Ronald Liddiard

Born in Cardiff, Ron Liddiard was descended from an old Wiltshire family from Aldbourne, and was proud to be able to trace his ancestry in that area back to 1633.

Educated at Canton High School and the College of Advanced Technology, Cardiff, he gained a degree-level diploma in municipal administration, to which he later added a professional social work qualification, and advanced study at Birmingham University.

From 1950-52 he did his National Service with the RAF, and later rejoined the service in 1968 for four years as a Flying Officer with the RAF Volunteer Reserve.

Mr Liddiard spent 35 years in local government, during which he changed from his original intended career of accountant to become a social worker in Cardiff, then a District Welfare Officer in Bournemouth, where he was eventually appointed Chief Administrative Officer.

In 1971, he became Director of Social Services first for the City of Bath, and then for Birmingham in 1974, a post he held for 11 years.

He was in charge of services for children, the elderly, and people with physical or mental handicaps, and directed more than 8,000 staff in well over 200 locations – the largest urban social services department in the UK.

Under his leadership, Birmingham social services department gained an international reputation for innovations in the care of the elderly and handicapped, and hosted visitors from many countries to study their methods.

He was invited to lecture several times at various universities in the USA, including Harvard and UCLA, and also in Mexico and Canada, and was honoured by the Governor of Kentucky in 1977, and by the Birmingham’s twin-city of Frankfurt-am-Main in 1985.

He undertook two study tours to India and Bangladesh in 1979 and 1980 to observe the origins of some of the ethnic groups whose families were settling in Birmingham at the time.

He retired from local government service in 1985 and became a consultant in social administration and management, however – as a lifelong aviation enthusiast – he decided to cultivate a second career as a professional pilot.

Mr Liddiard had qualified as a private pilot in 1970, and as a flying instructor seven years later. He studied in Bournemouth and Oxford and obtained his Airline Transport Pilot’s licence in 1986.

Ten years of commercial flying followed until 1997, when he switched to professional flight instruction in Coventry, Wolverhampton and at Bournemouth Airport.

He and his wife June, to whom he was married for 57 years, settled in Christchurch. They had two daughters – Angela, an education consultant, and Clare, an air traffic controller, as well as five grandchildren.