Remembering Aubrey John Isles

Every Wednesday for the past six or seven years, my iPhone Calendar has pinged a reminder “Send standalone update to John Isles”

Unfortunately March this year was the last time this was required as John (or to precise Aubrey John Isles of Torquay) passed away aged 79 on 31st March in Torbay Hospital, Torquay after a short illness.

Most of the recipients of this update will not have known John as due to long distance, he was rarely in Leeds once our reclamation publicly commenced in April 2019.

However, John was one of our original Trustees and his direction and knowledge were indispensable during the 18 months in 2017 and 2018 whilst the purchase of the Rehoboth was being planned and negotiated, prior to and after the insolvency of the company (Sherlock Homes) that owned the Rehoboth.

In particular, I will always remember being instructed by John, (and it was a command) to prove that the body and insolvency practitioners we were dealing with actually did own the Rehoboth and had the authority to sell it to our planned charity – bit of a challenging conversation, but without John’s commands it would have been a lot harder to complete the purchase.

John’s ashes have been placed with his wife, Jean, in Torquay.

Our meeting place with John was the now long-gone Marks & Spencer’s café at Owlcotes, but they probably don’t allow plaques, so on Sunday 28th June 2026 we placed a plaque at the Rehoboth, next to Eric Jarvis in memory of John.