---
category: "8"
changed: "2019-09-09T21:52:59.000Z"
comment_count: "0"
created: "2016-02-02T23:27:00.000Z"
featured_image: "mike_about_1968.jpg"
images: ["barnard_castle_school.jpg","mike_on_safari.jpg","safari_1.jpg","mike_on_safari_2.jpg","mike_linda_1972ish_at_st_tudy_photos.jpg","mike_and_linda_wedding_family_photo.jpg","jon_and_dan_age_5or6.jpg","1966_mike_in_doy_uniform.jpg","jan_and_mike_at_hengar_70s.jpg","doy_late_60s.jpg","safari_photos_3.jpg","mike_dad_at_wedding_1972.jpg","mike_and_christine_wedding.jpg","mike_and_chris_25_years2.jpg","2006_mikes_family_new_year.jpg","jon_dan_and_lucy_at_kathys_wedding.jpeg"]
ix: 16
nid: 48
original_author: "Jan"
path: "content/mikes-story"
title: "Mike's Story - including his big adventure"
type: "article"
uuid: "180cd7cb-cc44-4d55-8de7-f6636ad22d17"
---
Michael Charles Geoffrey Stokoe was born on the 18th May 1954 in Beckenham, south London where his parents were home on leave from Kenya. He returned to Kenya with the family a few months later. The Stokoes were living in Kisii at that time but moved to Kagumo College, Nyeri when Mike was about 3 ..............

#### Youth and Teens

Between 1954 and 1969 Mike was happily part and parcel of the Stokoe family's Kenya story but that came to an end when he was about 15\. He had a difficult transition from his Kenya life to being comfortably and contentedly settled in the UK where he is now.

Mike left Kenya in July 1969 together with his Mum and sisters, Jan and Kathy, while his Dad stayed in Kenya. The female side of the family settled in Cornwall but Mike was enrolled as a boarder at Barnard Castle School in County Durham; it was the opposite end of the country from Cornwall but close to his Dad's side of the family: his Granny and Uncle Don, who was to act 'in loco parentis'. Mike survived Barnard Castle less than a year: hating school, being bullied by pupils and teachers, struggling academically - the school syllabus was so different from the one he had being studying at Duke of York School in Nairobi, he finally left and moved to be with his family in Cornwall. Living at with them at Hengar Manor he became a pupil at the same school as his sister Kathy – Sir James Smith's comprehensive in Camelford.

Mike found life at Sir James Smith's almost as difficult as Barnard Castle. He sometimes refused to get up in the morning so would miss the bus and have to walk to school - a journey of some 6 miles; once he was sent home from school for wearing the wrong colour shirt – another long walk. He gained some respite when the family returned to Kenya for a holiday in the summer of 1971, remaining in Kenya with his Dad while the others returned to the UK.

#### The Big Adventure

During 1971/2 Mike spent a year at Kericho with Stan doing a correspondence course in Maths. Stan also managed to fix him a temporary job with Root and Leakey (photographic) Safaris. Even back in the 70's the safari business was changing from hunting and killing animals to photographing them. This was a dream job for Mike as he had always wanted to be a Game Warden / Park Ranger; he loved wildlife and trips to the game parks and spent much of his childhood studying animal 'spoor' – drawing animal footprints and 'dung'.

Mike's role at Root & Leakey was mainly driving and looking after the 'punters'. He would pick them up in Nairobi and take them to their camp site in the game park, usually the Masai Mara or Tsavo, where he also helped pitch the tents. Mike learned to speak Swahilli, and a bit of Masai, as another of his duties was to drive out to the Masai village to collect the dancers – Masai men, dressed in their warrior regalia, who were highly sought after to entertain the campers after a day's safari .

Sometimes the guests went out on foot to get their animal photographs and Mike was responsible for leading foot safaris through Tsavo National Park: quite a responsibility considering the wild animals they would have encountered, these days they would be accompanied by an Askari with a gun! Mike kept his guests safe but scarily one day he got a bit lost. He didn't let on to anyone in the group, instead - with great presence of mind, he walked them towards the Tsavo River, from where he could follow the river back to the camp site. The river was highlighted by the line of bright green trees along its bank while the rest of the countryside was brown scrub, dotted with a few straggly thorn trees. When they eventually reached the river the safari guests were so hot and tired that they threw themselves into the water, ignorant of the fact that they might be disturbing the crocodiles! Fortunately the crocs were also hot and tired, and asleep further down stream and the party returned to camp unscathed.

#### Cornwall

Sadly this adventurous lifestyle could not last and Mike returned to Cornwall later in 1972\. Now 18 he signed up for a photography course at Plymouth College of Art, staying in student accommodation and returning home to Hengar for holidays. In reality Mike was not suited to an academic career: during the summer holiday from college he got a job at De Lank Quarry in St Breward, just a couple of miles from home. The work involved cutting and polishing large slabs of granite using water jets; the finished granite pieces were (and still are) used as part of the external fascia of banks and posh shops. 

Mike enjoyed the work, the camaraderie and of course the wages, so the photographic course was abandoned and he stayed at De Lank for the next 2 years. As a teenager in Cornwall, Mike had to travel around to find a social life: Camelford, Boscastle, Tintagel and the like. There was no social life at Hengar and not much more in St Tudy or St Breward. Socialising without driving was pretty impossible in Cornwall in the early 70's but luckily Mike passed his driving test first time when he was and he borrowed his Mum's car. He did have a few run-ins with his Mum over use of her car, especially as he kept damaging it !! Somewhere during this period he met Linda.

Linda was a raven haired Cornish girl who was brought up on St Michaels Mount where her father worked for Lord St Leven as a boatman. He drove a boat (an aqua craft) known as “the Duck” across Mounts Bay to Penzance on a daily basis - when the tide was in the Duck was a boat and when the tide was out it became a land vehicle. When they first met Linda was living on the mainland and had a flat in Mousehole - about 50 miles from to St Tudy. They moved in together quite quickly and were married in St Tudy Parish Church in 1973/4\. 

#### Up North

Not long after the wedding Mike was lured northwards again, this time for a house and a career. Stokoe Brothers garage in Loftus, North Yorkshire, was a family business; it was created and managed by Charlie Stokoe with his brother Stan as a silent partner. When Charlie died suddenly in 1972 Stan was still living in Kenya and not in a position to take over the business so he promoted Trevor Harding, Charlie's mechanic and right hand man, to be manager. Stan's family agreed that Mike and Linda could live in Charlie's house and Mike undertook to train as a mechanic on day release and to work in the business with Trevor.

As with so many of Mike's other youthful ventures, this one was short lived, his marriage only lasted a couple of years. Linda moved away but Mike stayed in Loftus, completing his apprenticeship as a motor mechanic and continuing to work at the garage. But that was not the end of Mike's story..  

While working at the garage in Loftus, which is next door to the Police station, the now divorced Mike became friends with the young police sargeant and his wife Christine. As sometimes happens between friends, Mike and Christine fell in love .......... and they eventually married in 1979\. Mike left the garage and went to work in the Cleveland Potash mine where he remained for over 20 years. 

#### At Home in the North

Mike and Christine have now been happily married for 40 years, their Ruby wedding celebrated in 2019\. They actually celebrated ther 25th wedding anniversary in Cyprus, at the same time and place as Mike's Dad - Stan marked his 80th birthday: an opportunity for two great parties in the sunshine. In 2004 Mike and Christine were living in Cyprus having fallen in love with the place on a visit with Stan and Wendy (who spent their winters there). Mike and Christine lived there for 5 years and had a pool cleaning business, before finally moving back to Teeside in about 2007; mainly for health reasons, but they hope to retire back to Cyprus in 2020.  

As well as a 40 year marriage Mike and Christine also have 2 sons - Jonathan who is now 40 and Daniel 35\. Christine originally hails from Carlisle and Mike is now a naturalised 'Northerner' having lived the last 40+years in Teeside, moving between Loftus and Saltburn by Sea where they are currently living.