John Stokes – 1997

From the Coastwatch Vault this John Charlton surfer from June 1997 was on his very good mate, kneeboarder, John Stokes. “Stokesy” had a long career in radio, helping to launch ABC Coast FM on the Gold Coast in the mid-1980s, before moving to the Sunshine Coast studios in 1993. He fought hodgkin’s lymphoma for quite a while before he lost his battle with it in October 2014. He was much loved by the surfing community and we at Coastwatch are proud that his family and close friends asked for this story to be shown at his funeral.