EULOGY FOR TERENCE - from his grandson I would like to tell you a little bit about the man I knew and loved. One of the simple things I will miss about my grandfather would be the way he would always answer his telephone 723513? Every-time. Always helpfully reminding you in the same unchanged, well-spoken manner of the number that you had just dialled – just in case you were in any doubt of it. With the promise of a visit from his dutiful and devoted grandchildren, what would then follow, would involve a moment’s pause as he carefully opened his diary, to “have a look” and see where he could “slot you in” to his busy schedule. The promise of a long weekend and all the fond and simple joys of spending time with my grandfather would then be on the cards. One of the things we learnt early on with our phone conversations with grandpa was that he wasn’t one to dilly-dally on the phone. Once you had said everything that needed to be said - for grandpa - that was the end of the conversation; and whilst my sister and I would be hanging on the phone for every last morsel of conversation, we’d often be met with a rather no nonsense: ‘Ok then, Cheerio, bye-ee!’ *phone click, buuuurgghhhh* Our fondest memories will always be of the times he would take us to Hollycombe Steam Fair, going for walks with the dogs, playing the latest crossword together, listening to his great many stories, and of course, the very best of afternoon teas. He was also a dab-hand at ‘make do and mend’. Much in the spirit of the title of his book ‘Stick and String’; if something could be mended by application of an elastic band, a piece of string, or a little TLC – then it would be. He was well known to us as being the one man for whom it was almost impossible to find a gift– for what can you get for a man who already has everything? If you were to ask me how he viewed his long life, I would simply answer that he was the most contented man I knew; well appeased with his life achievements, the stories he had collected, and the many friends he had made along the way. He could want for nothing but another crossword, a good result on the football, another episode of Dad’s Army; and the most amazing food, lovingly worked up by Marigold, Nikki, or Andy. When dining out he had a sweet tooth for ‘lumpy bumpy pudding’ but what he would call ‘Rumpy-Pumpy pudding’ - the saucy rewording , followed by his characteristic roar of laughter hinting at his keen sense of humour - and having devoured the entire pudding, winning his quietly upturned face of approval. A true gentleman if ever there was, my grandfather could only be adored by every person fortunate to know him. To put it simply, Terence is a real treasure to everyone that gets to call him their friend, and family. A life well lived, which he filled with cherished memories. Being his grandson was the luckiest ticket of them all, and he inspired in me the image of the man I would like to be. Lawrence Tinsley

EULOGY FOR TERENCE It was 32 years ago when I met Terence, the year was 1983, he was just married to a wonderful lady from Highfield School, by the name of Marigold. A few months earlier, I had met Terence's daughter Nikki, when working in London. For many a weekend we would drive to Liphook with Terence always greeting us with a warm and welcoming smile. He loved his food and I could never understand how somebody could eat so much and stay looking so slim. Marigolds Sunday roasts were the best, and I was lucky that I could eat fast enough to pip Terence for second helpings. The time came to ask Terence's permission, for his daughters hand in marriage. I was very nervous with no idea what to expect as a reply. But in typical Terence fashion, he just said, 'Well its about time and what took you so long' He then opened a bottle of champagne and with a big Terence grin we toasted our new future together. From that point our Father and Son-In-Law relationship could not of been better, he became a true friend. We had many a talk on the state of English Cricket, his football team Leeds United, the ups and downs of English Rugby, and especially the Oxford and Cambridge boat race. For Terence this was very close to his heart as he had rowed for Christ's College while at Cambridge back in the 1940's. Terence's life started in Lahore India on the 4th March 1922 in the region of the Punjab. Six days after Terence was born Mahatma Ghandi was in the news, while being held by the British Raj. Mahatma translates as 'great soul' that spoke a lot about Terence's character, as he was a 'great soul'. He was also an honourable gentleman, a very kind and generous person who was always encouraging and always willing to give up his time to help others. Soon Terence was to leave India. With parents in tow they sailed from the port of Karachi in Pakistan towards Plymouth, he was eventually to settle into his grandparents home, in Kent. His father was a Civil Engineer in the Indian Canal Services, working 3 years abroad with an allowance of 6 months home leave. So Terence at a young age would write many letters to his parents, keeping them informed of his school progress. In 1929 at the age of seven, Terence wrote a letter to his mother while she was in India just before Guy Fawkes night. It read. “ Dear Mummy, Please will you write to me, I have not had a letter from you for a long time, I hope you are all right. I have had a lovely half term, I went with Grannie she gave me quite a nice lot of fireworks. One of the masters tried to coach me in football, I do fall down very often. Love, from Terence. After many years of finely tuning his writing skills Terence was honoured with the winning of the 1975 'Coopers Hill' essay prize, not once, but twice. He had a love for poetry, and with his keen mind and memory for detail, he could recite many of his favourite poems, one of them being 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree.' he recited this, word for word, a few days before he passed away. From the ages of 14 to 18, his school days were at Oundle in Peterborough, at school he developed his love of sport, especially for the game of Hockey. He also became a very keen Boy Scout, this is where he learned the art of Stick and String, in later years it also became the title of his book, regaling his war years and his adventures in Burma. But times were soon to change with the announcement that England was now at war with Germany. In his book 'Stick and String' he wrote ' I remember it was a fine, sunny morning, just right for a September holiday by the sea. We listened to the radio announcement that war had been declared and almost as it ended we heard the sound of the first air raid warning. Terence, always one to lend support and to be of use he immediately joined the Local Defence Volunteer Force. He often joked that his claim to fame was being one of the original 'Dads Army'. In 1940 Terence joined an incentive scheme for the recruitment of Army officers. Like father, like son, he wanted to become an Engineer and where better to do this than at Christ’s College Cambridge training to become an Army Officer. As a Cadet Officer, he made a request to serve in India, this was immediately granted and in 1941, he set sail for Bombay to join the Bengal Sappers and Miners. With many sailing hours to fill, Terence soon became proficient in the game of cards, especially Bridge, which he continued to play once a week at the local Bridge Club. When at home he enjoyed playing patience, to the point that all the markings on the cards had disappeared. Back in India, Terence would attend many of the Officer's dinners, with one in particular where a charming young lady became his number one girl and in 1945, they were married. Terence was part of the South East Asia Command division known as (SEAC), this was a huge coincidence as his newly wed wife before marriage had the same initials being Shirley Eva Anne Cardwell. But as Shirley Eva Anne Tinsley her new initials had become, S E A T and when sailing back to England her black army metal luggage had these initials printed on them in large white letters. This meant that many of the boat passengers had been sitting on her luggage making it difficult for Shirley to access any of her belongings, this made for a wonderful after dinner story. Upon returning to England, Terence would further study at Christ's College Cambridge, it was in Cambridge they welcomed their first child, Michael. But there was still more travelling to do and over the years, the family would find themselves stationed in Germany, Tripoli, back to Germany, Belgium, Shoebuyyness, and Borneo, finally settling back in the UK. When in Tripoli, the Suez Canal crisis in 1956 caused the evacuation of many Army personnel. Terence was very concerned for the safety of his wife, and put her on a plane back to England. While the plane was coming into land at Blackbushe Airport one very tired pilot misjudged his runway approach, crashing the plane into a tree, there were seven fatalities, but luckily Shirley was sitting in the rear of the plane and escaped injury. Two months later, Terence and Shirley had a baby daughter. After all his travels and 27 years of military service it was time for Terence to have a change of career. His new life brought him to Highfield School, where he taught a whole host of different subjects such as maths with science, geography, religious knowledge, and French. He had a keen eye when shooting on the rifle range and he was able to rekindled his interest in hockey by adding the sport to the Highfield School curriculum. A recent email from one of his past pupils acknowledged Terence as one of the finest of teachers and thanked him for his perseverance, the pupil now represents Great Britain, at shooting. Terence also enjoyed the challenge of a quick crossword, his general knowledge was excellent and he would always find an answer to an obscure clue, without the use of Google. He had a great understanding of the Classics and he was proficient in Urdu, speaking and writing, along with smatterings of Hindistani, German, and Danish. In 1979, sadly for Terence, Shirley passed away, but in true spirit he soldiered on and eventually in 1983, he married the Highfield School Secretary who happened to be Marigold. We are now back to those wonderful, weekend, Sunday lunches. In his later years Terence's generosity was still evident, every year he would take time to collect money for the poppy appeal, always making a great contribution with a full collection box, with one year bringing in two full collection boxes. He was generous to many charities he supported the Gurkha's, the Royal Engineers Officers Widows Society the Red Cross and many more, actually the last count was around thirty. He was never happier when he felt he was being useful, even at the age of 92, he would still carry a heavy box of Liphook Community magazines and deliver them around the neighbourhood in all sorts of weather. Another one of his passions was singing. In the late 60's he joined the Fernhurst Choral Society as a bass vocalist and for 50 years he sang in many Choral concerts. He was a very active member, not only as a vocalist, but as their treasurer.For many more years he sang here in Bramshott, with the Bramshott Xmas Choir and Tony Halsey as Musical Director. Amongst all of these activities, Terence still had the energy for his Tuesday night dance classes. His claim to fame, was when he was seen on 'You Tube' in a contemporary pop music video. But in the quiet of a Sunday morning, when he could, he would make his way to this Church or take his Sister in Law to a Church in Haslemere. He was a great believer in God's word and during his last days his faith was ever present. He passed away peacefully, having led a joyful and fulfilled life. To finish I would like to read a poem called 'The Games Master' It was written by a young Highfield pupil from many years ago. The Games Master: Mr Tinsley, our old games master Seemed to make me learn sports faster. I learned to dribble very well. But that's only what it seemed As I seldom got into a team. I tried my hardest, but never succeeded So he often gave me the extra help I needed. On the last day of term As he left It seemed to me some sort of theft. God bless Terence - Rest in Peace

Email thoughts from William Mills. I dropped in this afternoon to say how sorry I was that I’m going to miss Terrence’s funeral, because I’m going to be in America. I’m afraid I missed you, but I had a good chat with Andrew and also dropped in, a bit later, printouts of the e-mails we’ve had from Old Highfieldians. Some of the comments are really lovely and shed light on what made him such a wonderful schoolmaster. He was kind and gentle; patient; positive and encouraging and someone who the boys always felt was on their side. I think he started at Highfield the same year (1966) that I was born. Growing up at Highfield, I remember him alongside Ted Dickson, the Lumbs, Marigold, Miss Pelmore, David Budd and others, who together formed a community that really was very kind and nurturing. I think he had a particular soft spot for the underdog and had an ability to nurture those who were less academically able or less good at games. I remember discussing with him the obstacle course maze, which he used to construct each year. He obviously enjoyed putting his Sapper’s skills to work, but he also liked the fact that it was a great leveller, because the quickest boys , who got to the entrance first, often got overtaken by slower ones who tackled it more thoughtfully. He was a wonderful, generous man and schoolmaster, who gave a huge amount to Highfield, and I’m sorry I won’t be there on Monday for what I’m sure will be a very fitting send off. Lots of love, William