Geoffrey Simpson, a Geordie by birth, was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1938. He attended the Royal Grammar School before studying Economics at the University of Durham. During his National Service, in which he served as a Sergeant in the RAEC, his father became seriously ill and on compassionate grounds Geoffrey was posted to Depot the Forester Brigade at Glen Parva Barracks, Leicester, where he spent 18 months as an instructor, being ‘demobbed’ in 1962.

He then joined Lloyds Bank and was commissioned into The Staffordshire Regiment (TA) in 1962. In 1971 he married Hilary and moved for his first Bank managerial appointment to Leicester where they lived happily ever after. That year he transferred to B (Royal Leicestershire) Company 7th R Anglian (TAVR), which he commanded from 1973 until 1976, being awarded the TD in 1975. At that time he joined the Territorial Auxiliary and Volunteer Reserve Association (TAVRA) for Leicestershire & Rutland. After leaving the TAVR in 1976 he continued to serve in the TAVRA beyond when it was subsumed into the Reserve Forces & Cadet Association (RFCA), and he was the chairman of the East Midlands RFCA from 2000-2010 – 37 years of service for which in 2010 he was awarded the MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours ‘for service to Cadets and Reserve Forces in Leicestershire’.

His concern for others was exemplified in his other extensive charitable works among which were being a Lay Canon of Leicester Cathedral (where he kept a close eye on affairs relating to the Royal Leicestershire Regiment Chapel), Chairman of the Friends of Leicester Cathedral, Churchwarden (twice), Chairman of the Deanery Synod, National Treasurer of the Church Union, Chairman of the Tobias Rustat Charity (purchase of books at the Cambridge University Library), and Vice-Chairman and Joint Secretary of SSAFA in Leicestershire. He was also proud to be a Freemason, where his service included Provincial Grand Charity Steward and Grand Officer when he was awarded the Provincial Grand Master’s certificate of merit. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Leicestershire in 1986.

This truly selfless man died in Leicester on 29 July 2014, and our thoughts and prayers are with Hilary and her family.

MKG