Shortly after his 83rd birthday, our founding and honorary member Alfred Hummler passed away. Although he had not been actively involved for several years, he continued to support the association with his ideas and at events. His homemade bread was always a treat.

Rarely has there been a person with such diverse and wide-ranging interests. First and foremost, he was a passionate resident of Ratingen and deeply connected to the town’s local history. He was a member of the “Ratinger Jonges” for over 25 years. He researched the history of the molding sand pits in Ratingen, which he published in two articles in the “Quecke.” Most recently, he was working on an essay about the company where he had learned his trade in Ratingen—the Pulch foundry—which will now serve as his legacy.
Various crafts in the region were his passion: he was particularly interested in blacksmithing, pottery, and woodworking, both in theory and in practice. He carved informational signs and coats of arms and created casting patterns for bronze and cast iron.

He shared his knowledge with interested people during field trips.
On one of his forays, he found a mammoth tooth, which he donated—along with another artifact—to the Neanderthal Museum.

He was an active hunter for decades and a gifted dachshund trainer.

He was also deeply familiar with Japanese art and culture; he had assembled a small collection of Japanese tea ceramics. Club members benefited greatly from his Reiki skills: bruises were nowhere near as bad if Alfred treated them immediately after the injury.

He once willingly revealed a secret of Kyudo in an interview:
“You mustn’t concentrate too much on hitting the target.
You hit the target best when you focus on making one movement after another.”

We will not forget him.

Automatically translated by DeepL