The Tom Love Trust

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Tom was a free and independent spirit. He was constantly curious and fascinated about the world, meeting people and chatting with everyone! He knew early on that a conventional path in life was not for him - the thought of sitting at a desk everyday horrified him!

At the age of 17 he (secretly) applied to the Army Officer Selection Board for entry to Sandhurst. Against his own expectations he passed and was advised to work and travel a bit before taking up his place. He hit on an idea to motorbike around the Africa on his Honda CRF 250, all paid for by his work during Covid.

Tom set off from home in early September 2021, determined to start his journey before he turned 20. He travelled through more than two dozen countries, all on his own (though met some great friends for parts of the journey). He relished the experience, and the stories he collected would have made an amazing book! He camped at the side of the road in nearly every country. He was shot at by an overzealous police officer in Cameroon, crossed rivers with his bike balanced precariously in wooden canoes,  was arrested in Angola for spurious immigration offences, escaped a presidential coup by minutes in Guinea Bissau, talked his way through borders otherwise closed by covid restrictions.

On his way through Africa he very often found himself being adopted by total strangers, simply by his nature of being open to new experiences, saying “yes” much more often than saying “no”. Whether being taken in by an octogenarian French expat lady in Sierra Leone who, after living in Wakefield for two years in the 1960s still spoke English with a Yorkshire accent, or falling in with a group of plantation managers along the west coast of Africa who all wanted to meet this mad Englishman on his journey south through their different countries, to a French family in Guinea Bissau with whom meant to stay for a couple of nights, and ended up staying a month partly because their young daughters refused to let him leave until they’d had their birthday with him.

To fund the next part of his trip, he got a job driving tractors on a farm in DRC that was aiming to relieve some of the dependence on imports that citizens there have. This was a dream job for Tom - he loved the idea of working hard to help others. He was wrapping up his contract and planning to ride down to Cape Town for Christmas to meet up with Jaz and her family.  Unfortunately he had contracted an infectious disease there which went undiagnosed until it was too late. Tom passed away on 2nd December 2022.  He is missed every single day by all who loved him.