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On 11th September 2009, eight middle aged to elderly men gathered at the Guardroom at RAF Halton. For the first time this century, the 208th Entry was back together again.
Those reporting were; Malky Blease, Dave Colbert, Mike Evans, Ian Mac Gilvery, Roddy McKenzie, Rob Savage, Adrian Small and Chris Stratford.We were met by the very energetic Min Larkin, ex Group Captain and founder of the Trenchard Museum, who had arranged passes for us all. The Camp isn’t open like it used to be, there was not a Snowdrop to be seen and the guardroom staff appeared to be civilians! Just up the hill from the guardroom the permanent security fence is broken by a barrier across the road manned by one civvy and a bloke in camouflage carrying a plastic rifle!
Min gave us directions to the museum and then shot off on his push bike like he was trying to catch up with Chris Hoy. We piled into two cars, flashed our passes and set off after him through the camp. The parade square on Three Wing where Sooty, Corporal Aitken and Co. started gently attempting to teach us drill is now at least 7/8ths car park! It’s full of cones, barriers and arrows, and painted in bays just like Tesco’s. There must be many a Station Warrant Officer turning in his grave at the sacrilege. Arriving at Two Wing we found cars on the parade square here too, not only that, but some pillock had landed an aeroplane on it as well!
Francis Hanford, the museum Curator gave us a chat about Halton in the very early days before the First World War and then we had a look round.
It is very well laid out, and maximum use has been made of the relatively small space available. The exhibits are fascinating and cover all aspects of life at Halton from the early times to the present day. There are test pieces from all trades, aircraft engines, bed packs, bumpers, rifle racks, and loads of photographs. We even found Sooty sitting proudly at the front of one taken of Two Wing in 1972. By the door there is an album containing photos taken during the visit of Princess Margaret in 1968 and we thought we recognised many faces in it.
At about 12:30 Min suggested we take lunch so we were guided down to the Maitland Mess. All the messes are run by a civilian outfit now and everyone, including service personnel, has to pay for their meals. (If they had done that when we were there, some of us would have starved to death!) There was a good choice and generous portions so we all got stuck in. There was almost an upset when the Mess Manager wanted us to wait until 13:00 when camp staff had finished eating, but with only 10 minutes to go, our trays full, and a combined age of around 470 she had to relent and let us eat.
We returned to the Museum after lunch and spent more time exclaiming, “Hey, come and look at this!” and “They’ve got one of those!”
When we’d had enough, Min took us down to St Georges Church to look at the stained glass windows. If you have seen the photographs on the RAFHAAA web site then you will have some idea of what they look like, but when you see them all together, they really are quite magnificent.
We walked from the Church to the Tribute outside the old Schools building and Min very kindly took photographs for us with about six different types of our cameras.
We crossed the road and took a tour round the outside of the workshops. They’ve had a lick of paint since we last saw them and the NAAFI van doesn’t come any more but we found the spot where we used to have a Nelson slice, a cup of scalding hot coffee and a ciggy before going back in to work.
Since there was still time before dinner, we decided to have a look at the airfield and try and find the spot where we first did aircraft marshalling. The atmosphere is very laid back now with a lot of recreational flying going on. The old hangars remain, but instead of Provosts, Hunters and Canberras they contain sailplanes and modern light aircraft. There are still some Chipmunks there though.
Over dinner, we unanimously decided that we would like to have a stained glass window dedicated to our entry installed in St Georges Church. Yes, I know there were only eight of us, but we are quite determined and have collected close to £200 already. Those of you who couldn’t make it to the reunion will be able to have a say in what goes on with the window; we have to come up with a design and a lot more cash; but you will have to pay to join in. There are not many spare places left so the sooner we can raise the money, the better choice we will have of where it will go.
We eventually drifted off home. Dave and Malky had made it a day trip and had a long drive ahead of them to Suffolk and Yorkshire. Roddy, Ian and I headed back to Oxford leaving Chris, Rob and Mick to drink the night away. They had all, very sensibly, booked in at the Red Lion down the road.
A special commendation must go to Mike. In order to join us he had flown from Kuwait to Bahrain and then to Heathrow before boarding a train to arrive in Wendover at 09:30 on Friday. He was going shopping in London on Saturday and then flying back to Kuwait on Sunday all at his own expense. A supreme effort Mike, thank you, you must be knackered now aren't you? It was very good to see you.
It was very good to see everyone and spend time with you all again. We all agreed that it had been a great day and worth repeating. The question is, where and when? There will be a prize for the first person to draw a vector diagram of where we all live, and where the mid point would be. We figured on Friday that even with Jim’s pull to the West, since Stuart, Pete and Don are in Australia and Steve’s in South Africa we’d end up somewhere in the Indian Ocean! Please let me know if you have any thoughts.
To finish off, a little note to you Jim. You started this off and we’re very glad you did but we’re sorry you couldn’t make it this time. We have tested the food and the beer for you though and it passed the 208 test so it’s OK for you to come next time.
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