Douglas Arthur Battley (12 Sep 1933 - 22 Aug 2017)

In loving memory of Douglas Arthur Battley who sadly passed away on 22nd August 2017.

Many of you may remember Douglas as a caring family man, who worked hard during his life to provide the best he was able to for others.

Douglas was born in Spalding and educated later at Loughborough College, before joining the RAF as an electrical engineer, many will know he was posted to Egypt whilst in the RAF as he often recalled detailed stories of the happy time he spent there.

On leaving the service he helped his father (Arthur Battley) in business, met his wife Marie (nee Read) and moved to Sutton On Sea where he ran "Hornby's garage". Returning to the Spalding area he eventually opened the electrical business "South Lincs Electrical Wholesale" (SLEW Ltd) in Double Street, Spalding. His two children Judy (1960) and Nigel (1962) were born in Pinchbeck at the family home in Rotten Row.

Douglas was always a good swimmer and won many cups whilst at college, his fan of the sport followed him into his adult life when he was involved with the reformation of the Spalding Amateur Swimming Club, both being an active committee member and heading the Life-Saving group - many will have learned their skills from him. As well as Life-Saving Douglas took up Scuba Diving and enjoyed it to the extent of opening "Scuba-DAB" as a small business and club for the enthusiasts within Spalding. Following the closure of SLEW, in early 1980's Douglas was readily employed at the local swimming pool as a supervisor, where he remained for several years, before once again leaving his employment to help out his, now aging, father at Newholme Garden Centre, Pinchbeck. Many of the conservatories surveyed and sold by Douglas still remain today in the gardens of local (and some not so local) residences.

Another life long favourite of Douglas was dogs, this enjoyment was shared by his wife, Marie - who sadly passed away in 1981. The family pets were several throughout the years, as well as cats and fish there were always dogs, from Labradors to Corgis, Terrier Whippet to Great Dane and later many German Shepherd Dogs Douglas was always a lover of dogs. His last hobby to list was photography, always having the latest camera he could afford he would photograph everything and anything, first on film for print, then later onto colour slides and cine film, many of the films still exist today and are slowly being transferred into a modern digital format by his family and posted within the family tree published on www.Ancestry.co.uk

Douglas will obviously be sadly missed by his family, but his memory will live on and it is hoped that you, the readers of this obituary, the people who knew Douglas will add your own memories to this page, share a photograph or two if you have them and if you are able to join his family in remembering Douglas at the funeral it would be a wonderful tribute to a most wonderful man.

Thank you