Page 236 - The Rifles Bugle Autumn 2019

Telford Branch
Telford Branch has had another good year, with an excellent 2018 Summer Social followed by a joint trip, with Shrewsbury Branch, to the Birmingham Military Tattoo in November. It was a great show and better than the Edinburgh Tattoo in the opinion of those who had seen both. We had a good Christmas Draw, organised by Don Budge and our Annual Dinner, in April 2019, was a great
BEST REGARDS TO ALL WHO WORE THE GREEN BERET AND THE SILVER BUGLE!
success, with excellent food and brilliant enter- tainment provided by Dave Challinor. The evening was much enjoyed by all present, including our guests Lt Colonel and Mrs Andrew Trelawny.
Still to come is the Northern Ireland Veterans Association service and lunch at the NMA on 14 Sep followed by the Summer Social on the same day. Branch Secretary Con Myatt has not been well, but we hope that by the time of publishing he will have recovered and be ready to take back responsibility for the branch notes from me! Best regards to all who wore the green beret and the silver bugle!
Doc Halliday Branch Chairman
Obituaries
BAYLEY MBE TD. Major Roy Bayley died, aged 83, at home with his family at Montford Bridge, Shropshire, on 21 April 2019. For some years he had suffered with cancer which he bore with great fortitude.
Roy was educated at Ellesmere College and then at Eaton Hall as an Officer Cadet. He was called up for National Service in 1951 and commissioned in The King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. He served as a Platoon Commander with 1KSLI in Kenya, and saw active service on operations against the Mau Mau. He transferred to 1st Battalion The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in late 1955 serving with the Battalion in Aden, as a Platoon Commander, and in Cyprus as MTO. On completing his National Service in 1956 he read chemistry at Bristol University where he became, inter alia, a much respected President of the Student Union. He also did parachute training whilst a member of the University OTC. After graduating in 1960 he worked for a short period with Fisons before devoting six months to helping his ailing father to run the family business, E J Bayley and Sons. As it turned out he would spend the next forty years transforming the company from one which focussed on farm seeds and rose growing into the thriving Garden Centre on the Shrewsbury by-pass.
Throughout his civilian career Roy gave much of his spare time to the Territorial Army. After one year with 1RHA he joined 4KSLI in 1962, serving as a Platoon Commander and then as Signals Officer. From 1967 to 1972 he held the appointment of OC HQ Company in the Light Infantry Volunteers. Ongoing service with 5LI(V), which included duty as a Watchkeeper with 1st Armoured Division in BAOR, earned him a well-deserved MBE in the 1976 Queen’s Birthday Honours. All the while he served as a Parish Councillor for forty-three years, and spent eight years as a key member of the Shropshire County Council Education and Economic Devel- opment Committee. He was involved in Riding for the Disabled, and in working for the Severn Hospice where he was Director of the Projects and Retail Committee for some twenty years. He was also an active member of the Shrewsbury Rotary Club.
Amid all his work devoted to public and community service Roy enjoyed various pastimes which included hill-walking, mountain trekking in Nepal and elsewhere and flying light aircraft for which he gained a private pilot’s licence. He also put much effort into displaying at the Shrewsbury Flower Show where Bayleys Garden Centre had a large stand in the main marquee for many years. His Army colleagues will long remember him as a loyal and supportive member of the Bligny Officers’ Club.
Roy was naturally modest about his achievements in life, a devoted family man and a most engaging character who will be much missed in Shropshire, not least of all by those who enjoyed his good company on 4KSLI battlefield tours. It was a fitting tribute to him that the Thanksgiving Service for him at Bicton Church on 3 May was so very well attended. We offer our sincere condolences and kind thoughts to his widow, Julie, and to their two daughters, Caroline and Maria. We do hope that they will keep in touch with the Regiment to which Roy gave such long and valuable service.
LARCOMBE. Norman Charles Frederick Larcombe, who died on 22nd June 2019, aged 84, joined 1 KSLI as National Serviceman in January 1955. He served in Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion, where he was, for a time, the CO’s driver.
At the end of his regular service he returned to Bath where he joined 4/5 Som LI in January 1957.
Norman Larcombe’s funeral took place at Taunton Crematorium on 9th July 2019, where the Taunton Branch standard was paraded by Bob Staple.
OSBORNE. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Walter Thomas Osborne died peace- fully, aged 93, at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on 7 May 2019.
Richard was educated at Welling-
borough School (Northants) and then
underwent officer cadet training from
1944 to 1945 at the Indian Military
Academy at Mau Ranipur. He was
subsequently commissioned in the
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light
Infantry and seconded to 1st Battalion
the Rajputana Rifles at Dehra Dun on
the North-West Frontier from 1946 to
1947. After a brief period with the Ox
and Bucks in BAOR he was posted to 1st Battalion The King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, serving with the Battalion between 1949
234 RIFLES OFFICES AND ASSOCIATIONS
THE RIFLES