THE Last Post has finally sounded for Ray Seale, who was for many years a cornerstone of the Grenadier Guards Association across Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

“Dad died at the age of 90 having succeeded in overcoming four close calls in the last six months of his life,” said his daughter Elisabeth Elderfield. “Old soldiers never give up and he showed amazing resilience and determination to the last.”

In fact, Mr Seale was also well known to local people for wearing another type of uniform, because after eight years in the Grenadiers he became a police officer and served for 26 years, including spells as a patrol inspector in Worcester and conducting daily police prosecutions in the city’s magistrates courts.

He was born in Malvern and after his family moved to Bromsgrove he went to Watt Close School, becoming one of the first Army Cadets in Worcestershire in 1941.

In May 1945 Mr Seale volunteered for the Army, but being underage had to wait five months before being accepted into the Grenadier Guards. In 1946 he was offered a War Office Selection Board, but preferred to remain with his Grenadier family. He subsequently saw service in Hamburg, Berlin and Wuppertal with the 4th and 2nd Battalions of the Regiment.

Later he saw active service in Palestine and Tripoli as part of Headquarters 1st Guards Brigade. Thereafter he went to Malaya with the 3rd Battalion. In 1953 he completed his service as a Platoon Sergeant in The Guards Training Battalion.

Mr Seale’s elder daughter Jayne Snewin added: “Dad completed Colour Service in 1953 as a Gold Sergeant and remained a Grenadier for the rest of his life in spirit.”

From 1953 he became a very active member of the Worcester & Hereford Branch of Grenadier Guards Association Committee, serving as secretary for 20 years and rising to chairman and then vice-president.

Mr Seale arranged many band concerts where considerable sums of money were raised for charity and made pilgrimages with members to many parts of the world visiting graves of the Regiment. He wrote and published the book “Grenadiers of Worcester and Hereford”.

Following active service, he joined the former Worcestershire Constabulary in 1953. In 1967 he was promoted to Inspector and transferred to the newly created West Mercia Constabulary as deputy commandant of the Force Training School in Droitwich, his brief included training of cadets and newly promoted sergeants and the force operational firearms team.

From 1979 Insp Seale returned to police duties in Worcester, being responsible for section patrolling. For a period he also took charge of the prosecutions department, controlling police administration at all five magistrates courts and appearing daily before the City Magistrates as prosecutor. He was also commended by the magistrates for an incident in which visiting football supporters wrecked a coach. He completed his police service in 1979 at Droitwich Sub Division.

In yet another strand to his life, Ray Seale was also deeply involved with the St John Ambulance Association and The Brigade. He was for some years a centre secretary of the Association and for a period was Brigade Corps Superintendent (Training) at Coventry City St. Johns Brigade.

His interest in First Aid developed into the field of staging of incidents and the make-up of injuries. He became the first senior instructor for the Casualties Union in the West Midlands and wrote many scripts for competitions. He was responsible for make-up and acting in the BBC series “Your Life in their Hands”. He was admitted to the Order of St John of Jerusalem in 1967 as a serving brother and in 2001 was commissioned as a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire.

Mr Seale, who lived in Droitwich, is survived by his wife of 67 years, Betty, their two daughters Jayne Snewin and Elisabeth Elderfield, two grandsons, one granddaughter and one great granddaughter. His funeral will be at Worcester Cathedral on Wednesday, December 5 at 2pm followed by a private family committal.