Reg was born in London on 15th September, 1905. As a young boy he was evacuated to Isle of Wight during WWI then came back to London. From his early days he enjoyed and appreciated the great classical authors and particularly loved poetry.

He started writing his own poetry in 1919 when he was 14 years old. The first poem (that we have found) is called "The Two Minutes Silence" to honor those who gave their lives in WWI, it is a very mature poem for his tender years. His poetry tends to be somber, which is so unlike his personality - he was always so upbeat and had a great sense of humor.

His first job was as an apprentice tea taster in London but he could not handle the tea dust and had to forego that career. Then he joined NAAFI (Navy Army Air Force Institute) which managed military canteens for the British armed forces throughout the world. He was very successful there until a very serious road accident stopped him in his tracks.

He was riding his new motor cycle, somewhat faster than he should, cut a corner and hit a single decker bus head-on, he took one head light off with his hand as he hit the front of the bus, rolled along the top and then fell into a ditch by the side of the road. The bus driver and conductor stopped and took one look at him lying in the ditch and said ‘don’t worry about him, he’s a gonner’ to which Reg replied ‘never mind about being a gonner – get me out of this ruddy ditch’. His left leg was very severly damaged and he almost lost it but after months of hospital care he was able to carry on with his NAAFI career.

In 1930 he was posted abroad first to the Middle East – Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt. Then he returned to England and spent some time in Aldershot where he met Babs, his future wife. He was posted out to Singapore in 1934, but didn’t want to go as he had just become engaged to Babs. The NAAFI sent him anyway and agreed to send Babs out to join him, they were married in St Andrews Cathedral, Singapore on 26 June 1935. They then moved to Cairo in 1936 and there they lost little Geoffrey, their first born son, when he was just 10 days old. After a while it was back to Singapore where they stayed until Reg was called home to England in 1941, they left Singapore on one of the last boats to leave before Singapore fell to the Japanese.

Reg was then involved in managing NAAFI canteens in Southern England and then in Operation Overlord – the invasion of Europe on D-Day. Reg was part of the team responsible for provisioning the British troops involved in the invasion.

After WWII he left the NAAFI and struck out on his own, the family moved to London, then Luton and finally in 1946 to settle, very happily, in Bedford. In 1951 he founded GB Educational Equipment with his brother Gordon, joined by his son Nigel in later years and grew the business from a start-up until he retired in 1980 when 75 years old.

Babs and Reg enjoyed their evening years at Duckmill Crescent in Bedford on the banks of the river Ouse.

Sadly, Reg passed away on 7th January 2000 - but his poetry lives on in this little corner of the web.

Terry Brewer