Leslie remembered in service

A SERVICE of thanksgiving for the life of Ely man Leslie James Holland, 94, was held at the Methodist church on Friday, January 13. Mr Holland, of Houghton Gardens, was born in West Fen Road in the city on July 4, 1911, and will be remembered to many as a

A SERVICE of thanksgiving for the life of Ely man Leslie James Holland, 94, was held at the Methodist church on Friday, January 13.

Mr Holland, of Houghton Gardens, was born in West Fen Road in the city on July 4, 1911, and will be remembered to many as a pork butcher on Market Street and president of Ely Rotary Club from 1967-68.

He was a member of the Ely Amateur Operatic Society in his younger years, and sang in Ely Methodist Church Choir for 70 years, with the only interruption being the outbreak of the Second World War.

Mr Holland volunteered for the RAF Radio Department and found himself at Setif, at the foothills of the Atlas Mountains, where he set up and ran a radio servicing department for a maintenance unit for planes, ahead of the Italian campaign.

He returned to the family butcher's shop after the war.

As well as his membership of the rotary club, Mr Holland was a founding member of Ely and District Probus Club, and he helped organise Christmas presents for the elderly with Ely Community Service.

Mr Holland also took a keen interest in the plight of the homeless in Cambridge and became a friend of Cambridge Samaritans, as well as a member of the Probation Service.

Mr Holland's leisure interests focused on radio, Hi-fi, television and photography, and he won a Bronze Medal at the Kodak International Photography Competition, earning the chance to have his entry displayed at the New York World Fair.

He leaves behind a widow, Daphne, son Michael, three step-children, Rob, Clare and Ashley, and six grandchildren.