Book Of Remembrances

Maurice Young - Braintree and Halstead 41 Club

Maurice Young 1934 to 2020

Maurice Young was born in Leicestershire in 1934 and carried out his National Service in the RAF. He met his wife Vera at grammar school and they got married in 1957. He studied at a law college in Guildford in Surrey and qualified as a solicitor. Maurice and Vera moved down to Essex and he soon became the youngest Clerk to the Justices in the country. He set up his own solicitors’ firm in Braintree. Maurice and Vera had two children (Ian and Juliet) and were also extremely fond of their two grandchildren, Mikey and Jamie.

He came to specialise in family law, bringing his natural empathy to his work. He always looked to find opportunities for reconciliation in family disputes.

Maurice was a rugby player when he was young but his busy work and family life prevented him from taking part in competitive sport for many years. This changed when he reached 50 and he decided to take up running. He was never one to do things by halves, and within a few years he started running marathons. He moved on to competing in duathlons, which involves two runs split by a cycle ride. Maurice started to represent the GB team in the older age groups and won both European and World Championships. As recently as May 2019, he regained his European title in Targu Mures in Romania.

Maurice had a wide range of interest including sport (he was a dedicated supporter of Notts Country football team), walking, nature, geology, history and architecture.

He was much involved in the Braintree community, in particular as a very long serving secretary of the Braintree Civic Society. This was formed in 1966 initially to purchase and restore a group of Tudor cottages which were for a time used for the local museum and when sold as living accommodation they provided a fund from which grants were made to conservation and other community projects. Maurice was instrumental in dealing with all that.

Maurice was a member of Braintree Round Table with the earliest record of him there being in a group photo in 1963. He went on to be a member of Braintree and Halstead 41 Club and held the office of Chairman on 2 occasions in 1991/92 and again in 2012/13. He was also a member of Braintree Probus Club.