Roy Machin (OW 1946)

(26 May 1928 – 27 November 2022)

We are grateful to Roy’s son Andrew for this obituary:

Roy was born on the 26th May 1928 – to Florence Mary and Alwyn Corless Machin in Heeley, Sheffield.
The family moved to Headington Hill, Oxford at Xmas 1930, when his father was appointed Deputy Accountant at Oxfordshire Gas Board (and shortly afterward to Chief Accountant of the Oxfordshire Gas Board).

Roy attended New College School between 1936 – 1941, before joining Magdalen College School between 1941 – 1946.

Roy was never a great lover of sports but he did enjoy an active lifestyle. In later life, he went swimming regularly twice a week for many years. The irony being that he had not been allowed to join the MCS rowing team, which he had desperately wanted to do, because he was not able to swim the minimum required distance. So instead, he joined the athletics team and won a shield for first place in the long jump in 1944. He self-effacingly claimed that it was only because the good athletes hadn’t turned up.

His passion was model aircraft – building and flying them and he wanted to study aircraft design at university. He had set up a model club at Magdalen College School, with school friends and attended a model club in Oxford – buying parts at Howes Model Shop a short walk away from school.

During the war the Machin family kept rabbits and chickens at the back of the garage (as they didn’t have a car). Roy treated these as pets, although they were actually kept for food! At the same time, Roy did keep three goldfish in a bowl in his bedroom (not for food as far as I am aware!). Thankfully the family was relatively safe in Oxford, unlike relatives who remained in Sheffield and suffered many nights of German bombing.

During the 1930’s and 40’s he went with mother on an annual 4-week holiday to Mr Crocker’s Farm, on the road to Jerbourg, Guernsey, with his father joining them for last two weeks. Oxford Scouts camped at Mr Crocker’s Farm, and Alwyn may have known Mr Launchberry the scout leader from Masons/ Bowls (although Roy was never a scout).

In 1939 Roy went on the annual Guernsey holiday with his parents and Peter Carmichael, a friend and classmate at New College School and left Guernsey a few days before war was declared.

Roy undertook his National Service with the Royal Engineers between 1947-1949 with basic training in Chatham and then postings to both Palestine and Kenya.

Although entered for Cambridge, after National Service Roy attended Loughborough Technical College (University) between 1949-1954 to study Civil Engineering. He had wanted to follow his passion and study aircraft design, but was advised that post-war the country needed civil engineers.He joined Douglas LTD as civil engineer after graduating in 1955.

In 1960, while working at Abbots laboratory (Queenborough, Isle of Sheppey) he met Ann Margaret Newman. They were married on the 9th December 1961.

Their son Andrew was born in 1965, and daughter Susan in 1967. Roy and his family lived in Tamworth, Staffordshire, until the children left home.

Roy retired from work in 1993, almost all of it spent in the same firm that he joined on graduation. His wife, Ann, died in March 1998.

October 9th 2022 Roy was discharged from Good Hope Hospital and went to live at Tapp Farm, Forres, Moray, Scotland. with his daughter, leaving the family home in Tamworth after 56 years.

Roy died peacefully in his sleep on 27th November 2022 at Tapp Farm, Moray.