The Haileybury Society was delighted to hear recently about the 80th birthday celebrations of Colonel Martin Romilly, OBE (Th 56) which were held at Welford Road, home of the Leicester Tigers.

Martin has been a loyal Leicester Tigers supporter since he left the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst on being commissioned into the Royal Leicestershire Regiment in 1963. Naturally, he decided that the Welford Road, Leicester Tigers’ ground, would be a great place to celebrate his 80th birthday with his two sons Stephen (Th 85) and Nicholas (Th 88). He invited a fellow OHRFC player Tony Harper (K 60) and two Army friends, Lucy Giles and Ralph Wooddisse to join him for this happy occasion.

Special presentation

Tony Harper informs us the celebrations began at 11.30am with a glass of champagne in the Directors’ Lounge, where Martin was presented with a wonderful birthday cake in the shape and colours of a Tigers shirt.

The presentation was made by the group’s generous hostess Andrea Pinchen. He was also given his own Tigers shirt with his name on the back together with the number 80!

Martin Romilly being presented with his special birthday cake. — Above: the special birthday cake being presented to Martin

Special seats, special victory!

As Tony says, “Tom Croft, a former Tigers and England No 8, who also played for the British Lions on two tours, was our master of ceremonies. Our group then walked 50 yards to special seats reserved for us in the stadium. We had an unusually early kick-off at 12.30pm.

Tom Croft talking to four OHs including Martin Romilly, OBE — *Left to right: Tony Harper (K 60) , Tom Croft , Martin Romilly (Th 56) , Nicholas Romilly (Th 88) and Stephen Romilly (Th 85)*

It was a great game, the Tigers’ England players were on the pitch for much of the time; it finished in a six try, bonus point victory for Tigers by 46 – 24 over Bristol Bears . We then walked over to the nearby Hotel Brooklyn, pausing on the way to view the magnificent Tigers Monument to commemorate the officers and soldiers from the Leicestershire Regiment, who had played for Tigers and subsequently lost their lives in the two World Wars. This was a moving moment for all of us.

An unforgettable day

We had a delicious birthday lunch, at 3pm, which included a piece of the Tigers birthday cake. It had been a wonderful celebration, which continued into the evening and one which Martin, and everyone else present, will never forget.”