ASHLEY DIGBY WILLS - Winterstoke

(13th November, 1946 – 29th April, 2026)

Those of us who attended Mill Hill School in the early 1960’s will be saddened to hear of the death of Ashley Digby Wills.

I, personally, was fortunate enough to be in the same house, Winterstoke, as Ashley.  On leaving Mill Hill we both played rugby for the Old Millhillians.   In those days the Old Millhillians Rugby Club ran five sides and Ashley and I found ourselves in an ExB XV, which was one of the most successful sides in the club’s history, losing only one game in the whole season.  One could not have had a better teammate than Ashley, both on the pitch and in the bar.  Downing pints of bitter was just as important in those days as scoring tries!

Away from the world of rugby, Ashley had a very successful career as a shipping broker with Clarkson’s, and I was reminded during his excellent service of Thanksgiving on 27th May in Oxfordshire, what a wide range of interests he had.  The tributes to Ashley from business colleagues and also business rivals showed how well respected and liked he was in the industry.  Tributes from friends and family gave us an insight into his other interests ranging from classic cars to chess and clocks.

Sadly, nine years ago Ashley developed that most awful of diseases, Alzheimers.  In the remaining years of his life he was very well cared for by his wonderful wife Sue, a trained nurse, whom he married in 1974, and his two lovely daughters, Holly and Pippa.

The last time I saw Ashley was nearly six years ago (September 2020), when another close friend of the ExB days, Al Riley, who was in the last weeks of his life in a hospice near Banbury, requested to see Ashley.  The meeting was, I have to say, a little too late for both of them.  Ashley’s Alzheimer’s was by then well advanced, but it might just have sparked a memory of happier days when they went to watch cricket at Lord’s together.

Ashley, old chum, it was great for all of us to know you and we shall always miss that winning smile.

                                                                                    C.P.R. Hart