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In Memory - Peter Bailey (1938 - 2023)

Peter Bailey ( 1938 - 2023 )

Peter was born in 1938, the eldest of four sons of a Hughenden builder. One of his earlier memories was of seeing his father fall off the roof of a farm building! He passed a scholarship to the Royal Grammar School, but then horrified them by leaving after his O Levels to become a bricklayer. While working for the builder, Y J Lovell, he won the Silver Trowel as the most promising young bricklayer in the south of England.

During his National Service in the RAF he met Carole at a party given by nurses at Papworth Hospital. Within a year they married, and thereafter always moved into houses which gave Peter the scope to use his skills to repair or extend.

Their first home was a semi-derelict cottage at Temple, which Peter's father helped them repair, after which they moved to Wycombe where they lived for many years. Peter became a site foreman and was then persuaded to move into the Finance Department. He ended as its Director. When the department moved into the suite of offices over the new shops in Marlow, Carole, who had long wanted to live in Marlow, suggested again that they look for a house here. By the later 1980s they were established in ... their home in Henley Road.

Sometime after that Peter Joined the Marlow Society and soon gravitated to the Local History Group, then its committee, and in 2004 became Chairman, a role in which he served in until 2009 and then again between 2014 and 2017. His involvement with the Local History Group continued in a variety of roles through to his retirement from the committee in 2018. He and Hazel Malpass organised the Heritage Open Day at Bisham Abbey in 2008, a massive job. They also organised Heritage Open Days at Harleyford House and Marlow Place. Peter also took charge of the photo archive, and at various times over the years he took responsibility for organising workshops, talks, visits and walks.

Peter made a major contribution to the Marlow Society through the Local History Group. As far as they were concerned, he was the original man of all trades.

Janet Smith