Mr Roger Miles Hayward.
A FOUNDER member of the Vectis Astronomical Society, Roger Miles Hayward, died at St Mary’s Hospital, Newport, on Thursday last week, aged 67.
Born in Ilford, Essex, on December 2, 1942, he moved to the Island as a youngster. The son of Victor and Margery Hayward, he spent most of his life as a hotelier in the Sandown Bay area.
It was from his hotel, Chester Lodge, in Beachfield Road, Sandown, that the Vectis Astronomical Society was established in 1976.
Society meetings were hosted there until it moved to its purpose-built observatory in Watery Lane, Newchurch, in 1997.
The earliest members of the group made use of his home-made observatory, a dome which housed a ten-inch reflector telescope.
To boost society funds, he would collect waste paper from local hotels and stored it in his garage until it could be sold.
Over the past few years, Mr Hayward was the society’s observatory director.
"Roger was very proud of the fact that it is one of the best equipped observatories in Southern England. Roger was keen to help anyone who was interested in astronomy, from talking to youth groups to helping people set up astronomical equipment," said Dr Lucy Rogers, chairman of the Vectis Astronom-ical Society.
Mr Hayward, of Chatsworth Avenue, Shan-klin, had also been a reserve fireman and, latterly, worked as a caretaker and school crossing patroller for Shanklin CE Primary and Lake Middle schools.
Among his many interests, Mr Hayward was also a radio ham and model railway enthusiast.
Mr Hayward is survived by three daughters and six grandchildren.
His funeral service will be held at St Blasius’s Church, Shanklin Old Village, at 2pm on Wednesday, followed by a private service at the IW Crematorium, Whippingham.
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