Page 150 - The Chapka 2016
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148 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
 Bill was a much-loved and loving husband to his wife of 58 years, Lini, an adored and respected father of his six children and be- loved Opi to his grand and great-grandchildren.
Throughout his illness, Bill stayed positive and fought with great dignity and immense courage. A true and great gentleman
After retiring from the army, Richard became the first CEO of the National Trainers’ Federation – the body which represents racehorse trainers throughout the country. He served the NTF for 11 years under the likes of Michael Pope, Jeremy Hindley and Peter Cundell, a period which he much enjoyed, working from Portman Square and travelling to racecourses the length and breadth of the country. Retiring from the NTF in 1993, he became the first executive training officer of the new Racing and Thoroughbred Breeding Training Board. He was a Director of the Northern Racing College and assisted in running courses at the British Racing School until well after his retirement from full time employment at the age of 67. Richard gave a lot back to the racing industry and he loved it all.
Richard was a keen member of the Worshipful Company of Sad- dlers and was a Serving Brother in the Order of St John. Ever fond of the Regiment and the soldiers he had served with, he at- tended Mons/Moys, Guidon Parades and Officers’ Dinners until ill-health overcame him. He died on 21 December 2015 aged 87. He leaves his wife, Heather, and two children, James and Alexandra.
JRStDM
WO2 C Rycroft BEM
Colin Rycroft passed away unexpect- edly on holiday in Benalmadena, Spain on 3rd December 2016. Colin, originally from Grimsby, joined the Army in 1956 as a Junior Leader and joined the 9/12L in 1958. Colin did several tours of BAOR, stationed in Hohne, Detmold, Osnabruck and Munster, he served in Catterick, Tid- worth and operationally in Aden, Cyprus
and Northern Ireland He left the Army after 24 years in 1982 and moved to Kidderminster where he and Sheila had already pur- chased their first home. Colin met Sheila whilst he was a waiter at a Regimental reunion dinner in Germany and they were mar- ried in 1967.They settled into married life in Osnabruck and they had two children. They would have been married 50 years in September 2017. After the Army, Colin started working for the County Courts as a Bailiff and retired at 62. In his spare time, he was a fishing lake bailiff at a local fishing syndicate pool in Blakedown, he worked here in a voluntary capacity for 35 years. Colin in later years attended the Regimental reunion dinners and thoroughly enjoyed catching up with all his old comrades. Colin and Sheila enjoyed spending their winters abroad on holi- day and had been to Spain for the last three winters and had made many friends who supported Sheila when Colin unexpect- edly was rushed to hospital and died. His funeral was on the 9th January 2017, Sheila and family were overwhelmed to see so many Regimental comrades in attendance and to reminisce about Colin’s exploits and endeavours, which brought comfort to an otherwise sad time and for this Sheila, Sarah and Steven would like to say a huge thank you.
SR-J
The Right Honourable
The Lord Waddington
GCVO PC QC DL
David Charles Waddington was born at Burnley on August 2 1929. Educated at Sedburgh and the University of Oxford, where he read Law, David’s long and dis- tinguished career of service to his country started with a National Service Commis- sion in the 12th Royal Lancers on 6th Oc-
tober 1950. He served in Malaya at the time of the Emergency. Despite only serving for the period of his National Service Da- vid remained a loyal and generous supporter of his regiment un- til he died.
till the end.
CJ
Lieutenant Colonel RJ Mackaness
Richard Mackaness was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy Sand- hurst into 1st King’s Dragoon Guards on 14 July 1949, transferring to the 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers on 1 January 1959.
Early service with KDG included Omagh in Northern Ireland, and Germany. In 1953, Richard volunteered to serve with
 the United Nations Force in Korea as a Staff Captain Q as it was known then. Following Korea, he became Staff Captain (PSO) to the Chief of Staff, Far East Land Forces in Singapore. Fortu- nately he then had a short journey to re-join KDG who had been sent to Ipoh in Malaya in 1956 to take part in counter-insurgen- cy operations during the Emergency. In between operations in the dense jungle there was still opportunity for racing and polo and it was on one of these occasions when Richard met Heather Skinner, a young intelligence officer on the staff, who he was to marry in September 1956.
Following amalgamation with The Queen’s Bays (Second Dragoon Guards) in 1959, Richard transferred to 9th Queen’s Royal Lancers in Detmold becoming Second-in-Command B Squadron until the Regiment moved to Tidworth and then themselves amalgamated with 12th Royal Lancers (Prince of Wales’s) in September 1960.
Service with 9/12L included Northern Ireland (Omagh again, where incidentally his son joined the Regiment almost 30 years after Richard joined the KDG there), Germany and England. In between spells at Regimental Duty, where one of his greatest enjoyments was commanding C Squadron in Osnabruck, Rich- ard served on the staffs of HQ 1 Armoured Division in Verden, HQ RAC in Bielefeld and as MA to General Sir John Hackett, Commander NORTHAG, in Rheindahlen. The years in BAOR, whilst spent training hard and preparing for the war all prayed would never come - prayers tested during the Russian invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 - allowed for much fun as well. Rich- ard, while both at RD and on the Staff, took every opportunity to pursue his love of horses and riding whether it was playing polo, show jumping or hunter-trialling.
Finally leaving the Regiment after a spell as Second in Com- mand in Catterick, Richard variously worked on the staff of 3 Division in Bulford, HQ UKLF in Wilton, and HQ Eastern District in Colchester. His last 2 jobs before leaving the army in 1983 were with the Defence Sales Organisation and with MO3 in the Main Building. Throughout his service Richard had a dread of losing things; a worry traced back to an important trip when, travelling as PA to General Pugh in Singapore, a vital piece of the General’s luggage went missing, to Richard’s dismay and the General’s displeasure. But this loss all those years ago was noth- ing compared to a time later when the leader of his sales team in Malaysia rang to report that the Malaysians had just destroyed one of the Scorpion CVR(T)s on a landmine – ‘just to see what the effect would be’. This was clearly not in the script and a young regimental officer recounts meeting a flustered Richard Mackaness in the MOD in the early ‘80s wondering how to ex- plain a £125K loss to the bean-counters.
  










































































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