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Welcome – by David Brian Orchard
Poem “Funeral Blues” – W H Auden, read by Susan Stacey
1st hymn – “Immortal, Invisible, God only wise.” Wal¬ter C. Smith
Brian’s Life
Brian was born in Chertsey, Surrey, the first boy after his 3 sisters. (They became known as the “4 Bs!”) but
you’ll hear more later of Brian’s childhood…
Because of the war his father moved away from London, to a farm at Arborfield, where Brian grew up.
Brian’s family moved to a farm where his father was manager. The farm was near Aldermaston, which is where Brian met
Susan.
At 17 Brian joined the RAF as an apprentice ground electrician and he spent 3 years at RAF Halton, in Buckinghamshire.
Upon completing the apprenticeship Brian married Susan in Padworth church.
Brian’s first posting was to RAF St Athan in South Wales. Here, their first son David Brian was born.
His next post was to be quite a contrast from the wet valley’s of Wales, to the scorching desert edge of RAF Khormaksar,
Aden – at the time the busiest RAF airbase in the world. Susan Rose – always known as “Rose” was born
in Aden – exactly 2 years after David.
On returning to the UK Brian was posted to RAF Melksham, then the V-Bomber base RAF Cottesmore. Jasmine was born there.
(I remember asking dad why he and mum hadn’t tried to arrange it so Jasmine’s birthdate coincided with mine and
Rose’s – his reply “we were just practising!”)
It was then back to RAF Halton where Mark was born and finally the last RAF posting was at RAF Catterick in North Yorkshire.
By March 1968 the forces years were over as the family emigrated to Australia courtesy of an excellent £20 per adult deal.
After 2 ½ years in Brisbane the family returned to the UK travelling slowly back on a cruise ship via the Panama Canal.
Because money was short Brian took a job as an assistant herdsman on a dairy farm in Somerset – primarily as a means
of securing accommodation for the family. Although the work was hard and the hours long, Brian enjoyed the 5 years in the
village of Brewham. During this time all the children went to the local primary school – and David and Rose passed their
exams to the local grammar schools.
Soon after Jasmine joined Rose at Sunnyhill School for Girls Brian applied for and got a job in Malawi, east Africa. The
older children went to their schools as boarders whilst Mark, Brian and Susan went to live at Tsiranana Avenue just down the
road from the Lilongwe Golf Club. Brian was employed by the Malawi government at their Ministry of Works and Supplies in
the Electrical Department as Works Supervisor. The job saw Brian in charge of all the government projects, prisons, housing,
schools, palaces north of Lilongwe… The children had 3 long holidays each year in Malawi, and after a year Mark returned
to the UK as a boarder too.
At the end of the contract Brian and Susan bought “Stonecot” in Batcoombe, and the 3 youngest children continued
at their Bruton schools – but now as day pupils.
However, with a bridging loan, high mortgage rates and the call of distant locations it wasn’t possible to stay at Westlands
Helicopters at Yeovilton. So Brian took a job teaching Electrical subjects in a technical College at Port Moresby in Papua
New Guinea. Susan stayed behind in Somerset whilst Rose and Jasmine finished their A and O level exams. Mark went to PNG
with his parents, David continued at college in London.
After a couple of years Brian set up an Electrical department in the college of the Highland town of Mount Hagen. (During
his teaching career Brian came up with such gems as “A good worker is a happy worker… Are you a happy worker?”
and his students would all eagerly assure him that they really were very happy indeed!)
On returning to the UK (again) the house in Batcombe was paid off and Brian and Susan moved to a small holding in West Wales.
However, money was always tight and Brian’s attempt to edge into the local electrical business was unsuccessful. The
small holding provided everything that Brian and Susan needed to live on – they grew all their own food and lived the
“Good Life.” But even so, you need cash in the bank too and Brian did a Manpower Services course in Sutton on
“Building Services Controls.” Brian eventually got a job in the Eagle Star Company in Cheltenham, where he stayed
until retirement.
Poem “A Few Last Words”” – M Orchard
2nd hymn – “Be Still my Soul.” Katharina von Schlegel
Siblings “Memories of childhood” – Beryl & Betty
1 Corinthians 13:4-13
The Lord’s Prayer
3rd hymn – “Now the day is over.” Sabine Baring-Gou
Poem "Desiderata." Max Ehrmann
Any other speakers –
And finally…
Brian played rugby at school but didn’t continue playing. He played tennis off and on in his life – notably on
the clay courts of the Lilongwe Golf Club, but his main sport and real interest was chess. On the farm in Somerset it was
common for him to be driving his tractor pulling a chain harrow – whilst looking at the latest postcards which continually
arrived from some of the 20-30 correspondence chess games that he was playing! His name is engraved around the edge of the
Wincanton Chess Club board – and he played representative chess for Somerset and two Welsh Counties… At one time,
he was playing for 2 clubs in Gloucestershire. His name is of course, on the “Portman Cup” and he was due to play
either Ray or Don in this year’s final.
Throughout his life Brian also spent a lot of time gardening – a pastime which he shared with Susan and which saw them
transform countless gardens often in a very short space of time. The garden at Dymock is a joy to walk through as the past
12 years have seen Brian and Susan establish the garden really well.
Brian had a flair for creating practical solutions – the cattle shed, chicken and geese houses are just a few examples.
He also had a very sharp mathematical brain and he would often do extra maths homework when he was an apprentice!
In the last few years computing was to play a large part in his life – he was able to fix and rebuild old computers
(when it was still financially viable to do so) and he embraced email, card design, spreadsheets and forum design. He spent
lots of time on the online game of Kings of Chaos – which appealed to his competitive nature and saw him regularly chatting
and helping players all over the world.
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