
EULOGY
Nigel would have been thrilled to see so many of his family and friends gathered in this beautiful church, where he served as a churchwarden for 45 years, and also regularly worshipped for most of his adult life.
It may be a surprise to some that he actually had a birth certificate that was issued in Iran. He was born on 15 February 1931, where his father was posted as an engineer working for the 'Anglo Iranian Oil Company' (now BP). It was decided as soon as he reached school age that he needed an English education and so he was sent to live in Faversham, Kent and to board at a school in Dulwich. These early years were spent apart from his parents and must have been difficult for him, but at the outbreak of the Second World War, when his father was mobilised to serve in North Africa, they decided that it would be safer for them all (by now with younger sister Peggity), to move together to live in South Africa with an Uncle. Here he attended St John's School in Johannesburg for around four years. As it happened on the way out there, several ships in the convoy were torpedoed and sunk with the loss of all lives on board. The captain of his particular ship made the brave decision to break away from the convoy - and they thankfully made it to Durban safely. He often thought how ‘lucky' he was not to be on one of the other ships and in fact felt ‘lucky' throughout his whole life.
It was during these early years, living in Faversham, that he came to be sent to stay at the Red House in Hurstpierpoint for one of his school holidays, and where at the age of only 7 he was by chance to first meet the girl (then being pushed around in a pram) who he would later fall in love with - Joanna. Twenty years later, they were married at Hurstpierpoint Church on 12 July 1958 and have had 65 years of very happy marriage together. He had said recently that of all the decisions he has had to make in life, his best was marrying Joanna.
After the Second World War ended he returned again to England to attend Lancing College, where he recalled helping to knock down the brick walls in the cloisters which had been built as air-raid defences. At the school he was to quietly excel in everything he did. He became Captain of the Boxing team, Captain of the Swimming team (he held the record for the longest plunge dive in the pool which he retained for many years), sailed, and played tennis and football. Ultimately, he became a Prefect and Captain (Head Boy) of the School. He loved his time there and made many friends amongst which was his great friend and contemporary John Poole (Field's 1944–1949), who together with him shared an unusual school hobby of keeping bees in his free time. He continued to keep bees throughout his life.
In his thirties he was asked to serve on the Lancing College Governing body, principally due to his skills in managing people. He became Chairman for a while, where he was instrumental in championing co-education at the school, and after retiring as school governor he continued to serve the Woodard School community (13 schools) on the Finance and General Purposes Committee. He was thrilled to be awarded the honour of a Fellow of the College in 2011.
After leaving Lancing he signed up for National Service and was commissioned into the Airborne division of the Royal Artillery where, after training at Larkhill Army camp near Salisbury Plain he spent time in Germany close to the Russian border living in barracks and going on seemingly endless exercises mostly by tank. While there he found time to do some skiing at weekends with friends in the nearby mountains.
After leaving the army he remained in the Territorial Army for several years with the rank of Captain. One of the highlights of this part of his life had been forming part of the guard lining Marble Arch at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and he had also featured (at a great distance) in a 1953 film based on a parachute regiment called ‘The Red Beret ‘ where he and his platoon had been asked to parachute in the background for a particular scene.
He left the army as he had been offered a place at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he read Natural Science (Chemistry). He made more good friends there and after graduating he perhaps naturally joined BP as a chemist, working first in research and then running refineries including postings overseas to Israel and Aden.
Whilst in Aden he was able to indulge more of his time into sailing and bought a boat which he kept moored to a buoy in a local bay. He would swim out to the boat and sail in his free time. One day he decided to take a photo of his boat to send home, and climbed a hill overlooking the bay, where he was alarmed to look down and see that it was surrounded by a number of large hammerhead sharks. He never swam out to the boat again but bought himself a small rowing boat to make the journey instead!
In Aden he also joined the Auxiliary Fire Service which included managing the team of local fire fighters and driving a fire engine. They were once put to the test when a fire broke out at the refinery but when he got to the fire station, he found he was one of only two volunteers who hadn’t run the other way! Needless to say, between them, with great courage they managed to successfully extinguish the fire.
When he returned to London, he became part of the management team of BP, working in their Head Office in the recruitment and training of their senior executives.
By coincidence, a run-down dairy farm adjoining Braky Plat where the family lived, came up for sale at auction, at a time when farming was very much in decline. He and Joanna purchased the farm and repurposed it to beef and arable production and went on, together with Alan Clarke, their experienced farm manager, to create one of the most respected prize-winning herds of Sussex Cattle in the area. He served on the committee of the Sussex Cattle Society for many years, was chairman for a while and a Life Vice-President.
Deciding to retire from Sussex cattle as he approached his late 60s he then took the farm in a different direction, deciding to convert barns into offices to rent out to local businesses. The land continued to be farmed together with help and tenancies from good neighbours such as the Harveys, Ian Streeter and Bob Light, and he set about planting up woodland areas and managing the farm to keep it in best possible condition for future generations.
Throughout life, he had a great love and interest in the countryside and all things rural. He was as comfortable serving on a committee as digging a hole for a fence post or sawing up logs with a chainsaw. He had somehow combined a successful business career with giving time to many charities and organisations along the way. A farmer, school governor, tax commissioner, Sussex Cattle Society member, Charity Committee member, Albourne Church warden, husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. Additionally, he had many hobbies - not least bee keeping as mentioned, and his lovingly restored 1937 Vauxhall DX car.
In all this though, his biggest love and pleasure was without doubt his family. Wife Joanna, and their four children,10 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren, in all of whom he was immensely proud. To them he will always be an exemplar - how to live life as a true gentleman at all times, being patient, kind, thoughtful and wise.
With his strong faith and understanding of nature, he knew well the inevitability that this time would come, but he leaves us having lived the best possible life, and with the knowledge that part of him will live on in his family, and the warm hearts and memories of all of us that knew him.
The Ventham family