Page 157 - Mind, Body and Spirit 2015-16

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Ex WO1 (SMI) BRIAN STEAD
11th February 1935 – 7th December 2015
By Terry Goulding
Brian Stead was born on Mon 11 Feb
1935 to mill workers, John & Helen
Stead. To his mum‘s dismay, his father
had him christened Richard; but his
mum quickly recti ed this by having
him registered as Brian. They decided
not to bother with a middle name! All
his older siblings are deceased, except for his sister Maureen who remained close to him throughout his life.
He grew up in School Lane, Bamber Bridge, that’s near Preston; money was scarce and times were hard, but he was proud of his working class roots. He excelled at school, loved reading and won a scholarship to Preston Catholic College.
A keen sportsman, he won the school cross country and a small cash prize, which he used to buy a book and some feed for his Dad’s chickens. The following year he won again, and given a book voucher; so he went out and bought a book about chickens! He eventually created his personal income source, by collecting his dad’s chicken’s eggs and selling them back to his mother.
One summer’s day, his father gave him money to get his haircut, but Brian went to the cinema with friends instead; a punishment his dad shaved his head and Brian had to wear a balaclava until his hair grew again. Obviously, his father was very strict; if he said Brian should be home by a certain time and he failed the door was locked. His sister Maureen always left her window open so Brian could, at least, climb in and get to bed. Maureen remembers the times that when she was out ‘pubbing and clubbing’ and the number of times Brian risked serious trouble by discretely waiting outside the establishment until it was time to escort her home safely.
Before joining the army, Brian worked in the of ces of Ribble Motors then in the laboratory for the British Tyre and Rubber Company. After he had been called up for National Service, he served with the RAC and Lifeguards from 28th May 1953 to 19th June 1955 and served two months in BAOR and 16 months in Middle East Land Forces with them. During this time, he did his AIs (PTI 3) course in March 1954.
On his discharge, he struggled to settle, so after some time doing nothing he realised that his future lay with the military. So he re-joined into the household cavalry and attended his Advanced Course in September 1956 and continued to the Probationers course in January 1957. On obtaining APTC status, he served in many places including Germany, Kenya, Belgium and UK signi cantly York, working his way up the promotion ladder from SI to SMI.
Brian served as an APTC Instructor in Kenya with the 1st Stafford’s based at Kahawa Barracks in Nairobi. The Regiment was part of the Peace Troops In 1962 when the withdrawal of British troops was imminent; much of the time was spent chasing ‘Mau Mau’ up to and into Mount Kilimanjaro crater area.
At Kahawa Barracks, where the battalion stayed; Brian was in charge of the swimming pool, a large gymnasium complex and a multitude of sports pitches. He also ran various inter Regiment competitions, which included Regiments from the African Ri es. Work included Adventurous Training and he had an aim of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.
Brian researched the origins of Mounts Kenya and Kilimanjaro, before their ascents. He was also astounded to nd out that Mount Kilimanjaro was once in Kenya. Apparently Queen Victoria realised that Tanganyika (then a German colony) did not have a high mountain while Kenya had two. She then had the border redrawn to allow her cousin, the Kaiser, to have one as well - maybe tongue in cheek or was it?
Brian had a setback in that he injured his knee playing football, which exacerbated an initial injury at a PT display in Brecon during his short-lived gymnastic career (sic). However, he was still determined to attempt the climb. He was fortunate to convalesce in a small hotel adjacent to the mountain route where most civilian trekkers stayed. His advance party was made welcome; one of the troops had a guitar, which made them all feel at home. One American lady had set a goal of hitting a golf ball on the top.
When the main party arrived, off they went accompanied by the private party. The military shouldered their heavy packs full of army compo. They made real progress in the warm air, but it soon became evident that two groups had formed. The elephants (Brian’s Group) took a more leisurely pace while the gazelles, who set off with civilians because they had porters carrying their loads, set off to reach the last hut in record time. But on the route, some of the military and civilian gazelles, including the American women, had to turn back as the higher altitude beat them. Brian liberated the bat (small, golf club) and ball and promised to return the iron on completion of the task.
During the night, they set off on the nal climb to the summit, so they could enjoy the view as the sun rose, a promise made by Brian, which never materialised. ‘The roof of Africa’ was in a sea of mist. Any chance of seeing anything within the crater (or any attempt at discovering King Solomon’s Treasure) was not to be. By now the all-conquering lumbering elephants had become the gazelles, continuing without breaks to the bottom in one day. They had caught up with the other party still suffering with altitude sickness.
Just after his promotion to CSMI, I rst met up with Brian. He was attending a Refresher course and he helped me out scoring for an ‘Aldershot Warrior’ London League game. Sat next to him as the timekeeper was a man revered in his country and regarded around the world as having been one of the greatest athletes of all time; two-time gold medallist Kipchoge ‘Kip’ Keino. Naturally Brian hogged the limelight spending most of the time chatting, so I gave them each a Technical Foul.
But his most notable achievement was just after promotion to QMSI. He was posted as the Chief Sports Of cer at the NATO HQ in Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers of Europe (SHAPE), Belgium, in January 1974 until August 1975. Here, he was highly commended for his efforts and ethical development of the sports programme. He also helped to run the NATO Inter- Country Christmas Basketball against some startling opposition – effectively Olympic sides.
At SHAPE, he was promoted SMI in April 1975 and posted to the then Northern Command School of PT. He retired as an SMI after 23 years and 36 days’ service in July 1976; a little earlier than he expected, due to ill health. Such was his distinguished career that Brigadier Waldram announced that he had done a great deal to uphold the high standards and expertise of the Army and the Corps, which was worthy of a commission in our Corps.
At rst, Brian struggled to overcome his illness, but on receipt of an invite to attend a function in York, where he once held the position of SMI with the Northern Command School of P and RT, he accepted. The Northern Command School of PT had changed to UKLF School Adventurous Training and they were to move to Ripon.