Roger was born in Dronfield, the second son of four children. He lived in Brighton, Winchester and Guildford according to the postings of his father who worked for the Inland Revenue. A keen Rugby player, Roger joined the Army as a National Serviceman, during which time, he had a great deal of opportunity to take part in sport. As a result, he decided to make the Army a full time career and joined the Royal Artillery, serving worldwide, including the troubled areas of Korea and Northern Ireland, as well as major postings to Germany and UK and lesser times in Africa, Canada, Hong Kong, Malta and all the other places once frequented regularly by the British Forces. One of his postings was as an instructor to Glasgow University Officers Training Corps, where he met and married Caroline, who was a student there at the time. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before retiring and working for a number of years for Marconi. Roger gave us a shock last year; he went for a fairly routine blood test - was recalled the following day, and was diagnosed as suffering from leukaemia. He has been put on a new drug which has only just finished clinical trials but evidently has a very good success rate, so we are hoping that it will contain, if not cure, the condition. He also suffers from arthritis which curtails his movements to a degree, but the doctors in both departments appear to be reasonably satisfied with his condition. |