FORMER President of the Trowbridge branch of the Royal Air Forces Association Mike Fryer, who worked tirelessly in support of several charities, died on June 12 at the age of 76.

Mr Fryer was born in Bognor Regis, Sussex, on April 4, 1939, and attended St Mary’s RC, where he had memories of the town’s air raid sirens sounding and all the children being evacuated.

In 1950, Mr Fryer attended the High School for Boys in Chichester and three years later he joined the Air Cadets. As a young man, he was inspired by the regular breaking of the air speed record, with Neville Duke one of those who achieved the feat in 1953 along the Bognor sea front.

This led to Mr Fryer joining the Royal Air Force as an Air Craft Fitter in 1958, serving a further 12 years in various positions and in locations such as Cyprus.

After leaving the RAF in 1970, he worked at the Biochemistry Department at Oxford University, before moving on to the Ministry of Defence in Gosport.

There he worked on torpedoes until he received a promotion and moved to Bath to work on Armament Depot Support. He later went on to work in Calibration Support.

Mr Fryer had four children from his first marriage, Susan, John, Andrew and Elizabeth, who he loved dearly.

He met his second wife Lyn in 1993 through church organisation Association of Separated and Divorced Catholics, when he was secretary for the Bath group and Lyn was social secretary for the Bristol group.

They married in 1997 when Mr Fryer became a stepfather to Richard, Stephen, Kevin and Tracy. The union meant that the couple were not only blessed with each other’s children, but also with what are now 12 grandchildren.

He retired from the Civil Service three times during the period of 1999-2003 and was sad when his work came to an end, but loved with time with the MOD.

Mr Fryer was a member of the Trowbridge branch of RAFA for 30 years and during that time he was involved in many functions, including the Wings Appeal, which commemorates the Battle of Britain.

He managed the branch’s appeal, which is its most important money raising function, for 27 years and would work hard to secure locations for collections.

Over the years, he also worked tirelessly for several charities, including St Vincent De Paul Society, Association of Separated and Divorced Catholics Bath and National, plus the Air Cadets.

As a result of his work with the RAFA, Mr Fryer received the Presidential Certificate in 2013, the highest accolade the RAFA can give, which he was presented by the association’s president air marshal Sir Dusty Miller.

His family describe him as full of energy and ideas, which he always put to good use, especially when children were involved. They added that he was a loving husband, father and stepfather.

Mr Fryer’s funeral took place at St John’s Catholic Church on June 25.