Born in Charlton in 1931 Bob and his brother Alan (b. 1935) were sons of John Wheeler Wyatt (1906-1979) and Elsie Ena née Parker (b. 1909), Bob was one of two brothers. During the Second World War the brothers were evacuated several times from London, to Exeter and then Ipswich where he was educated at Ipswich School.
At the end of hostilities Bob became an apprentice electrician. He joined the R.E.M.E. in 1952 and returned to civilian life at the end of the 1950s. He started working for the Automobile Association in 1960 and became their Transport Manager until he retired in 1990. He also enlisted in the A.A.’s Royal Military Police Territorial Army unit from which he retired commanding with the rank of Brevet Lieutenant Colonel being awarded the Territorial Decoration and the M.B.E. in 1981.
In the 1960s Bob came to Wokingham to live in Sturges Road with his daughter and two sons: Sarah (b. 1959), Philip (b. 1963) and Michael (b. 1967). He entered civic life and continued to serve on the Town Council until he passed away on 27th March 2019, having served on most of the committees. He was the longest serving member on the Town Council. During his mayoral year he worked with Caritas to fund and create Seaford Court for young homeless people.
Joining the former District Council for Wescott Ward in 1993 he chaired the Health and Housing committee and worked on the move of Social Services from the County Council to the new Wokingham Unitary Authority, later to become the new Borough Council. He was Deputy Chairman of the Council in 2002-3 and Chairman in 2003-4 becoming later the council’s Champion for older people. He was Borough Mayor for 2012/3.
In addition to civic life Bob was a governor of Westende School and Chairman of Wescott Infants School, a position he held from 1991 to 2014 where most of his children and grandchildren were educated. He was a trustee of the Wokingham United Charities, Caritas and The Link visiting scheme. He also served as a non-executive director of Wokingham N.H.S. Primary Care Trust from 2001 to 2006.
Despite leading a busy life he had time for other interests which include military, motoring and local history and maintained the largest military history library in private hands. He founded the Vintage Austin Register and has written several books on the history of that company and of the Austin 7 car. He edited the journal of the Military Historical Society and has had thirteen books published including one on local history.
Wokingham Town Museum Unique Identifier: WTH0078