CAPTAIN(E) ANDIE WILLS RFA(RETD) CROSSED THE BAR. SITREP 2

Crossed the Bar

It has been reported to me by Rupert Drew that Captain(E) Andie Wills crossed the bar yesterday (Monday 27th Jun 2016) aged 63.

His funeral will be held at 15:30 on Thursday 14th July at Poole Crematorium (HERE for their website and HERE for a map) Old shipmates will be most welcome to attend. Afterwards at Drusilla’s Inn, (HERE for their website and HERE for a map)

Family flowers only but donations may be made to Prostate Cancer UK (HERE for their website) and or Forest Holme Hospice (HERE for their website and HERE for a map)

On behalf of the RFA Association I offer his family our sincere condolences at this difficult time.

 


As ever the RFA Association is looking for photgraphs, I don’t think I ever sailed with Andie so I do not recognise him amongst the photographs we hold so your help will be greatly appreciated. VMT to Peter Lannin for this photograph.

 


If you have a rembrance of Andie please email it to me at deputy.chairman@rfaa.uk  and I will publish it on this page.

Shaun Jones writes:-

Andie (left of the group) at the SIR TRISTRAM Reunion in Marchwood (June 2015) was sadly the last time I saw him. We sailed together a few times through our careers the last time being 2010 in WAVE RULER when I was CO and he was CEO. A charming and highly supportive CEO who had an amazing ability to see through things clearly, identify the solution (as opposed to the problem) and get on with it. Very much a practical hands on guy with a healthy disrespect of “process”, he was an achiever and a good man to have onboard. Clearly we had a special bond from our experience in the Falklands War when we both together in SIR TRISTRAM and I will dearly miss him.

Ross Ferris writes-

Andie inspired great confidence as CEO of Mounts Bay as we emerged from build, proceeded on Contractor’s Sea Trials and entered service. I hugely appreciated his calm, practical, sensible advice and guidance during some pretty challenging times. Not only was he technically skilful, but as a friend and confidant a great shipmate and thoroughly nice bloke. Passionate about his lovely partner, now wife, Claire, engineering, bikes and fast cars, he was very proud of the RFA and his MN heritage, whilst remaining grounded and unassuming. He is a great loss, my thoughts are with Claire and his loved ones and I’ll miss him.