VIEW PROFILE: Tim Nicholson

Giving back to his town

This week Stuart Broom talks to Douglas Beazer in the first of a two part feature. Having enjoyed his childhood in Beaminster, he vowed to give something back to the town after a 24 year career in the Army.

This week he talks about that childhood and his life as a soldier, where one of his claims to fame was being the first pupil to enter the new comprehensive school at Newtown when it was opened in January 1963.

DURING his Army career Douglas Beazer never forgot the happy family upbringing he had back in Beaminster and when he retired after a successful career, he vowed to help give something back to the town.

Doug is a distinguished and well respected member of the community having been a councillor since 1989 including a spell as chairman between 2007 and 2009.

“Beaminster gave me such a wonderful childhood, and I feel now through my work I can give something back to the community I love,” he said.

Douglas is also a member of the Royal British Legion where he was treasurer for a decade and was the parade marshall for 15 years until he retired in 2005. He is also a Freemason and has been chairman of the Beaminster Manor Lodge twice, as well as a leading light in the Bridport & District Model Railway Club which he joined in 1989. He retired last year after 25 years service with the Melplash Show.

Douglas was the second eldest of six children of Gerry and Joy, and was born at Horn Ash, near Kittwhistle, at the junction where the B3162 meets the B3165, in April 1948.

Within months the family moved to the newly completed Fairfield Estate off Tunnel Road in Beaminster.

“Mum and Dad had a difficult time bringing up six of us and could not favour one above the other, but we were very happy,” he said.

“Two things particularly stood out; Christmas, and summer holidays. We had very traditional Christmases, and up until we went to bed on Christmas Eve there was no sign of any decorations or presents. When we woke in the morning, usually about 4.30am, we opened out stockings on the end of our beds and went down stairs for breakfast. It was only after we had cleared up that dad opened the door to the sitting room which was decorated with trimmings and the tree. They were really wonderful times.”

Despite the hard times, in the summer they usually went for a caravan holiday in Cornwall.

Doug said: “Dad was a lorry driver for Perry’s and travelled all over the country. He knew several cafes and restaurants where we would stop for meals and drinks on the way.”

Although there were times when the siblings; John (the eldest), Robert, Frank, Denise and Janet, didn’t always agree, Douglas remembers they generally got on well.

He began his schooling in Beaminster Girls and Infants School in Hogshill Street where he learned to knit dishcloths, before moving on to Beaminster Boys’ School in East Street for his junior education.

He said: “The school’s classrooms and facilities were all over the place and so the town was always full of children. We did PT in the Public Hall, games at The Memorial Playing Field and school dinners were served in the Red Lion pub, with the girls in what is now the function room and the boys in the adjoining room.”

Douglas lays claim to the fact that he was the first pupil to enter the new comprehensive school, now Beaminster Technology College, when it opened in January 1963.

It was during its building that his inquisitive nature began to develop.

“I became interested in its construction and the engineering side of it, and used to visit the site when I could,” said Doug.

“In those days there was no health and safety rules so I was able to go where I wanted.”

The new facility meant the closure of Beaminster Boys’ School and the transfer of the pupils to the new one, so when the school opened Douglas was first in line having queued since 8am.

The caretaker let him in, but because of the snow that affected the winter of 1962/63 was soon closed, and when it reopened two days later, Douglas was once again first in line.

Although he was due to leave school the following summer he stayed on for an extra year to get more qualifications.

Douglas can’t really explain why he chose the army as a career except that he felt it suited his inquisitive nature and his brother John was already a soldier.

Having passed the relevant entry exams his first posting was to Arborfield near Reading. He spent three years training as a vehicle mechanic under an apprentice tradesman course, qualifying as a 2nd class starred pupil.

His first unit was the Queen’s Dragoon Guards at Warminster who were posted to Detmold in Germany where they were responsible for the servicing of Centurion and then later Chieftain Tanks. They also provided the armed escort to the civilian British Frontier Service who worked on the East/West German boundary (the Iron Curtain).

Further tours took him to Malta for three years and Cyprus, which included short detachments to many of the Mediterranean countries.

Back in the UK he was posted to Gillingham in Kent where the soldiers used a local pub called The White House. Unknown to Douglas the pub was run by his future in-laws.

Then posted to the headquarters of the NATO Allied Forces Central Europe in Holland he worked with soldiers of many different nationalities.

An artificers training course in Hampshire saw him promoted to Staff Sergeant and a posting to the Aerial Delivery section at the Joint Air Transport Establishment at Brize Norton specialising into research of aerial delivery by parachute.

In his three and a half year posting he was involved in the trials of the first airdrop from the stretched version of the Hercules aircraft.

Further postings followed including Germany with the Coldstream Guards, then onto Cyprus where he became interested in Freemasonry and was approached by a fellow military man to join. When he was posted to Northern Ireland on special duties in the early-mid he joined the Hollywood Lodge on the outskirts of Belfast.

With retirement looming Douglas was posted to Warminster in late 1985 where he decided to take a job at the REME workshops ensuring equipment was Fit For Role. This involved the inspection of aerial delivery items such as parachutes, underslung helicopter equipment and abseiling ropes in use by many varied units around the South West of England.

On leave before taking up the post he returned to Beaminster and bought a cottage in Fleet Street in which he still lives, in readiness for life as a civilian.

He retired in 1988 with the rank of WO1 ASM (Warrant Officer 1st Class, Artificer Sergeant Major).

We conclude Douglas’ story in two weeks time with life in civvy street.

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