Deaths

CHARLES NICHOLAS PERRY (C53) 30th May 1935 – 19th March 2017, known as Nick, was born in Worcestershire, eldest of three sons - Tim (C56) and Gordon (C60).  He was privately educated before going to Seafield Prep School, Sussex in 1944 when he was promptly evacuated to the relative safety of the Two Bridges Hotel, Devon for the rest of the war.  Returning to Seafield in 1946, Nick started his life-long passion for sport shining in the hurdles, high jump, long jump and cricket - all sports he continued to enjoy with success at Ampleforth, especially cricket as a batsman/wicket-keeper when he joined St Cuthbert’s in 1949.  He played squash, fished, beagled and was a good shot, all no doubt nurtured by Fr Sebastian Lambert and Fr Martin Haigh with whom he shared a lifelong friendship.  He was a school monitor and always took his studies very seriously, making notes in perfect calligraphic handwriting encouraged by Fr Patrick Barry.  He was offered a place at Clare College, Cambridge (his father’s college and later his brother Tim’s) before a National Service commission with the Coldstream Guards serving in Germany and Pirbright.  He declined his place at Cambridge in favour of a career with IBM which lasted 32 years, starting in Newcastle, then Manchester, with spells in Paris, London and finally Portsmouth.  In those years, Nick continued to play cricket with the OACC, the Emeriti and the Periwinkles (a side founded by his brother Tim), and never missed an opportunity to pursue his other passions - history, archaeology and fishing. 

He married Caroline in 1959; they had three children, Jane, Edward (C80) and Jonathan (C84), and were delighted when the next generation Tilly (M16) and Eleanor (M) joined Ampleforth, providing Nick with the opportunity to revisit the Valley, walk the boundary rope of the cricket pitch and to meet his many Old Amplefordian friends and monks with whom he continuously corresponded.  His passions and achievements were great examples to his children and grandchildren, with Jonathan winning a Cambridge Blue at cricket, and Edward and two grandchildren, George and Hugo, joining the Coldstream Guards. 

In 1982, Nick and Caroline settled in Hampshire.  He retired from IBM in 1989 only to suffer from oesophagus cancer four years later from which he recovered after surgery, but which left him weakened and vulnerable to winter illnesses but never downhearted.  He continued to fish, travel, to write poetry, enjoy his books and garden, to have an opinion on every aspect of life, politics and sport and to be the cornerstone of the family.  Dependable, efficient, humorous, involved and loyal, he was always gracious and welcoming. 

Nick’s Catholic faith was personal, strong, steadfast, genuine, unambiguous and incredibly important to him; as was Ampleforth; as was his son Jonathan’s commitment to the Manquehue Movement in Chile.  He died peacefully at home after a long and often painful illness, nursed compassionately by Caroline, surrounded by his family and still in possession of the attractive quality of genuine humility born of his deep faith.

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Rest in eternal peace.