From Foreign Lands to England’s Bowling Greens – the Extraordinary Life of Walter Lilley

As residents mark Armed Forces Week at Horsell Lodge, we're proud to share the story of resident Walter, whose RAF career played a significant part in his extraordinary life.

Scaling New Heights – Early Years in the RAF

Walter Lilley was born in Essex in 1936. He left school at 16 to work for the Eastern Electricity Board as an electrician – although his career really took off shortly afterwards when he joined the Royal Air Force.

Walter passed the entrance exam for engineering apprentices and life in the RAF began with a 3 year training course at RAF Halton in Buckinghamshire. “I loved it”, Walter said, “Although it turned into a 4 year course for me as I had a motorbike crash, only about 400 yards from home.”

Walter’s first overseas posting, aged 21, was to Aden – located in the southern part of modern day Yemen. “I had been trained as an Aircraft Weapons Systems Engineer so I was working on aircraft weapons systems – guns, rockets, bombs – you name the weapons system, we’d trained on it”, Walter explained.

During fighting in Aden, one of their aircraft was shot down and crashed into the mountains. The incident signaled that it was time to set up a mountain rescue team, which Walter volunteered to join, even though he hadn’t done any climbing before. “We did some climbing training, then four of us were taken to Mount Kenya for high altitude climbing. We went up the Lewis Glacier and onto the top – 17000 feet up! I had a great time.” It was an unforgettable experience and a picture of Mount Kenya sits proudly on the wall of Walter’s room at Horsell Lodge.

After the tour in Aden, Walter was sent to RAF Valley on Anglesey, Wales, – an air force squadron focused on training. There was no conflict in Wales”, laughed Walter – “Only on the rugby pitch”!

Romance Blossoms in the Welsh Mountains

Walter was keen to join the Mountain Rescue Team which was based in Snowdonia and involved a lot of climbing and weekend camps. It was also a time of great personal significance, as one weekend, unbeknown to Walter, two female teachers had decided to go on a camping trip in the mountains when he was out with the rescue team. Walter recounted, “Our leader, who was a great friend, said, “The pub’s open half an hour later down the road, shall we go”? “Great idea”, I said, so off we went. When we walked into the pub, there were two girls sitting at the bar. One of them just wrapped herself around my friend and I was left to talk to the other, named Patricia”.

Walter and Patricia met in September and got married in December at Trearddur Bay on Anglesey. Walter remembered, “People said it will never last, you’ve only known each other a few months - but Pat and I were together for 63 years”.

Walter eventually left the Mountain Rescue team as four of its members were getting divorced, which Walter did not want to happen, due in no small part to the length of time spent away on rescue missions. His posting was a long one, lasting just over 4 years, during which time his son Richard, and daughter Judith, were both born.

After time spent at RAF Bruggen near the Dutch border in Germany, which offered opportunities for some lovely holidays in a camping trailer, including trips to the South of France and Austria, Walter returned briefly to the UK to North Luffenham, near Rugby. He was then posted to Kenya.

A Kenyan Adventure

During his 3-year stint, Walter was effectively, ‘on loan’ to the Kenyan Airforce at KAF Eastleigh, supporting the Kenyans as they learned to fly and operate their guns. Life in Kenya was magical for the family. One of the houses they lived in came with around an acre of ground, half was of which was wild and often the backdrop for Secretarybirds hunting snakes. They spent Christmas on Mombasa beach and would head out in a Land Rover on self-guided safaris to Amboseli, Samburu and the Serengeti. They saw lion and cheetah kills, and there was an occasion when a baboon managed to get into the family’s 4 by 4 and tried to smoke Walter’s pipe! On the way back from one of their safaris, the family had stopped off at Mzima Springs for a swim. Walter recalls, “The day after we got back, we heard that a young lad, around the same age as Richard, had been taken by a crocodile at the same spot. That was a little too close for comfort”.

Walter enjoyed regular pastimes too. When they were based at Nairobi, Richard joined the Cubs, then shortly afterwards, the Pack Leader was posted back to the UK. As Walter had previous experience with the Cubs and also possessed useful outdoor skills from his mountaineering days, he agreed to take over the pack as Akela.

Final Chapter at Boscombe Down

The family finally returned to the UK, initially back to North Luffenham, then to Boscombe Down in Wiltshire where Walter enjoyed working as part of a team conducting trials for new aircraft and new weaponry. He recalled a particular exercise: “We went down to Cornwall in helicopters, test-dropping torpedoes in the sea to make sure it would be safe in a real life scenario if an aircraft was in trouble and had to ditch its torpedoes”.

Three years later, in 1977, the trials were cancelled due to lack of funds, so Walter and the entire 4-man trial team resigned. It was the end of Walter’s 23-year career with the RAF – life and work that he had enjoyed immensely.

Golden Memories from Islamabad

Walter’s second career with the Foreign Office brought yet more international travel. His role was to ensure the security of embassy buildings and their personnel, and he was first posted to Islamabad, Pakistan, where he and Pat stayed for around 18 months.

Walter and Pat’s children, Judith and Richard, were both at boarding school and joined their parents for the summer holidays. Richard remembers a wonderful drive from Islamabad to Deli via Amritsar whether they saw the golden temple and also the Taj Mahal in Agra. The following year, Walter and Pat embarked on another epic drive, as Walter explained, “We’d had our car shipped from the UK to Pakistan, which was pretty normal then, but when it was time to leave, we couldn’t sell our car in Pakistan. It was ridiculous! So, we had to drive up the Kyber pass into Afghanistan and sell it there, then we came back by train”.

A Russian Interlude

In stark contrast to the warmth and sunshine of Pakistan, Walter was then sent to Moscow where temperatures sometimes plummeted to minus 24 degrees. (He’d been known to use vodka as a very effective car windscreen wash)! He and Pat chose to drive their car from the UK to Moscow via Finland, a journey that took 5 days, including stop offs.

Walter describes their time in Moscow as a fabulous experience, despite having to become accustomed to the way things worked. He and Pat lived in a diplomatic enclave with a big car park and a man on the gate at all times, so when anyone left, it was noted that they were out for the evening. Walter explained, “We knew people would be in our flat searching, seeing what we were up to”.

Natural Beauty and International Drama – Living in The Hague

From Moscow, Walter and Pat moved to Holland, living in The Hague for almost 3 years and enjoying wonderful holidays exploring Europe, including driving across Switzerland and Italy. Walter was working at the embassy in 1979 when the British Ambassador, Sir Richard Sykes, was assassinated by the IRA. He recalls it being a hard time for a few days and the SAS coming in to try to find out what had happened, remembering that “… they were very nice people; they had to do their job”.

Both Sides of the Wall – a Posting to East Berlin

Walter was next posted to East Berlin. It was a unique time to be there, with West Berlin split into three - the British, American and French sectors, and East Berlin completely under Russian control. There was a stark contrast between East and West on opposite sides of the wall. West Berlin was being rebuilt and a lot of money was being pumped in, whereas East Berlin was still largely a bomb site – a scattering of new blocks in between longstanding piles of rubble and ruined churches.

Walter recalls seeing families at ‘Checkpoint Charlie’, desperate to reunite, some trying to escape across the wall. Just as they’d experienced in Moscow, there were specific shops for senior party members and diplomats where the blinds were pulled down so East Berliners couldn’t see what was being bought. It was an extraordinary experience and Walter describes security a “very, very tight”.

From Paris to London

Walter’s final posting was to Paris but after that, it felt like the right time to go home. When back in the UK on previous visits, Walter and Pat had bought a house in Woking – familiar to them as a train stop near London! The house had been rented out until their children, Richard and Judith, were old enough to move into it.

On their return to the UK, Walter worked for the American Embassy in London, using his electrical engineering skills in a role which involved travelling around the US government’s embassy buildings, residences and accommodation. It was a job he enjoyed for 13 years before retiring, aged 60.

20 Years of Memories Made on the Bowling Green

Back in Woking, Walter and Pat wanted to find a hobby they could share together and they discovered Woking Park Bowls Club. Walter explained, “We both started from scratch and we enjoyed it, we really did have a fantastic time. I ended up as a county umpire and Pat was a county bowler for Surrey ladies”.

The couple bowled with Woking Park Bowls Club for 20 years – including club tours to Spain and Portugal - and between them, accumulated a phenomenal number of cups and trophies. Despite a lifetime of travel, Walter and Pat didn’t stop, continuing to explore the world on holidays which included America, Australia and New Zealand, and a number of cruises.

A Full Life, Well Lived

In 2025, Pat’s health necessitated a move into a home that could provide nursing care and both Pat and Walter moved into Horsell Lodge Care Home. When his beloved wife passed away not long afterwards, Walter chose to stay and he continues to take advantage of the opportunities that life has to offer. He participates in activities, enjoys a glass of wine with dinner or shares a bottle and a chat with his son Richard, who lives just 10 minutes’ walk away.

At 90, Walter is articulate and engaging with sense of humour fully intact. Looking back on the past decades, he reflected, “It was full life …. we had a very good life”, which sums up neatly how Walter lived – by working hard, embracing challenges, making the most of every opportunity and bringing his experiences to life for his wife and children.