Profile

Nigel, from Exeter Diocese, has been a member of the Friends Committee for about a decade. For the same time he has headed the Exeter Liaison for the Link with the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf. Nigel has his roots in Devon and, after wartime schooling there, went up to Oxford before receiving an Emergency Commission in the Royal Army Service Corps.

His first appointment took him to Austria, and particularly to Vienna. He converted to a regular commission and attended the long training course which included learning to ride a horse and look after pack mules! On completion of this he was an instructor for a training regiment at Aldershot. This was followed by an appointment as the Adjutant of a Territorial Army unit on Tyneside where he met and married his late wife Margaret.

Their first appointment together was to Lagos, Nigeria, for three years. While there Nigel passed the entrance examination for the Army Staff College Course at Camberley, where he spent the next year. An appointment as a staff officer in the War Office followed from where he moved on to command his own Amphibious Transport Unit in North Devon. For his work here he was awarded the MBE.

After an appointment to a Divisional Headquarters in West Germany as an Intelligence Staff Officer, he was posted to Portsmouth to the Army Headquarters responsible for army amphibians, hovercraft, shipping and ports. As Lt. Col. he commanded the Army Transport and Movement Regiment in Cyprus, which included responsibility for forces in Libya. During that time he was the Hon Treasurer of the Garrison Church at Dhekelia. His next move took him to the Army School of Transport in Longmoor. Promotion to Colonel followed in the appointment as Senior Movements Officer for the Army in Germany. Later, as Brigadier, he became Deputy Transport Officer in Chief of the Army.

In 1979, at the invitation of the then Bishop of Crediton, Nigel became Christian Stewardship Advisor for Exeter Diocese where he gained a wide knowledge of the parishes in the Diocese. For a time he served on the central committee of the CBF for Stewardship. During this period he was asked to go to Bahrain and lead a Christian Stewardship programme helping to put their giving on a sound basis. Finding time to study he received his Licence as a Lay Reader, and he serves on several committees, some as chairman. He was invited to lead the Liaison Group between Exeter and Cyprus and the Gulf and, during this time, he worked hard to publicise the Link and has developed the locum ministry for the Chaplaincies overseas. One of the first posts to be filled was for a locum over Christmas in Baghdad – before the wars started! Having now handed over the chairmanship of the Liaison Group he continues to serve as a member of the committee of the Friends of Cyprus and the Gulf.

(The Friends thank Nigel for all his support and hard work in promoting this Link – Ed)