Page 56 - The Old Ratcliffian 2015 Magazine

56 OBITUARIES

Robert went on to lead a busy working life; his posts included
Adult and Youth Education Officer at the Co-operative College
in Loughborough, Principal of the Social Welfare Training
College in Central Zambia, Senior Lecturer at Swansea, and
Professor at Exeter and Roehampton Universities. He also held
many chairs for various organisations and charities throughout
his life, receiving honorary doctorates from Rennes University
and Surrey University, and he was awarded a CBE in 1975.

Upon retirement in 1999, Robert became a consultant to Devon
County Council Social Services; he helped to found, and chaired
for three years, the Action Group In Later Life (AGILE). Before
his passing in December 2014, he was a reader and extraordinary
minister of Holy Communion at the Sacred Heart Church in
Exeter.

Robert leaves a wife, Elizabeth, and a son, Peter. L to R: P Hughes, P Watts, R Leaper & P Tabor in ‘The Late Christopher
Bean’ in 1940 at Ratcliffe College
Louise Liston
Ratcliffe College

MARTIN NEEDHAM

OLD RATCLIFFIAN 1982 - 1986
DECEMBER 30TH 1968 - MARCH 14TH 2015

Friends, loved ones and family, it is an honour and privilege for
me to pay tribute to a very special person - a husband, a father,
a son, and my brother. As I look out at the faces in this beautiful
church, I see many family members, friends and business
associates. I know that you, too, will miss the friendship and
laughter that Martin brought into your lives. I’m sure you will all
remember him in your very own special way, as I do.

Now I will open the book on Martin’s life. He was born on December and I told him that I’d never seen him before. Shortly afterwards,
30th 1968. I know this date so well, as it was my opportunity to I heard that Martin and Simeon had managed to drown nine Sixth
remind him that I was the younger brother! In reply, he always Form girls, two prefects and one teacher with over twenty-five
reminded me not to make his birthday and Christmas presents gallons of water as they came out of the classroom below. A
a joint affair! school record to this day!

As I continue to turn the pages on Martin’s life, I remember our Martin left Ratcliffe in the Fifth Form and went on to Shuttleworth
school days. At the tender age of eight, Martin attended the Agricultural College. There, he spent three years honing his skills
School of Our Lady of Good Counsel in Sleaford. Within a couple in milking cows and chasing rabbits across the Headmaster’s
of years, he had the unenviable task of keeping an eye on me, as lawn with the farm tractors. It was at Shuttleworth that Martin’s
I also joined the school. love of farming took hold, and it was natural that, after Dad’s
passing in 2002, he would take up the reins of the family farm
Within a few years, he was on his way to Grace Dieu Manor, near and continue Dad’s legacy. Tom, we look to you now to make Dad
Coalville, as a boarder. Waving goodbye on his first day of term, proud.
he probably thought that he should make the most of his time
before the part of playing big brother started all over again. It Martin was not academic and never really the sportsman, but he
was at Grace Dieu, a few years later, where we grew much closer was a man with friends, and those friendships have remained as
as brothers, with Martin being the listener when things got a strong now as they were during our days at school.
little tough, and then providing a shoulder to cry on when they
really hit rock bottom. As I turn the next page, I see Martin as a family man. Martin met
Lisa in Sleaford in 1989. I remember him saying, ‘You know I’m
Just two years later, he was off again. The next stop was Ratcliffe going to marry that girl’, and so he did! A few years later came
College. Again, as a full-time boarder, you had plenty of time to William, and then Thomas. Martin, being the family man, always
make mischief, and that is what he did. I recall a few days after made sure that he never missed a game of rugby at Oakham, or
arriving for my first term at Ratcliffe, a guy came up to me and any sporting event. Come rain or shine, you could always bank on
said, ‘Is that your brother up there on the water tower roof?’, Martin being there to support the boys!

Register online at www.ratcliffianassociation.co.uk 56