Later Life - 1996 - 2023 Terry retired on his 65th birthday. An event was organised at the Range to give him a proper military send off with pipes and drums, colleagues and close family attending. By this time both myself and Molly were on the scene and Terry was referred to as Opa, the German for Grandpa. This was also the year Opa received an MBE for services to Conservation, for all the years of hard work at the Range. Instead of going to the Palace to receive it, he chose to have a special ceremony on the Island at Osborne House, so all of his family could attend. A couple of years later, more grandchildren came along - Peter and Alex completed the family lineup. Opa found adjusting to retirement a little strange at first, especially as Oma was happily settled at home. He still went out to the Range as often as he could and continued to give some conservation talks, assisting the new range warden with his wealth of knowledge. With two son’s living abroad, there were trips to Indonesia, Cyprus and Germany for holidays. Opa also took up a new hobby, teaching himself to play the electric organ. For a man who was not generally interested in music, unless reciting one of many ditties from his youth, listening to him practise, kept us all entertained. These 4 happy years were cruelly cut short when Oma died suddenly in April 2000. It was a huge shock for the whole family. A few years later, tragedy struck again with the unexpected death of Peter, their eldest son, in Laos. As a way of expressing his grief and remembering the good old days, Opa took up poetry writing, as 4 printed booklets and numerous folders can attest to. He was happiest entertaining visitors at home by reading them some of his poems. The genre of poem chosen would depend on the guest but the infamous ‘blue folder’ did put in an appearance from time to time, if he thought he could get away with it. Opa wanted to remain in his own home and we wondered how he would cope by himself. Staplers was the place that held happy memories for him and where he felt close to Oma. He did incredibly well, with support from wonderful neighbours - Lin, Roger, Jeanette and Dudley - who kept an eye on him and in the later years, helped with shopping and hot meals. Lisa cleaned for him and Kris did odd jobs in the house and garden. We are so grateful to you. His favourite spots were to sit and have a pipe in the front porch, watching the world go by. Or in the back room, looking at the view down to the river Medina.

TERRANCE GEORGE ROLF (MBE) - MIDLIFE 1952 TO 1996 THE COLOUR SERVICE YEARS Dad embarked on 12 months of arduous commando trg starting off at Deal in Kent, which once successfully completed, entitled him the privilege of wearing the coveted Green Beret. A career in the Marines however was not for him. The story goes that he was promised that he could follow his trade but when it became apparent that that was not the case, his campaign to transfer out of the Service began. After successfully masterminding this, he joined the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (REME) and was posted to Melton Mowbray. The highlight of this time was meeting and falling in love (at first sight) with his future wife Gisela, who had come over from Germany and enrolled in nursing training in the new NHS. Dad was adamant that she was going to be his wife and ultimately engineered this outcome by sneaking into the nurses’ accommodation one night on the pretext that he had missed the last bus back to camp. He was discovered and that meant immediate expulsion from the nurse's training for mum. Some of you will know that Dad had a wicked sense of humour. One event from this time was when one of mum’s German girlfriends came to visit. Her English was not very good and when it came time for her to catch the bus home she asked Dad what she should say to the conductor. Dad sat her down and said ‘it’s very simple. All you need to say is “A single ticket to Nottingham please you silly old bugger!” She repeated this phrase until she was confident she could say it on the bus. Mum and Dad then had a hell of a time persuading her just to say “A single ticket to Nottingham please” and leave out the silly old bugger part. Dad’s first accompanied overseas posting was to Singapore. They arrived with literally what they could carry with everything else provided by the army. Dad was in the peak of physical condition and his Officer Commanding was intent on winning the Army Athletics Championship cup. They needed a Hammer thrower and Dad naturally got that gig. Most of his tour was spent either at the Gym or on the Hammer circle honing his skills. Suffice to say that he won his event in a REME Far East record of 145 Ft 71/2 Inches. First son Peter was also born during this posting. Next move was to Germany where they stayed for 6 years. Dad’s German was rudimentary at best. He recalls how he once went into a chemist shop to purchase some condoms. He started off by asking for some “Francoise Brief” (German for “French Letters”). Literal translations rarely work and there stood the bemused shopkeeper shrugging his shoulders, so Dad had to improvise. He knew that a rubber over coat was (Gummi Mantel) and his manhood (Pimmel). So putting the 2 together he came up with the request for “Gummi Mantel fur mein Pimmel bitte”. After some added hand gestures the penny finally dropped and the shopkeeper burst out in laughter. He called his wife from upstairs to come down and listen to this crazy Englishman! Not sure how effective those Gummi Mantels were because I arrived next - apparently conceived on the hall floor after a 4 week field exercise - and Andrew followed 4 years later, completing the Rolf clan. It was then back to UK for a short time (Bordon in Hampshire) where Dad, very much at Mum’s continual perseverance, got him to attend the Artificers course that would allow promotion beyond Staff Sergeant. One strong memory of this time was when Dad was practising his air pistol skills from the bedroom window, he asked me to go into the back garden and change the target over. As I was bending over to carry out his wishes, he took aim and shot me in the buttocks! Thank goodness I was wearing my Leder Hosen! I often joked with him if he did anything like that now the social services would have me taken into care. On a positive note he did pass the Artificers course. A posting back to the Far East followed (1 year each in Malaya and Singapore). It was a great time for us all and we have many happy memories, many captured on Dad’s Yashica camera. There were financial benefits to Far East service and Mum and Dad, looking to the future, knew that they would need to buy their own house when his service career ended. To that end they saved whilst many others spent. On return to UK, Dad was posted to Nottingham Officer Training Corps but the family moved into 199 Staplers Road purchased for the princely sum of £5,400. Whilst Dad enjoyed his time at Nottingham particularly where he was acting as a shoulder to cry on for the female cadets, the trips from Nottingham to the Island on his Sunbeam motorbike and sidecar were a terrible wrench each time he had to leave. His last 2 years were spent much closer to home back at Bordon. He was offered continued service and promotion but was adamant that after 22 years he had done his bit and was going back to his beloved Isle of Wight. Dad ended his career as a Warrant Officer Class Two and he was always proud to say that in those 22 years that he never had to open his toolbox. THE RANGE YEARS Dad took up the post in 1975 and we moved out to the rambling Range House in Porchfield where he set about getting it back into sound order. We all put in many long unpaid hours in those early years. Dad used his tool making skills to come up with numerous designs that improved the efficiency and manufacture and repair of the firing targets. Dad was keen to get mainland units over to use the facilities that the Range and wider IOW had to offer. When the troops departed they invariably left us lots of composite rations which mum was able to transform into great delicacies. The 80s saw the realisation of the importance of ecology and conservation on the MOD estate. Dad was a pivotal driving force in turning the Range into the first MOD Nature Reserve. (It must be true because I got that from a back copy of the County Press!). He was awarded the Lord Lieutenants certificate for his efforts but this was just the harbinger of the greater recognition that was to follow. Dad was able to galvanise many local organisations to assist in the conservation effort. For all his efforts with the IW Girls Venture Corps Air Cadets he was made their Vice president. He also strengthened connections with the Newport & District Rifle Club, IW Territorial Army and IW Police to name but a few. The biggest single change was the construction of Jersey Camp. This state of the art facility allowed larger units to be accommodated and fed under cover and Dad got some well deserved additional manpower with the arrival of Lee Glover, Terry Gaskin Stuart and Trevor. Dad was always keen on developing the future generations and it is perhaps fitting that, Wes Woolcock, one of the Youth Training Scheme apprentices at the Range joined the military for a full career and has now come full circle and is the current Range officer. All good things eventually come to an end and on his 65th Birthday Dad retired from the Range. He would be the first to say that he had such an enjoyable time due to the support of Mum, the people he worked alongside and those he came into contact with.

Thank you for setting up this memorial to Terrance. We hope that you find it a positive experience developing the site and that it becomes a place of comfort and inspiration for you to visit whenever you want or need to.