There follows the Address given by Mr Freddie J Grounds DL at the funeral of Major Richard Kenneth Hill TD DL in Peterborough Cathedral on Thursday 18th June 2009:

We are all here today to remember and give thanks for the life of a very dear friend, Richard Kenneth Hill, cut short as a result of a most tragic accident.

Richard was born in Nottingham on the 20th April 1941 – it always amused him because he said it was Hitler’s birthday. He was the eldest of two children – his sister, Salli, following a little later. His father, Colonel Peter Hill, was himself a solicitor and a distinguished soldier, having joined the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1938.

Colonel and Mrs Hill moved to Westwood Park Road in Peterborough where Mrs Hill, Richard and Salli lived quietly throughout the war years. On being de-mobilised, Colonel Hill returned to Peterborough and joined Mr Wyman Abbott in Partnership.

Richard was duly dispatched to Peterborough High, in those days known as Westwood House. He was a boy of high spirits. In an address he gave to his Probus Club in 2003 he said: “I was an unruly boy and very naughty. I frequently ran away and took a short cut I knew through the Town Clerk’s garden and on one occasion, while being hotly pursued by school staff, who did not seem to understand my need to go home, I threw myself into the middle of the Town Clerk’s pond fully clothed and dared the pursuing staff to fish me out.”

Without doubt, some of those genes have been passed on to his grandchildren, Milly and Sam. He went on to say that he rode his tricycle over people and derived much satisfaction if their reactions were slower than his, but as we all know with the passing of time he grew into a man of great stature.

From Westwood House he went on to Oakham School following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, and in due course his son, Timothy, was sent there being the fourth generation. Although not a great sportsman, he did develop a great ability as an administrator, becoming Secretary of Games and this stood him in good stead for the rest of his life.

Such was his organisational ability that when his beloved daughter, Zoë, married in Oundle School Chapel, he gave her strict instructions not to dilly dally outside the Chapel on her way to the reception as sunset was at 1803 hours and he wanted the guests to be sat down in daylight. How many fathers plan their daughter’s wedding to that degree?

It was while at school that he enjoyed the activities of the Combined Cadet Force, rising to the rank of Senior Under Officer and it was the CCF that gave him the inspiration to join the Territorial Army when he left school.

There were no Careers Masters at school in those days and being quite good at maths, he thought he would be an accountant. His Housemaster advised Law. He duly became articled to Wells & Hind in Nottingham, a very well known firm indeed, who did all the work at that time for Boots the Chemist. Up to the early ‘60s, it was quite normal for one’s father to pay a thousand guineas a year for a son to be articled, but in the early ‘60s it became the trend for articled clerks to be paid, and so after three years of his father paying he was then paid £5 per week.

The Senior Partner encouraged him to join the TA and he was duly commissioned into the 8th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters. This suited him well as he then had two weeks holiday plus two weeks camp and received 29 shillings a day with 2 1/2 pence travelling allowance per mile.

In 1967 he took a bold step and married Pip, resulting in the arrival of Timothy in 1969 followed by Zoë two years later. Richard and Pip spent a lot of their life together enjoying and working in their beautiful garden which they created from a barren farmyard and field in 1975. Today, the garden is a sea of colour, an oasis of flowers, trees, shrubs and vegetables – enough vegetables to feed us all here today – he didn’t do gardening in half measures. His green fingers and knowledge were shared with his son Tim, and Richard’s grandson Sam, is already pushing a wheelbarrow around and helping Pip with jobs in the garden.

On qualifying he joined Few & Kester in Cambridge and returned home to join his father in 1973 following Mr Wyman Abbott’s death. Unlike many people today, he did not seek to chop and change and as Senior Partner in 1991 merged the business with Buckle Mellows and retired fully soon after. Throughout his time as a solicitor he continued his activities in the TA having joined the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1964.

When the Regiment was disbanded in 1967 he was given a posting in the 5th Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment at the Drill Hall in London Road. He took command of Headquarters Company and retired in the rank of Major in 1972 and was awarded the Territorial Decoration. He continued, however, to take an active part within the Reserve Forces both in Cambridgeshire and a wider role within East Anglia. He was a great supporter of the Cambridgeshire Army Cadet Force and has been President of the Northamptonshire Old Comrades’ Association for over 30 years.

In 1993 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant, an honour for which he was immensely proud. It always amazed him that a DL’s appointment is only allowed if one does not receive the Queen’s disapproval. The Queen does not specifically approve the appointment!

Richard was always keen to contribute more to society than he received. He helped to raise staggering amounts of money for numerous charities during his lifetime including the NSPCC, The Friends of Peterborough Hospital, The Ormiston Trust, Wharf Enterprise, together with military charities including the Army Benevolent Fund.

But it is as a devoted family man for which we shall best remember him. He absolutely adored his wife, their two children and two grandchildren. He was immensely kind, thoughtful and very generous. He will be missed as a friend of many, a true gentleman and a loyal Petroburgian