Wilfred Hayler (YG 1950)
21 February 2021
Old Scholars will be saddened to hear of the death of Wilf Hayler (YG 1950), who died on the 21st February 2021 of coronavirus. Wilf attended the school from 1940 to 1948, was Secretary to the Old Scholars' Association after leaving the school and then President 1999-2000. He also organised the famous Wrinkly Lunches for OS who were at the school in the 40s and 50s.The following testament to his life is an abbreviated version of a fuller testimony written by Gillian Turner and David Parlett of Croydon Quaker Meeting. The full biography is attached.Wilf Hayler was a member of Croydon Quaker Meeting all his life, and the son of a nationally-known Quaker, Mark Hayler, who had been a conscientious objector in the First World War; yet he never lived in his father's shadow.The trauma of his mother's death when he was very young and being sent away to board at Friends School, Saffron Walden, had an immense effect on him, and he used to say that it was the root cause of the depression he suffered from all his life. He was immensely proud of his father and loved the aunt who brought him up.He remembered his time at Friends' with gratitude for the many friends he made. He became Secretary to the Old Scholars' Association, helped to organise reunions, attended all the meetings as Croydon Meeting's representative, and kept up-to-date the list of Old Scholars' deaths.He was a librarian, a profession that suited his studious nature, and the custodian of his father's diaries and other papers, liaising with the Imperial War Museum. Music was his great love. He sang and played the piano, and in this capacity regularly organised carol-singing in the meeting house at Christmas. He was valued as the oldest and longest-time member of Croydon Meeting, and was much loved by us all.A Quaker Meeting for Worship for the life of Wilfrid Ernest Frances Chambers Hayler is being held at Tribes Shoreham Chapel, Eastern Avenue, Shoreham on Thursday 25th March 2021 at 2pm.