Michael Fredrick Wiggins was born on 25 August 1936, the only child of his parents Anne and Frederick, in Winchester. He attended Lyneham Primary school in Wiltshire, went to Secondary school at Chippenham Grammar School, and later moved to Basingstoke where he finished secondary school at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School. Although I don’t know this for sure, I would bet a lot of money that he was one hell of a naughty student.
Michael joined the Royal Air Force Photographic Section in 1954 at the age of 18 and was initially stationed in RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire. He would often tell people that the RAF made him into a man and the discipline of the forces, and the manners it engendered were clear throughout his life.
Funnily, he was a natural on either side of the camera. He was always photogenic and comfortable to be photographed. Collating a photo album of Michael wasn’t difficult but narrowing the images down to a few would be impossible as it’s so hard to disregard an image of his handsome smile.
It was in Wyton where he met Cicely Dodson with whom he fell in love. When he met her family he was keen to impress her 5 brothers, but he was unable to hide his lack of interest in sport the first-time he met them and, when they invited him to play cricket he almost immediately twisted his knee! Sport was never his thing! Watching horseracing every Saturday on the television was much more for Michael Wiggins.
Now a happy young couple, Cicely and Michael moved to RAF Layden, near Lemmington Spa, where they had their first child Denise in 1957, before Michael demobilized from the RAF and moved to Aldermaston. There, Michael started a role working at Aldermaston’s Atomic Weapons Research Establishment (AWRE) and obviously had some extra energy after work as, at home in Aldermaston, Michael and Cicely’s second child, Allyson, was soon born, in 1959. On the November night when Allyson was born Michael was attending a lecture from his manager and he rushed to Cicely’s side. However, instead of comforting his wife through labor, Cicely vividly remembers the sheer rage she felt when he spent the time showing the nurse photographic slides of images of the atomic bomb trials during the delivery! This probably influenced Allyson’s lifelong academic curiosity in science.
Michael’s interest in farming, possibly inherited from his father Frederick who was an Agricultural Engineer, lead him to keeping a drove of pigs that went with the family of four to Chequers Farm in Bisley in 1960. During this time, he cared so much for the animals that he even gave up his finger when he lost it in the feed auger preparing their food!
It was in Bisley where Michael started the VW club, rallying Volkswagen Beetles and tearing round the hills of Gloucestershire as part of the Stroud District Motor Club. His favorite, and most notable, rally race was the Ebworth Chase. Michael’s love of driving was apparent throughout his life, seen through his critique of Grandma’s new cars: “I don’t like it, it drives like a pea on a drum!”, his dedication and care for his cars, or through teaching his daughter Allyson, and granddaughter Anna to drive. He was so good a teacher that Anna has never crashed yet, or at least she never told her grandad that she did and he was very proud of her three point turn.
Michael always enjoyed his work and, in the 1970s, he opened a shop in Bisley High Street selling groceries, However, he was much fonder of people than he was of profit, and he couldn’t quite make the venture lucrative, so he shortly switched to working at the Creamery, driving the lorry to deliver the milk to the Milkmen. During this time, he kept a small herd of Jersey cattle and enjoyed sending full urns of milk to the creamery for processing.
By the 1980s Michael bought his own lorry, the Bisley Tipper, with its white and blue logos, within which he’d allow his grandchildren, Allyson’s children: Thomas and Anna to bounce in the passenger seat unimaginably high off the ground. Despite spending his time delivering goods he also spent a huge amount of time delivering joy to his family.
When Michael speaks of his own history, he would certainly mention that his heritage is from a family of farriers. It is likely that from his farrier Uncle Joe he inherited a love of metal artistry. Standing proud outside of the family home is a metal sign with the house name crafted by him, and Cicely’s beautiful gardens are dotted with obelisks and bird feeders, some decorated with horseshoes.
As a resident of the village for the largest portion of his life, Michael was a proud and passionate member of the community and the Bisley Local History Group, for whom he wrote and delivered a speech about his experiences. His interest is evidenced by his enviable home library full of books on the local area over the decades. His interests were vast, and went from the very local to Global Politics, and the adventures of Laurence of Arabia.
Like Laurence, Michael liked to travel. Cicely and Michael visited their daughter Denise and her husband Simon throughout their diplomatic residence in Washington DC, exploring many of the US national parks, as well as travelling further afield to Canada, New Zealand and throughout Europe to Corsica, Sardinia, Greece, Sicily, France, and Spain. Wherever he travelled he loved to find out about other people and learn about their lives through visiting museums.
When at home, Michael was happiest when he was outside in the fresh air. Planting vegetables, harvesting fruits from the garden, and later focusing his interest on his flower gardens and growing blooms of red poppies, and brightly colored Dahlia’s. He could often be found quietly sifting through his seeds in the greenhouse, listening to the birds, or being caught walking the dog on Allyson’s motion detecting cameras hidden in the garden to capture the wildlife!
In his later life Michael took pride in converting some of the agricultural land on the farm into a forested wilderness. He landscaped hay fields into orchards, added meandering pathways and took pleasure in watching his trees grow. One of his favorite trees grew to totally envelop a trowel that he left balanced in its branch and was later found when it blunted a chainsaw! However, Michael’s most special tree was his Chequers Tree, which holds a prime spot in ‘the Wilderness’ at Chequers. The tree was where he attended the Wedding celebration of his granddaughter, Anna’s, marriage to Stefan in August 2022. The efforts to prepare the gardens ended up being a team effort between Michael, Allyson, Jeremy, Stephen, Anna and Stefan, the team always referring to Michael as “the boss”. The Boss also took a little too much of the credit as well!
He was proud of his straightforwardness and valued this in his friends. ‘Say it how it is’ was a motto of his. Whether it was politics, religion, farming, or rules he didn’t agree with, he would argue with a smile, and never offended for long! But despite liking to debate and argue, his compassion for others always shone through, as did the charity in his heart. He will be remembered for his lifelong donations to the British Legion, his willingness to donate blood at any opportunity, and for the lifelong friendships he formed with the people celebrating his life today.
These are some of our memories of Michael, our husband, father, and grandfather. Of a kind and gentle soul who had a strong mind, and abundant heart. He leaves a huge hole in our lives, but we’ll keep him in our loving memories.
Although today is obviously a very sad day, it is also a celebration, a celebration of a life well lived. 85 years of Michael Frederick Wiggins. We were fortunate to have been part of it.
Today, remember that Michael liked it sunny and won every tanning competition when he held his bronzed arms against his family’s. Summer was Michael’s favorite time of year, during which he would be found riding his lawn mower topless, with a shotgun to scare off anyone who wanted to argue with him, and possibly a glass of Three Choirs- May Hill wine in hand.
So please raise your glass and celebrate Michael as he would have wanted us to, with a big smile, friends, and something to drink.