Roger Batey

Sadly Roger Batey, one of our much loved Rotarians, passed away on 15^th January 2026.

I just wanted to write a short tribute to Roger to recognise his service to Rotary and his local community over the past 20 years. Roger joined Bexhill Rotary Club in 2005 and became President in 2009. He was the second President that I served under and I remember his year with great fondness. His mantra for the year was “Fun and Fellowship” and he got all of his committee chairs to dress up in silly hats to make their rather serious projections for the coming year. Roger had a lovely sense of humour I will always remember his silly dad jokes and the little double entendre he was so fond of, very “Lesley Phillips” in his style.

However this light-hearted persona hid a man who worked extremely hard for the club and the community. Roger was responsible for setting up and maintaining over ten years the Primary School reading support program, where he organised adults to go into local schools to hear the children read. As an ex primary school teacher I can tell you that this was an invaluable service which helped hundreds of children improve their reading skills. Roger took it upon himself to support the local blind driving programme where he organised drives to take members of the blind and partially sighted community along to the local club activities.

Roger was a great communicator and during his Presidential year provided us with a weekly diary of the activities he and the club were involved in. He went on to become the clubs publicity officer and developed a really good relationship with the local press. He was always able to get Bexhill Rotary in the local papers and provide the public and the club with a steady flow of good stories.

Roger was also the chair of the 1066 Specials Football Club up until his passing, he took over from its founder, Harold Lawrence, about ten years ago. The Specials are a club for disabled players who would not be able to play in a conventional football team. They provide coaching, support and camaraderie for a wide range of young people and have been nationally recognised for the work they provide for our local community.

Roger ‘s last touching email really sums up the type of person he was, he did not give up despite his numerous health issues and carried on giving to us all right up until the very end. My abiding memory of Roger will be the day he got to drive a very fast Jaguar XK 140 round the lanes of Sussex on way to the Queens Head on his Presidential day out. The look of pride and exhilaration tinted with a little bit of fear at the speed of the car he was driving was a picture to behold!

Roger we at Bexhill Rotary Club will miss you more than you could ever know and our thoughts are with your family at this difficult time.

David Dixson

President Bexhill Rotary Club