Richard Davies, Norman's son informs us that his father Norman Glyn Davies died yesterday, the 10th July 2024. He had returned home after a short stay in Colchester Hospital where a terminal cancer was diagnosed.

His wife, son and daughter were at his side as he passed peacefully and without pain. 

 

Funeral Arrangements

 

Norman's Funeral Service was held on Thursday 25th July at 1pm GMT at Colchester Crematorium

Address: Mersea Rd, Colchester CO2 8RU

 

Norman's Wake was held on Thursday 25th July at 2pm GMT at The Sun Inn Feering

Address: Feering Hill, Feering, Colchester CO5 9NH

 

A copy of The Order of Service can be seen at this link.

 

You are encouraged to add your condolences, memories, pictures and best wishes for Norman to the site below.

https://norman-glyn-davies.muchloved.com/

Funds for Farleigh Hospice who cared for Norman in his final days are being raised. 

 

Tributes

 

From Alan HS

I got to know Norman only through the MOGS Virtual Orange Tree Tuesday evening chats he instituted and we all developed a typical Marconi comradeship encompassing opinions on everything-and-nothing! We all remembered the Company as it was in its heyday - more like groups of friends in different areas of operation, meeting up as-and-when circumstances permitted. His stories about on-location experiences were fascinating to those of us like myself who worked in the laboratories. He will be missed

 

From Robin W

So sorry to hear of Norman’s passing. My condolences to Richard and the rest of the Davies family. 

I met Norman a number of times during my time with Marconi Radar but more so in the weekly MOGS Zoom gathering. Thank you Norman for arranging this. Many acquaintances and friends were made over the years as a result of this gathering and many stories told.

RIP Norman.

 

From Barry F

Very sorry to hear the sad news about Norman. I knew he wasn't well when we last met up at the Marconi Vets lunch in April. However, it has come as a complete shock to know he has passed away.

I got to know Norman and his family very well in the 1980s when I was responsible for sales and marketing in the Far East with first MRSL and then with Raytheon Cossor.

When I returned to Marconi's in 1991 as part of GMATS, Norman joined GMATS as engineering support and we worked together for around three years until I left Marconi again and rejoined Raytheon. He was very good at his job, always very good company and a friend.

My sincere condolences to his wife and family.

 

From Alan T

Although I have never actually met Norman, I have met him a few times online, soon after the weekly get-togethers started. It was good to get to know a little of others who joined in, with Norman ably in charge. Unfortunately the mid-day timing didn't suit me very well and I had to drop out, though I have continued to receive the regular notifications. The timing change, sadly, didn't work for me either, but in the meantime I had a number of email exchanges with Norman about a collection of early photographs of Chelmsford from the late 1800s and early 1900s. They feature on a set of table mats that we regularly use and every time I look at them I am reminded of Norman and his gracious understanding when I told him I would not be joining in any more of the Zoom sessions. I still wonder whether one day I might do so again (or even turn up one day at the Orange Tree) but it's unlikely for now.

 Best wishes to Norman and his family.

 

From Andy E

I’m so sad to hear the terrible news. I worked on and off with Norman for many years including a spell together in GMATS. Norman was a very good engineer and I always found him great fun to work with. I remember some legendary escapades in Malaysia.

I wish sincere condolences to Eleanor, Caroline, Richard and their families.

 

From Colin B

Norman was a good friend for many years. Our paths first crossed when we were still at university in the late '60s. Norman was in Salford and I was in London but we had a mutual friend so we went to each other's parties.  At Marconi we both worked on the Forge en-route ATC system for Malaysia installed at Subang and later, Genting. Then, when the system was upgraded to interface to a new approach control system, Norman and Eleanor looked after me very well when I went there to commission the new software. Music was important too as we were both members of rock groups back in our youths.

Norman will be sadly missed.

 

From Alan M

Very surprised and sad to hear that Norman had died.

I worked with him from time to time in E-block on the Malaysian ATC project and later socially at the Orange Tree Pub. I always found him to be very good company and will miss his very distinctive Welsh accent which characterised his many amusing anecdotes.

RIP Norman

 

From Ian G

Norman joined the MOGS in 2011 and ran the virtual Zoom meetings during CoVID from 2020 until just recently. He was that unusual combination of a fine engineer and an affable and pleasant individual. I first met him in 1978 in Kuala Lumpur while I was supporting Bunny Austin on a sales trip around the Far East - Norman took us to the "Subang Hilton", which turned out to be a primitive restaurant — but with delicious food — in a kampong at the end of the Subang Airport peri track…

Malaysia figured largely in Norman's career - he flew out for a short visit to fix a reported fault in the Subang ATCC display system — which turned out to be a radar head problem — and he ended up staying there for 12 years, returning with a wife and two children… He was a fund of hilarious anecdotes about esoteric Malaysian subjects such as the Rhinoceros Hornbill as a potential source of radar clutter (apparently the Malaysian green wood pigeon was the guilty party!)…

A super guy, who will be greatly missed!

 

From Malcolm M

It was with incredible sadness that I heard that Norman is no longer with us.

I first met Norman at Tabuk in Saudi Arabia in 1971, where we were working in the SOC. He was a talented engineer. Over the next two years we tended to be on the same sites, especially  during the initial handover of the ADC in Riyadh, Salbukh and Dhahran in 1973.

We started work at RAF West Drayton in August 1973, where Norman played in a group with Ted Friday and a couple of RAF Technicians. By 1975 we were both in the Chelmsford area, Norman was at Rivenhall, and I was in the PCTA. By 1976 he had left to go to Malaysia. I was not to see him for some years. On his return he joined GMATs and then worked on Sales and Marketing for Mike Steeds. It was only in 2001 that I was involved with him on the HADAF Project in Oman, when he was working in Systems; which was followed by SWMLU and his later MOGs activities.

My abiding memory of him, is the singing of a little tune to himself in his absent minded way, usually when he was thinking about something. He was a great colleague and friend who I shall remember for the rest of my life with some admiration for his abilities.

I send my condolences to Eleanor, Richard and Carolyn.

RIP Norman. Thanks for the great times we shared in the early days.

 

From George R

I would just like to offer my sadness and condolences to Norman’s family.

I knew Norman for most of my Marconi career, working most closely at West Drayton in the 70s and only lost contact when he went to Malaysia and I moved onto many other projects.

He was a superb engineer and a memorable character with a wicked sense of humour and just a slight touch of the mad professor (in a good way).

A great larger than life character who will be sorely missed but never forgotten.

RIP Norman

 

From Peter B

I never came across Norman at work and it was only after I had retired and joined MOGS that I met him. 

I shall remember him for his Welsh accent, his sense of humour, his ability to recount a good tale, his stewardship of the Zoom meetings and above all for his humanity. 

 

From Tony D

I was very sorry to read of the passing of Norman.  I never met  him in person.  
I only got to know him through our weekly MOGS Zoom meetings on a Tuesday. He managed them very professionally and had the knack of injecting new topics into the meetings. I shall miss him, especially his Welsh accent, at our meetings.
Rest In Peace Norman, it was a pleasure to know you.

 

From Jeremy T

I  worked with Norman on the HADAF project in Oman where he was the systems engineer with responsibility for sorting out the problems with the various third party communication packages that we were installing alongside the 743D radars.

Norman was unflappable and was one of life’s gentlemen who enjoyed his work and would happily whistle a tune as he went about his tasks.

To keep the sun from his head he wore a small floppy hat with an even smaller brim that didn’t  give him enough shade so he consequently had that red glow!

RIP Norman

 

From Roger N

I worked with Norman off and on across 30 years. Always happy to share his wealth of knowledge. A real gentleman, with a sense of humour.

 

From Nigel C

I was very sad to hear of the demise of Norman what a lovely character he was. He was such a pleasure to work with and as a friend. One was never quite sure if Norman was talking to you or singing to you and with a pint in his hand there were never any donkeys with hind legs around. He was an excellent engineer with a great eye for detail and all he did was always with a sense of humour. He will be greatly missed.

 

From Jim W

So sorry to hear of Normans death.

I never worked with Norman, but from his time with MOGS at The Orange Tree we became friends.

We travelled home together frequently by train from Chelmsford, him to Kelvedon, me to Colchester.

We talked rugby together as well as the odd technical discussion.

He persuaded me to take a holiday with my wife to Malaysia and provided a lot of information on what to do and where to stay. We  had a great time at the Lone Pine hotel in Penang, as well Kuala Lumpur.

My condolences to his wife and family.

 

From Steve B

So sorry to hear the sad news about Norman, he was a real character..

I first met Norman at West Drayton at the time of Linesman, around 1970. I was working on some of the Elliott equipment and Norman, along with other Marconi FS personnel, included me in their social group. The local watering hole was The Shovel. I was also included in the group's social activities when we returned to Chelmsford 

Later, when Norman was in Malaysia, he helped me by organising an air ticket for a Malaysian friend to visit UK.

Even later he and I were dispatched to Finland to demonstrate the FPPS system that MRSL was promoting for the Malaysians. We loaded up a Montego estate car and took it on the ferry from Harwich to Hamburg.  Arriving in Hamburg we drove across to Travemünde to board the Finnjet ferry to Helsinki, a 2 day journey up the Baltic. In Finland we had no sooner set up than I was recalled by the Company, I can't remember why,  but it meant that Norman was left to make the return journey on his own.  In those days there was no freedom of movement of equipment and every border crossing required a visit to Customs to get the reams of paperwork stamped. It was very tedious.

Everyone's memories of Norman will be different but I'm sure they will all be good and happy, he will be sorely missed.

My condolences to his family.

 

From Nigel D

It has been a great privilege and a total joy to have been able to count Norman as one of my oldest friends and closest colleagues at Marconi. We first met when he was in Post Design Services at Writtle Road, he having recently permanently returned to the UK from his long Field Services overseas postings. It was clear to me from the very start that he was a very fine engineer indeed. It would be some years before we regularly worked closely together (most enjoyably on some ill-fated projects, crazy customer visits, doomed proposals and disastrous Company ventures!) — but even before then, he was always around to help when I sought him out. And I sought him out a lot, because I discovered that he had an encyclopaedic engineering knowledge. He was like having your own living Google long before Google was even dreamt of (but a lot more user friendly). It didn’t matter what problem you confronted him with — from biasing FET transistors to designing lightning protection systems, from minimising the bit error rates of radio data links to the correct cement mixing ratios for the concrete foundations for antenna towers — Norman had the answers at his fingertips. He was always so generous with his time, however busy he was, never brushing you off with a simple answer but always going into great depth born of real world experience. When he moved into Systems Engineering we worked together on a more regular basis. To be honest, this was something of a mixed blessing. Working with Norman in the same office, particularly if you were sat next to him, was both a dream and a nightmare. A dream because of all that engineering help and knowledge that you’d get, but a nightmare because of the time you’d lose to the stories! Yes, those trademark epic stories, those wonderful great rambling arcs of hilarious narrative, almost always introduced by the phrase “Did I ever tell you about the time that I….?”. Many was the time I’d have to stay late to catch up on work that I’d not done as I’d spent so long in fits of laughter! Not just a wonderful engineer, Norman was a devoted family man. The family might not know how proud he was of them all. I have followed the growth and exploits of the family vicariously through Norman’s accounts for many decades — accounts he filled with unbounded love and admiration. After our retirements Norman and I stayed in frequent touch. We shared an interest in Hi-Fi and we would chat for hours on the phone about restoring vintage audio equipment or designing new circuits — I was still learning from him until a couple of months ago. To those that worked with him a lot, he was often just referred to as “Our Norm”. Because that’s how we saw him — part of our extended family. He really was the embodiment of the spirit of the engineering community of Marconi. I have tried to write this several times but fear my words do not do him justice. Goodbye Our Norm, thanks for everything my friend.

 

From Geoff M

I knew Norman, not directly having worked with him but through other Field Services people who I did work with, namely Eddy Eagles, Dave Alton, Mike Dames and Peter Hall. Through these interconnected relationships Norman and his wife visited my apartment in Colchester where I would host monthly soirees where there was always plenty of wine and where I indulged myself with my joy of cooking, making pastries and various finger foods that I assume people enjoyed as they would always come back for more! After I left Marconi and moved to the USA (Southern California), in 1985, I lost touch with many of my Marconi colleagues, so it was great to eventually find out about the MOGS Zoom weekly get together, and through this we reconnected. I cannot add anything that has not already been said about Norman other than it was a pleasure to know him and may he rest in peace.