Robin Garner died at the age of 94 in May this year after a short decline.
Robin was born at the very end of 1930 and brought up in Ramsgate, where his father ran a small bakery in Chatham Street, just yards from Chatham House School. He was initially evacuated with his mother and sister to an uncle in Warwickshire at the beginning of the war, but returned home shortly before Dunkerque. At that time, Ramsgate’s population was very much depleted and over the coming months he missed a lot of school due to the wartime activities in the channel and the skies above. He finally took the 11+ a year late and gained a place at Chatham house in 1943 and joining the school at its’ war time location in Stafford.
In the post war world, university was not an option as money was in short supply, so in 1947, following O-levels, he joined the Royal Engineers and trained as a draughtsman in a 7-year stint with them. On leaving the army, he attended night school to qualify as a mechanic engineer and after a short spell working in London, joined GEC at their Canterbury office. He remained with GEC for the rest of his career where he undertook many interesting projects, including working on turbines for magnox nuclear power stations and later the cooling systems for the Advanced Gas Cooled nuclear reactors. He also worked on designing fluid systems for the US Navy, Tarowa class assault ships and the launch tubes for the UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent, as well as replenishment at sea tensioning gear for the Royal Navy. Other projects included roll-on-roll-off ferry docks in Hong Kong, cooling systems for British Steel blast furnaces and escape capsules for North Sea Oil rigs.
Robin married Maureen Hood (ex-Clarendon House) in 1960 and they set up home in Littlebourne, which remained their home for rest of their lives, save a short period in Los Angeles and another in Leicester. They had three children, 8 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren.
Robin was a keen sportsman in his younger days and played plenty of cricket, tennis and hockey,
remaining a regular member of the Thanetians hockey team until nearly his 50th birthday. He could also regularly be found enjoying Kent cricket at Canterbury, having started by cycling from Ramsgate to watch in the 1940’s, remaining a member and regular visitor, right through until the 2024 season.
He was also a keen pianist and musician and although his playing was mostly for pleasure he did
spend a few seasons as stage manager for the Kent Wind Society in the 1980’s.
In later life, he and Maureen travelled widely and he kept fit with long walks and working in his
beloved garden.
Robin was a keen Member of the Old Ruymians' Club and will be very much missed by the ORs who knew him.