The Soldier
1981-1988
Tim joined the army in 1981 an institution he loved and deeply respected. As an officer he would expect his men to share his standards, turning out immaculately with highly polished shoes, never being late, respecting tradition, complete honesty and remaining at the peak of fitness. These values Tim held dear for the rest of his life.
Bill Hargreaves recalls a night that went down in regimental history.
“In our barracks there were two regiments who set up a competition to see who could "liberate" something of greatest value from the other’s Mess. After a couple of beers Tim and I decided it was our turn; It was about 11 PM and using my motorbike we drove to the far end of camp. Whilst Tim wandered into their Mess I sat with the engine running and waited. And waited. It was quiet, too quiet.
The next thing I saw was Tim exiting at high speed pursued by 40 enraged Tank officers in hot pursuit.
Apparently Tim had walked into the middle of a fully blown Guest Night, where the “Tankies” as they are known were all kitted out in their finest, the dining table laden with the best regimental silver, and the guest of honour at their table was no other than the Secretary of State for Defence, Sir John Knott,. Many would have been overawed - but not Tim. He grabbed the main silver candelabra from the middle of their table, shook out the candles, said thank you and legged it.
St Kilda
Tim was posted to St Kilda as commanding officer. This island in the Hebrides, known for very little except for incredible bird life. Tim's challenge was falling Puffin Chicks. This had become a particular problem due to adverse weather conditions. With his soft heart Tim set up “Operation Puffin” commanding his men to put the Puffins back into their nests. You can imagine his orders “Taylor you take that cliff”, “Smithy those are your nests”.
At Christmas Tim insisted that his men had a proper Christmas lunch so he commandeered a helicopter to deliver the frozen turkeys. Too windy to land they were thrown out in crates. But one crate smashed sending a frozen turkey careering through the windscreen of Tim’s Landrover hitting the Sergeant Major so hard he was out of action for a month. I hope the roast turkey was worth it.
Tim had a rather special visitor too - Princess Anne. At the end of the trip she asked if she could have a T-Shirt with “The Puff Inn” on the front. The name of the Mess. “Certainly Ma’am” Tim said “what size are you” There was a pause. “Captain Edwards” she said with a broad grin “you don’t ask a Princess what size she is”.
