Bill Mortimer
The following eulogy was read at Bill's funeral on 12 June at St Michael's Church, West Hill
RM81712 Corporal William Brian Edwin Mortimer Royal Marines
1943-2025
On behalf of the Royal Marines Association may I offer our sincere condolences to Shirley and her family and friends at the sad passing of her husband, Bill, on 13 May.
Bill served as a Royal Marine for 9 years, leaving in 1968 as a Corporal Cliff Leader. Although the Royal Marines have been around since 1664, Commando forces are relatively new, having only been formed in 1940. Just two short decades later, Bill volunteered for commando training. Passing commando training in Bill’s Day, just the same as today, requires a great deal of determination. Today, we have defined the commando spirit as determination, courage, unselfishness and cheerfulness in the face of adversity; and our values are excellence, integrity, self-discipline and humility. This list of attributes, although written after Bill had successfully completed his commando training, accurately defined Bill’s character.
After successfully completing his Junior Command Course Bill was promoted to Corporal before volunteering for Cliff Leader training. Cliff Leaders are the predecessors of today’s Mountain Leaders, a Royal Marines specialisation well known and highly respected throughout the world. Operating in mountainous terrain carries many risks and requires a high degree of expertise and professionalism. Passing the Cliff Leaders course required students to demonstrate the ability to remain calm under pressure in order to effectively lead men in challenging circumstances. Once again, Bill’s character came to the fore, enabling him to rise to the challenges and successfully complete the course.
During his career Bill saw active service in Aden, Borneo and Malaya. His campaign medals, each engraved with his name, rank and regimental number, quite correctly adorn his coffin today. Shirley told me that Bill served in 43 Commando and took part in mountain and arctic warfare training in Norway. Commando operations are demanding and are conducted at high intensity over prolonged periods. Bill certainly took part in his share of campaigns, and, once again, it was the strength of his character that sustained him during these operations.
I never had the honour to serve with Bill having only met him six years ago through our membership of the RMA Golf Society. Bill was held in high regard by all of us golfers, a fact supported by the large number of our members here today. Shirley told me that despite the major health challenges he endured for a large part of his life after the Corps, she never once heard him complain. In the short time I knew him, this was also my experience. Sadly, for me anyway, he never said very much about his career either, had he done so my job today might have been a little easier! My memory of Bill, no doubt shared by many of us golfers, is that he was always last out and last in during our games, but he always maintained his good humour as we teased him about his speed of play. My other memory is that he was always supported by his good friend Jerry Wotton, who always made sure he was Ok.
Despite his achievements in the Royal Marines, and many others subsequently in his civilian life, Bill was always a humble man. He was quiet and unassuming, and he faced the substantial challenges that life threw at him with good cheer and humility, and always without complaint.
In closing may I say it has been my honour and privilege to be given the opportunity to say these few words about Bill today.
Rest in peace Bill, your duty is done.
PE
Paul's hanging up his shirts.
After several years of support to the RMAGS Committee, Paul Stevenson is leaving his role as our Merchandise Rep. Paul has been the 'shirt bloke' since 2020 and his efforts in ensuring our 'sartorial elegance' are much appreciated. Paul's tour guiding activities continue to take him away regularly and he felt his regular absences were making it difficult to continue in his role. On behalf of all of us all, I pass on our gratitude to Paul for his excellent work as RMAGS's inaugural Merchandise Rep and look forward to his continued presence at our regular events. Paul Denning will handle our merchandise until we fill the vacancy - all volunteers welcome.
The RMA Golf Society expands to the South East
The RMA GS now includes a South East (SE) Region Branch which held its inaugural event at Walmer & Kingsdown golf club on Thursday 24th April. Eleven members from the Deal area enjoyed the day and provided a ‘match report’ and some phots to prove it.
Regional Branches
Our long held aspiration has been to provide regular events beyond the South West and, thanks to Bobby Guest and his team, we now hold events around the Deal area. The South East is our first regional branch to hold events and we are in discussions with other locations in Edinburgh and Arbroath to do likewise.
Events
With the addition of the SE Region, RMA GS now organise around 20 events each season (March-November). Each season starts with an ‘opener’ weekend and ends with a ‘closer’ weekend. Last year we held a dinner at our closer event to mark the Corps Birthday and our 10th anniversary. Based on the dinner’s success last year, we now plan to make it a regular feature. This year we are looking at some ‘easterly’ venues to make it easier for our new SE members to join us. We also help with the administration of the WestCountry 100 Golf Day held annually at The Exeter Golf and Country Club—this year on 5th June.
Come and join us
If you would like to join us for an event you are most welcome. You do not need to join us (you can play as a guest) and we have no minimum handicap requirement. So, if you would like to ‘try before you buy’ just pick an event near you, and ask to be placed on the list.
interested in starting a Regional Branch?
If you think there may be sufficient interest to start a RMA GS regional branch in your area, please get in touch with us. We can help you to set up a regional branch by providing general guidance, software and website support and funding advice—no need to write a charter, we already have one. To have an informal chat around setting up a regional branch please contact us—we’re happy to help.
South East Region inaugural event
By Bobby Guest - SE Region Representative
On Thursday 24th April 2025 the inaugural meeting of the RMAGS South East Region was held at Walmer & Kingsdown golf club. Following a hearty breakfast, eleven enthusiastic players, took part in the match and battled against a prevailing cold easterly wind, for the first nine holes. The weather then improved and the sun came out, to make it a very enjoyable day out for all. A "tot" of port was waiting for players, when they arrived at the halfway hut!! My thanks go to those members (you know who you are) who assisted me on the day, with admin etc. I am sure for those of you who attended, you'll agree that we had a good turnout for our very first fixture. Despite the greens not being in the best condition, some of you still managed to come in with some very good scores. The average score at Walmer & Kingsdown on the day was 28 points.
corps family weekend 12-14 september 25
This year's Corps Family Weekend takes place from Friday 12th to Sunday 14th September. Many events will take place around CTCRM including our match against the RMGA on 12 September at Woodbury Park - see EVENTS
10 Years of The RMA Golf Society - Introduction
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The following article is also published in the RMA Membership email in November 2024 and the January/February edition of the Globe and Laurel.
The Royal Marines Association Golf Society (RMA GS) – 10th Anniversary
The RMA GS recently held a dinner to celebrate its tenth anniversary which seems an ideal time to explain what we are, who we are, what we do, why we do it and what we would like to do in the future.
10 YEARS OF THE RMA GOLF SOCIETY - What are we
We are an RMA Sports Branch. RMA Sports branches (previously called virtual branches) are relatively new and enjoy the same status as RMA geographical branches. So, belonging to the RMA GS is no different to belonging to RMA Exmouth (many of us belong to both).
10 YEARS OF THE RMA GOLF SOCIETY - who ARE WE
We have over sixty active members and regularly attract thirty of them to our events. Our membership is constantly growing and in the past few years it has increased apace. Members range in age from a ‘sprightly’ eighty-three to thirty, and, although predominantly male, we also have female members. Typically, members are former RM, but our membership also includes serving members, ‘Perce’ and ‘CivPop’. A case in point is Ian, our current fixtures representative, and the bloke who does most of the work, is CivPop. His strong link to the Corps is his son who is currently serving at Poole. To further illustrate our inclusivity, we even have a former RAF bloke on the books! Our obvious ‘common denominator’ is our association with the Corps.
10 YEARS OF THE RMA GOLF SOCIETY - WHAT WE do
We hold around twelve golf events during the ‘summer’ months, at venues in and around Devon, and our home club is Tiverton. Our ‘opener’ weekend is held in March and includes our AGM and our ‘closer’ weekend, in October, now includes the Corps Dinner. This year we have played more games and attended more events than any previous year. In June, and under the leadership of our treasurer, Paul Denning, and with the help and support of the club staff, we organise and run the Westcountry 100 RM Charity Golf Day at the Exeter Golf and Country Club. Diary note - next year’s event is on 5th June at the same venue and entry forms will be available early in the new year on our website. Additional to TRMC, we also support other charities thanks to the support of our members, and the work of our small committee, who ‘beaver’ quietly away behind the scenes.
10 YEARS OF THE RMA GOLF SOCIETY - why WE DO it
The obvious answer as to why we are members of the RMA GS is that we like playing golf – but there’s more to it than that. As with any RMA Branch, most of our members are part of the brotherhood, moulded by the Corps to look after each other and those around us; once a marine, always a marine. As much as we enjoy the golf, membership also keeps us in regular touch with each other and ‘plugged’ into the contemporary Bootneck scene. We also spread the word about how TRMC supports the Corps family and this year we raised nearly twelve-thousand pounds in donations - the majority of which generated by the WC100 event (see above). Most importantly, there is also a strong social element involved in being a member of the RMA GS and our recent dinner serves (sorry – bad pun) as an example.
10 YEARS OF THE RMA GOLF SOCIETY - WHY WE DO IT/The Dinner
Our inaugural dinner was held at Ashbury Manor (near Okehampton) in October to celebrate the 360th Corps Birthday and our tenth anniversary. It was a mix of the formal and informal; we observed the usual formalities of toasts, citations and speeches while dressed informally in our RMA GS golf shirts (one member wore his with a Corps bow tie!) and serving ourselves from the hotplate – just like in the main galley. The snipers among you will have spotted the “citations” plural above and this is correct, we now have our own citation which is available here. Photos from the evening are also available here. Some are a little blurry, perhaps we should have kept the photographer away from the port!
10 YEARS OF THE RMA GOLF SOCIETY - WHY WE DO IT/TRMC Patron
TRMC Patron, and Constable of the Tower of London, General Gordon Messenger, joined us for a round and was generous enough to be our Guest of Honor for the dinner. During his speech, after reassuring us that the Crown Jewels were safe, he emphasised how important the RMA/TRMC is in providing support to the Corps family. He also made it clear that the RMA/TRMC does its business extremely well and is well set-up for the future.
10 YEARS OF THE RMA GOLF SOCIETY - the future
The RMA GS is a vibrant and growing ‘new’ Sports Branch which will continue to support the RMA/TRMC and provide support to our members. We are growing our membership and would also like to grow geographically. There are several potential members unable to attend our events because of the distance involved. We know there are many former RM living in/around Scotland and RMA GS (Scotland) remains an aspiration. The infrastructure is in place and our committee stands ready to support any volunteers from the ‘north’ who would like to step forward to get the ball rolling.
We welcome new members and if you would like to join us it’s very easy – just use this link, or visit our website. Have no concerns about your golfing ability, you will understand why at your first event!
Hole in One
Hole in One
In the highly unlikely event that any of us should ever get a hole in one, Sid Foulston has it covered! Yes, Sid has already 'sculpted the RMAGS hole in one trophy.
