Obituary Brian O’Flaherty

Brian, formerly of North Close (1953-58), which his father Colonel Derek O’Flaherty and younger brother David, also attended, passed away in Malang, Indonesia on May 4th, 2017.

He was active in sports, and with Tim Courtney propped up the lower echelons of “The Services Sixth”, a newly founded form for those aspiring to go into the Armed Forces via the Civil Service Exams and were certainly not A level or university candidates!!! (I am quoting Tim here so I hope he will not object!) After leaving Blundell’s, Brian followed his father and went to Sandhurst, and on passing out, he joined Princess Mary’s Own Gurkhas. At the time, their HQ was in Singapore and the Gurkhas were busy preventing Indonesia from disrupting affairs in Borneo and Malaysia and Sarawak.

Brian had a talent for languages and soon picked Gurkhali and Malay, and subsequently Javanese.

Part of the time, he was based with his Gurkha company, in a long house deep in the jungle.

Apparently, he was given bad advice by another officer, that his part of the Gurkhas was going to be disbanded and so resigned his commission, to his father’s horror!

Brian then disappeared from view for 10 years, and odd sightings were made of him, in Malaysia and Indonesia working for a Chinese logging company, then working on an oil exploration boat.

Subsequently, he bought some land on the island of Java, Indonesia and started to grow exotic crops like avocado, cloves, mango, etc.

He ran into problems with the local headman, who tried to grab his land. He managed to fight this off with the help of a local lawyer, Sue, who he later married! Because of his good grasp of local languages, he was encouraged to start an English language school in Malang.

Malang is a city in East Java, Indonesia. Prized by the Dutch for its mild highland climate, the city retains much of its colonial architecture, and grand mansions line the main boulevard. North of the city, the Buddhist-Hindu Singosari Temple ruins are a remnant of a medieval kingdom. To the east is Mt. Bromo, a volcano with hiking trails.

The business went well and until recently, his school had up to 100 students!

He leaves his wife Sue and son Godwin. Further information can be obtained from his brother David, 0121 458 1563.