Rory MacColl
It’s with great sadness that we report the death, after a short illness, of our friend Rory MacColl who passed away on Saturday 13th July at St Michael’s Hospice. We send our condolences to his widow Michelle McCormick who is in our thoughts at this difficult time.
Rory and Michelle lived in Bearwood and have both played an active part in our community. Rory was a founding member of Portrait of Pembridge. In 2022, with Barry Temple-Purcell, he researched and curated the first exhibition of Pembridge history. It was displayed at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Celebrations and generated much interest from visitors to the exhibition.
He was a keen historian, having studied history at the London School of Economics and University College London. He used his skills as a screenwriter to create documentaries and illustrated talks given to the Royal British Legion branches in Pembridge and neighbouring villages. His research was always extremely thorough, and he had the skill of putting interviewees at their ease. His talks brought to life the realities of war. His audiences were privileged to enjoy documentary films of the highest quality in our local area.
In 2023 he embarked upon the mammoth task of researching and documenting the lives and war service of the forty-one men named on our Pembridge War Memorial. During his research he discovered seven others, whose names were not included on it, but who had given their lives. Their histories and their names will now be commemorated. You can access the full history of each of these men on www.portraitofpembridge.co.uk/warmemorial
In 2024 Portrait of Pembridge started a new project to document the lives of local people who had served our country in war and survived. The first of these subjects had been former WAAF, Irene Causley, who at 101 shared her memories of her service with Rory. Despite already suffering illness, Rory was pleased to delve into the army service of Bob and Henry Pinches and Royal Marine, Peter Jackson. Their stories formed part of our D Day 80 exhibition and you can see them on our website www.portraitofpembridge.co.uk/history
Their families were delighted to learn more about them. On hearing of Rory’s passing one of them said,” When I met him, he was so genuinely interested in the stories I told him and was so very kind to me. I’m sure he’ll be missed by many people. I consider myself privileged to have met him.”
We at Portrait of Pembridge will certainly miss Rory, his wit, his enthusiasm, his patience, his vast knowledge, and his storytelling ability. His legacy to Pembridge will live on in the history pages of our website and in the monumental piece of work he did in honouring those remembered on the War Memorial. When we remember them on Remembrance Sunday, we’ll also be remembering our friend Rory.
Kay Ingram
