he was too young for Dunkirk, he was not sent to the Far East, he trained for winter warfare but Britain did not join the Eastern Front, and then he was put into HQ functions as opposed to frontline combat owing to his strong academic qualifications and administrative skills.
He was accepted into the Colonial Service, but he tired of waiting for a posting to a shrinking Empire and took a job assisting a stockbroker in London. Then after two years working for a hotel group in Ramsgate, Wally was appointed General Manager at The Hayes Conference Centre at Swanwick in November 1948. This was the beginning of a 36-year career which allowed full expression of the many skills, intellectual and practical, that he had developed through childhood, university and the army.
Over the years The Hayes became one of the leading centres in the country for theological conferences, including diocesan clergy schools, student conferences, annual gatherings of Church Assembly councils, mission societies and almost every sort of Christian youth conference. Countless committed Christians, not to mention thousands of other people committed to various worthy and social causes, managed to get to The Hayes Conference Centre at some time. It became a household name in the Church. Wally retired in 1985 to the Derbyshire village of Brackenfield, where he created a fine rose garden with over 160 varieties. He is survived by Betty, his wife of 67 years, a daughter and three sons. We are grateful to his son Robin (SE 1979) for this obituary.
R M Moffitt (SE 1945)
PART FOUR
Robert Moffitt, known as Bob, read Modern Languages at Selwyn. On leaving Cambridge, he did his National Service in the RAF Education Branch. There followed a short period working for Guinness before he decided to change to medicine. Bob started training at St Mary’s Hospital at the age of 23 and then decided to work in general practice, joining the King Street practice in Lancaster in 1953. He soon became clinical assistant to the Eye Department and obtained his DO. In 1963 he was appointed the first Medical Officer at Lancaster University, where he ran the student health service from Bailrigg House. Bob was a founder member of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and provided training in general practice. In his late 40s he became a member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP), in his 50s he took the MRCGP examination. He was elected a Fellow of the RCGP.
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