A Life in the Community
Roy Bills, who died recently aged 97, lived a long life shaped by faith, education and service to the community.
He was born on 29 December 1928 in Quarry Bank, Staffordshire. His parents had very little formal education. His mother had worked as a shop girl and his father left school early. He later worked as a driver, including for Midland Red during and after the war. Against that background, passing the 11-plus and attending King Edward VI Grammar School in Stourbridge represented a significant opportunity. Although he later described his education modestly as having ‘suffered’, the chance to attend grammar school opened possibilities that had not been available to the previous generation of the family.
After leaving school he worked briefly in an iron foundry before completing National Service in the RAF, including time at RAF Debden in Essex. He later attended Westminster College in London in 1950–51, a Methodist training college. During this period he met my mother, Beth. He became a certified teacher in 1952 while undertaking his practical teaching in Nottingham.
My parents married in 1953 and at first lived with my mother’s parents in Batten Street, Leicester. In 1957 they moved to Tur Langton, to a house called Mount Pleasant. It had originally been built for the minister of the Congregational chapel next door. Mount Pleasant became the family home where their four children were raised.
Faith
Faith was a constant throughout his life. As a young man he had been active in the Methodist Church in Birmingham. He went on to serve for around seventy years as a Methodist Local Preacher. My parents were very active members of the Methodist church in Kibworth and also supported the Congregational chapel in Tur Langton until it eventually closed.
He taught for about twenty-five years before taking early retirement in 1982 during a period of cuts in education. Retirement did not mean stepping back from activity. From the mid-1980s he became involved in a range of voluntary work including the Citizens Advice Bureau, the Probation Service, prison visiting, and serving as Chair of the Board of Visitors (later the Independent Monitoring Board).
Locally he was also involved with The Well in Kibworth, where he continued his pattern of practical service to others.
Away from work and church he followed Leicester Tigers rugby club for many years. Sporting ability in the household, however, was generally acknowledged to belong more to my mother than to him. His own claim to sporting knowledge came from attending a tennis coaching course, from which he said the only thing he remembered was “hit the ball at the top of the bounce”.
He remained active well into his later years and was able to continue living independently with the help of family, friends and local support.
Julian Bills
