17 2012 in Hyde.
Spike, Curlz and Richard
At a pub having a beer before the Hyde 1  Luton 2 game.
Great night.   First time I had met Spike, what a gem of a bloke.
We had a great night together.

It was later that trip that Curlz assisted in the meeting at the Brickies for people to meet Melbourne Hatter.
It was there I met IKJP, Stevo, IronMan, Hatter 28, Hatter in SW19, LTFC Mick, Crumps, and others too many to mention.
It was a fantastic trip - actually got to see 3 games.
Met some amazing people, Spike and Curlz very near, if not, on top of the list.....

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[rutlandhatter]

Jess and I first met Curlz at the Lansdowne and last saw chatted with him at the Leicester Arms for his farewell drink. We didn't know him as well as some of you guys but still miss him. When we saw him fairly recently trying to get to Kenilworth Road on his crutches (the taxi had dropped him off at the then new match day road barriers) he was the same cheery Curlz. I never dreamt it would be the last time we saw him. RIP Bonny Lad.