Bexhill Museum is saddened to report the passing of John Betts, our much respected honorary president.
John became a volunteer at the museum in 2003. He soon took on the position as head of major fundraising, responsible for raising the money for the museum extension, which opened in 2019. This was followed by roles on the Museum Executive Committee, Project Steering Committee and the Board as director and trustee in 2006. In 2009 he was elected Board Chairman, holding that post for eight years He became Honorary President in 2020.
He was also the author of a history of Bexhill Museum. He completed two volumes and had almost completed the third at the time of his passing.
Sally Hemmings, Chair of the Museum Trustees, said: “John was a dedicated and much valued member of Bexhill Museum. He served the museum so well in his many roles over 21 years. His knowledge, commitment and diligence helped to support the museum through these years, for which we will always be grateful. He will be much missed and always remembered fondly.”
John was born and spent his early years in East Grinstead before moving with his parents to Southwell. “Thereafter I resided wherever work took me until 1968 when I bought a house in Westbrook. In 1980 my wife Diana and I decided to move our UK base to Bexhill,” he wrote. “My first employer after leaving grammar school was the National Coal Board where I was an apprentice mining surveyor. The NCB put me through college in Nottingham, where I obtained the qualifications required by law to practise as a Certificated Mining Surveyor.
“I resigned in 1962 and joined the consultant engineers responsible for the design of what was to be known as Spaghetti Junction on the outskirts of Birmingham. In 1966 I left Birmingham to work in London as a site engineer on Britain’s first elevated motorway project. The following year the company sent me to Saudi Arabia to look into suitable future projects.
“After a ‘falling out’ with my employer I used the experience in that country to return almost immediately, for two years, surveying the planned highway route between Riyadh and Jeddah.”
For the next five years he worked on projects in Malawi, the UK and the Seychelles, the first two as Chief Surveyor, the third as Estate Surveyor/Manager. The most important outcome from the latter posting was meeting Diana, who became his wife. “Back in England I was appointed Chief Surveyor on a section of the M23 including the link to Gatwick. Wishing to return overseas, a year later I was appointed by the Crown Agents as Senior Surveyor in Jamaica’s Ministry of Works for two years.
“Within two months of leaving Jamaica I returned to Saudi Arabia as Senior Surveyor with the supervising consultants on a 60km section of the Riyadh/Jeddah highway project. At the end of this posting I remained in the country with my family working as Chief Surveyor on a project investigating the natural resources of the eastern province. Five years later I was back in the UK, self-employed, working on the start of Eastbourne’s Sovereign Harbour project for one year. Then I was off to Istanbul for four years as Project Surveyor on the construction of the second Bosphorus Bridge.
“Finally, my paid career ended with six years back in Saudi Arabia with a local contractor as Project Manager on two major projects – a ministry and a hospital. The latter when it opened in 2000 was considered the world’s most advanced equipped such facility.”
John Dowling knew John Betts well. A long-serving reporter for the Bexhill Observer, John also served as a Museum trustee. He writes: “John Betts’ decision to commit himself to the welfare and development of the museum could not have been better timed. As a retired quantity surveyor with a wealth of experience working on big construction projects internationally he was just what the museum needed as it tackled its biggest-ever expansion scheme.
“His was the quiet voice of reason, arguing for a carefully planned and orchestrated approach. The end result – opened by our Patron Eddie Izzard in 2009 – owed a great deal to John’s input.
“To his later role as Chairman of the Museum Board, John brought a gritty determination to ensure that the Museum continued to grow in quality and influence. Though low-key and self-effacing, John’s commitment to the Museum was wholehearted. He led by quiet example in times which were challenging both financially and in terms of the sometimes fast-moving changes demanded of the institution and its working methods.
“John’s decision to write a history of the Museum typified his approach being both meticulous in method and accuracy and unstinting in terms of the time he devoted to his project. It was fitting that at the time of his death he was still serving the Museum in his final capacity as our President. Truly, this was a retirement generously devoted to a cause that John held dear.”