Grieving relatives’ tribute to skiers killed in avalanche
THE family of a mother and son killed when they were buried by an avalanche while skiing in the French Alps have said they are “beyond heartbroken”.
Kate Vokes, the 54-year-old scion of one of Britain’s most successful property development businesses, and her son Archie, 22, were hit by the avalanche as it swept down an off-piste part of the Saint-gervais-les-bains resort near Mont Blanc last Thursday.
Yesterday, a family spokesman said: “We are beyond heartbroken at the loss of our beloved, wonderful Kate and Archie ... words cannot express how terrible we all feel nor the hole in our lives left by this tragic accident.”
Mrs Vokes was the daughter of Michael Oglesby, a property tycoon who died in 2019 having set up a business described as the “driving force in the resurgence of Manchester and Liverpool”. He had created the Bruntwood group in 1976, which owns a fifth of Manchester’s commercial office space.
Its portfolio includes 120 buildings in Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham and covers 9,000,000sq ft and is valued at more than £1 billion.
The avalanche struck near Chamonix where his daughter and grandson were skiing with three other family members and a freelance ski instructor, whom they were understood to have known for a number of years. The other family members were understood to include Mrs Voke’s husband, Philip, who survived but was said to have witnessed the avalanche hitting his wife and son.
All of the skiers were said to be experienced and out at a time when the avalanche risk was classified as “remote”.
No one in the family was wearing an avalanche transceiver, which emits a signal that can be detected if buried in ‘Words cannot express how terrible we all feel nor the hole in our lives left by this tragic accident’ snow, and 30 rescuers with dogs, a medical support team and two helicopters spent five hours scouring the area before the bodies were found.
Another skier, reportedly the instructor, was injured and a hiker was killed in a separate area after the avalanche, which may have been caused by skiers further up the slope. The Bonneville public prosecutor’s office was said to have launched a police investigation amid claims two cross-country skiers were moving above the family group and may have triggered the avalanche.
Mrs Vokes had a long history of supporting the arts and youth projects in the North West. She was the chairman of trustees of the Oglesby Charitable Trust, a Manchester-based organisation set up by her father that donates around £3.5million a year to help to create “thriving communities”. She was also deputy chairman of the Royal Exchange Theatre and a trustee of the charities Shared Health and Focused Care.
Her son, one of two boys, was a personal trainer from Manchester who achieved his level 1 ski instructor qualification in Canada.
His grandfather made his fortune in the 1970s and 1980s when he took advantage of Manchester’s failing economy and identified vacant buildings that were once part of the cotton and engineering industry. Bruntwood developed them for the financial, media and technology sectors, helping the city become a cultural and business hub.
He was awarded the CBE in 2011 for his services to industry and charity. His son, Chris, succeeded him as chief executive of Bruntwood in 1998.
Mrs Vokes was a non-executive director at Bruntwood and had worked in retail and marketing before obtaining an MBA and moving into management consultancy. Her father, who died aged 80, was survived by his wife, Jean, who chaired the governors of the Royal Northern College of Music.