We knew something was wrong when Charlie never got in touch after we sent him his 2026 Telegraph Pole Appreciation calendar. And despite several emails and online searches I only found out today that Charlie had, in fact, died in hospital.
Charlie Warmington is a long-standing friend of this society. He totally understood what we are about and often used his weekly “Roamer” column in the Belfast Newsletter to extoll our virtuous appreciation of all things tall wooden, sticky-uppy with wires coming out of the top.
He had a writer’s nose for the quirkier side of life, and off-beat human stories were a staple of his missives from the Belfast front. But his own career is long and varied having started out studying architecture he moved into journalism working through the BBC TV & radio and his keen sense of humour saw him write successful satirical shows for theatre, TV and radio.
It was as Roamer that I knew him and we often exchanged phone calls, his mellifluous Fermanagh accent could melt chocolate in my own pantry over here in Wales. He was charming, funny, warm and fascinating. My stories paled in comparison to his own and his back story is worthy of some research. I remain ever grateful to Charlie for the many plugs about our obscure and whimsical selves to the good readers of Ulster. I’m further grateful that, only last year, Charlie published my own article about the Welsh new year tradition of Mari Lwyd to this same audience.
Carry on Roaming Charlie
