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Kevin Howarth 1957 – 2017
Kevin was the only son of Ada & George Edward (Ted) Howarth and grew up in Townfields, Sandbach where his first job as a paperboy saw his acumen come to the fore when he found it quicker to hurl newspapers at front doors, much to the consternation and complaints of the recipients about “that ginger lad”.
After attending Sandbach Secondary Modern School he gained an apprenticeship at ICL, Winsford in 1974 where he learnt his trade of Electronics Engineer until moving to RHM as a Service Engineer in 1982. When they closed, he moved to a similar role at Philips.
He then joined Gandalf where he quickly moved through the ranks to become a top performing Sales Manager and a member of the Presidents Club where he reaped the rewards of his labours with awards of holidays abroad. Next Kevin was part of a management buyout of Logitek, he then set up the business division Vitec. It was during this buyout that he met his beautiful wife Karen. After selling out Kevin spent a short time at Accoda after which he set up his own company Network Extender Technologies which he ran until the present day and had a reputation second to none.
During this time in Kevin’s family life two daughters came along Victoria & Emily of whom he and his wife Karen were extremely proud. Victoria married Jack and added Matilda to the family, a granddaughter who Kevin doted on and who now knows that “Pops” has gone to the stars. Even though Kevin’s family were at the forefront of his life, he had two other passions – his beloved Manchester City Football Club whose every move he followed, along with shooting, game and clay.
Over the last three years Kevin volunteered to help run the Cheshire CPSA and it is fair to say that as Vice Chairman brought a passion and work ethic that put the rest of the committee to shame, his tireless effort resulted in the Cheshire CPSA becoming County Committee of the Year 2017 and raising the bar for other counties to follow.
Kevin loved nothing more than bringing new people into the sport and helping them do well, even giving up his free time to become a qualified coach earlier this year. He relentlessly promoted Clay Shooting and the CPSA and would offer his help regardless of which county you were from, to Kevin everywhere was Cheshire - Wales was West Cheshire, Shropshire & Staffs was South Cheshire, Derbyshire was East Cheshire, but he pushed the boundaries a little when Dorset became South, South Cheshire.
During selection shoots to qualify for the Cheshire Team, which he did on many occasions, he always let the selectors know that he had a reliable car which was always full of fuel ready for any trip just in case they needed a nudge!
Kevin did everything with a passion and sense of humour, even down to his latest foray of ballroom dancing which he and Karen were learning together. During their last outing they nailed the Foxtrot and were now eagerly awaiting their call from Strictly Come Dancing. Sadly Kevin left us before the call came.
Kevin will be greatly missed by his family and friends and will always be in our thoughts, he leaves a huge void in our lives.
Our hearts go out to his family Ted, Karen, Victoria, Jack, Matilda and Emily.
The funeral will be held at St.Peters Church, School Lane, Elworth, CW11 3HU at 12.30pm on Wed 1st Nov 2017 and all are welcome at the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Sandbach afterwards. Black dress is not required, smart casual or whatever you feel fabulous in.