Les Fowler, 1925 – 2004.

All Radio Redhill members were deeply saddened that Les Fowler passed away on March 18th at the East Surrey Hospital.

Les founded Radio Redhill in 1974 along with his son Andrew, and the first programmes recorded in the station log were on Christmas Day from 7.00 p.m. to 9.50 p.m.  Regular programmes commenced every Saturday evening from February 8th 1975.

Les was Radio Redhill’s first Chairman, but he particularly enjoyed devising and presenting programmes.  Three of Les’s programmes were broadcast regularly for many years – Concert Hall, Rejoice & Sing and, of course 20-30-40 (first heard in 1975).

Les was a Lay Preacher and took great pleasure in recording two special programmes, “Christians Awake!” and “What’s Good About Good Friday?” which were broadcast every Christmas and Easter respectively.

He greatly enjoyed both live broadcasting and request collecting, carrying on visiting the wards until he felt he was no longer physically able to do so.  But, even after that, Les was a regular broadcaster on Sunday mornings, arriving and departing in his wheelchair, often assisted by his daughter (and Radio Redhill Secretary) Sue.  Many of us have happy memories of those Sunday request programmes and Les’s own very varied choice of music that followed. 

Everybody in Radio Redhill owes a great debt of gratitude to Les, not only for founding the station almost 30 years ago, but also for being a guiding hand to the station ever since.  We will remember him with great affection.

Below, Andrew looks back over Les's life.

-------------------------

The task of summing up a life in a few minutes is very daunting, especially when you are talking about a man like Les Fowler.

Several years ago Les decided to write about his early experiences in order that his grandchildren could appreciate some aspects of life in the first half of the twentieth century. “Letters To My Grandchildren” was a collection of memories from his childhood to middle age. It’s very existence is a tribute to Les’s wit, his wisdom and his ability to communicate – qualities very much on display in much of the voluntary work he did in later life.

Les was born in High Wycombe in 1925, the son of a French polisher. This was a time of depression, and when the bottom fell out of the furniture market in the early 30’s, Les’s father took the unusual step of moving to Dorking and taking over the running of a gentile tea shop in West Street.

As he says in his letters: “I remember for a while we lived at a house along the street, next to the butcher’s shop. This had a garden and at the bottom of the garden was a slaughterhouse, because this butcher was the real thing – he killed his own meat. I remember at least once being allowed in to watch the killing. The day when I was allowed to work the sausage machine left an indelible impression. More conventional entertainment was provided by the wireless.”

Of his education he said: “On reflection, I think that Dorking County School was a definite improvement on High Wycombe where the Grammar School was an ancient all male institution where they played rugby and probably didn’t know what girls were for.”

Les left school in 1941 and worked briefly at Milton Court in Dorking before being called up at the age of eighteen. Years later he recalled: “It was a big mistake, but as I hadn’t volunteered it wasn’t my mistake. If they were daft enough to want me they would have to send for me. Over the years I’ve thought through and tried to make sense of some of the things that happened to me and I eventually came to the conclusion that the trouble with the British Army was, and probably still is, institutionalised stupidity. The stupidity manifested itself immediately on arrival at the basic training centre at Maidstone, in the shape of a plate of stinking inedible slime which was described as a meal. The object of the exercise seemed to be to make me hate the British Army more than the Germans.”

The army soon realised that Les was not infantry material and he was posted to the Army Education Corps. He went over to France on D+1 and for most of the rest of the war he wrote and duplicated a news-sheet, by the simple method of copying down what the BBC had said. He didn’t see much real action, later recalling that “It was quite quiet in our little orchard, but there was at least one occasion when we emerged from our hole in the ground and were able to see the war going on in the distance. This was the day the RAF heavy bombers attacked the city of Caen and reduced it to rubble. We also saw one flying bomb which had been aimed at England, but had gone astray. The anti-aircraft gunners used it for target practice which was rather silly because it was heading straight for the Germans – it was their bomb, let them sort it out.”

At the end of the war Les was demobbed and returned to Dorking and a job as a salaries clerk. In 1950 he married and moved to Reigate – the kids starting to arrive in 1952.

In 1955 Les joined the Legal & General where he was to work for the next twenty years, finally rising, as he put it, to his own level of incompetence. Here was planted another seed – his need to study and learn. He worked for and gained an Associate of the Chartered Insurance Institute. As he later put it “Whether I really needed to do all that swotting is debatable. What is sure is that, for some people, swotting and exams are addictive. In my case, it was only a mild addiction, but the damage was done. At any time in the future I was liable to see a challenge and say ‘I could do that’ and off I would go on another round of studying and exams. Sure enough, I did – twice – and eventually it took a road accident to stop me.”

This era also saw Les’s interest in politics develop. He was instrumental in the setting up of a union branch at the Legal & General. He also stood for election to the local council. Years later he recalled that he had stuck with the Liberals through thick and thin and it was only in his retirement that he had the luxury of voting for candidates who actually won.

Les retired from the Legal & General in 1975, largely because they wanted to move his department to Hove and he didn’t want to go – so he took the money instead. He joined the Civil Service as a Benefits Officer. He maintained his interest in union matters becoming a branch representative.

In 1976 Les suffered a heart attack that left him hospitalised for several weeks. This turned out to be another turning point for him. Heeding the warning, he lost weight and took up a fitness regime that included a great deal of cycling. He would think little of cycling forty miles to see a family member or a friend. He even took his bike on the train to Scotland where he discovered the delights of fine malt whiskey.

This was Les at his most vibrant. Physically fit, the studying, the voluntary work and the travelling – the holidays in Greece, the visits to family and friends, including those then in Australia. But like a lot of good things it was not to last.

Les retired for the second time in 1985. He was to enjoy less than two years of his retirement before the accident that changed him so much. Out on his bike as usual he was hit by a lorry and thrown over a hedge into a field. He suffered spinal damage that left him permanently disabled. In the early days in hospital the neuro-surgeons told him that he would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Les could be stubborn when he wanted to be and decided to prove the surgeons wrong. It was a long and hard struggle, but he did so and went on to some of his greatest achievements. That said, he always regarded his life after the accident as a bonus.

Les had started studying with the Open University long before the accident. He was determined that it was not going to prevent him from reaching his goal – a degree. But he knew that it was not going to be easy. A computer Luddite before the accident he now found that he was physically unable to write very much. He set himself the task of mastering the computer and succeeded to such an extent that he was probably the only resident of Dungate Manor who regularly surfed the internet. The computer also allowed him to complete his studies, not only gaining his degree, but adding honours to it.

It is simply not possible to look at Les’s life in strict chronological order. We must now put the clock back to 1941 when he left school and discovered something that held a fascination for him for the rest of his life. As he says in his letters “Classical music on gramophone records didn’t start for me until I started work in 1941. I remember that Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 was all the rage, but I could only afford the first record – about 9 minute’s worth. I also had a record of the Overture to Rossini’s Opera ‘The Thieving Magpie’. I know this because I played it in a record recital for the benefit of people who had to live at Milton Court during the week because their homes were too far away to travel each day. This may have been the very first of many such recorded programmes. I really started collecting classical records after I was demobbed and I recall that some of my treasures were bought off a barrow in Leather Lane.” This passion lasted for sixty years and resulted in a huge and diverse collection. Les left specific instructions that this was to be passed to those who would use and enjoy it.

When he moved to Reigate after the war Les joined the Gramophone Circle and it was through this that he was recruited to provide the music for an open-air production of A Midsummer’s Night Dream. As often happens, one thing led to another, and Les found himself involved in the first of the Pageants held in Reigate Priory in 1951. Of this he said “two of us performed a minor miracle every night with a pile of 78 records, a chinagraph pencil and a pair of very basic turntables.” Things got easier in subsequent pageants with the advent of recording tape, although when Les came to play these some thirty years later he had to keep stopping to clear the remains of long dead insects from the tape machine.

This part of his life also saw the development of Les’s religious beliefs. He once admitted that when he was recruited into the army he was asked to give his religion. The recruiting Sergeant looked down the form in front of him, his lips moving as he read. Finally he looked up and said “Agnostic? That’s not on the bloody list. Church of England.”

Les later recalled “I wasn’t particularly Churchy when the kids were little, but I wanted them to go to Sunday School and it didn’t seem fair to make them go if I didn’t go myself.” He started to attend the Congregation Chapel in South Park. One morning the minister had a terrible cold and Les volunteered to help him through the service. He found he could do it and liked it. There followed more years of studying and exams and finally authority to preach in Congregational and Presbyterian Churches. This played a large part in his life and it was a source of great regret and sorrow when physical infirmity prevented him from continuing.

The Hospital Radio work started in the early seventies. Les was admitted to Guys Hospital in London to be treated for the sinusitis which had affected him for years. He subsequently joined the League of Friends and saw that money was being donated to an organisation called Radio Guys. He asked if he could go and take a look. Fearing that he was a spy from the League of Friends, Radio Guys gave him an obsequious welcome and it took him several hours to convince them that he wasn’t there to audit the accounts, but wanted to help. Another seed was planted.

Les soon realised that he wasn’t going to have the patients rolling in the aisles with Shostakovitch and Hindemith so he turned instead to the big band music of his youth. He went on to make over a hundred editions of his trademark programme, 20-30-40.

It didn’t take Les long to work out that the Hospital Radio message could be spread, and in 1974 an approach was made to the local health authorities. Tentative permission was given for a pilot radio station at Smallfield Hospital. Having proved that it could be done, Les then applied to start broadcasting at Redhill General Hospital. Radio Redhill came into being in February 1975 with Les as its first Chairman, a position he held for some years, although he was always at his happiest making programmes.

In the early days most programmes were recorded in Les’s spare bedroom and relayed to the hospital on equipment that he had begged, borrowed or bought himself. Also in those early years Les set the benchmarks of quality that have endured up to the present day. It is a tribute to this early work that, nearly thirty years on, Radio Redhill stands recognised and respected at a national level for the quality of its programmes.

Right up to the last few weeks of his life Les was still planning new programmes for Radio Redhill, although physical frailty increasingly prevented him from making them.

Les leaves behind a rich legacy. There are the parental things. The years of help, advice, wisdom and encouragement he gave to his children and grandchildren.

There are the practical things – the huge music collection which he wanted given to those who would use and enjoy it. The books – passed to his children and grandchildren in whom he always tried to encourage an interest in literature and history.

Then there are the not so tangible, but perhaps more important, things. The lives of those he touched and made better – be it the hundreds, probably thousands, who enjoyed his work at the gramophone recitals, the pageants, the plays and in countless radio programmes – or those who gathered to hear him preach – or maybe just a lonely and frightened patient on a hospital ward that he gave his time to talk to.

I think now that I have said enough of the man that we all knew. Each of us carries our own memories of Les. And as he would have been the first to point, there are dangers in saying too much. After all – “There was enough said at our Edie’s wedding.”

Andrew Fowler.