Newsletter 007 - October 2001

Newsletter No. 7 Oct 2001

"Then and Now" 23rd Sep 2001

WOW! what a day, Where to begin! Ah well here goes. It was nice to see so many of our members who live out of the area and normally find it difficult to attend events because of the distance involved. Thanks so much for making a special effort and your nice comments on how much you enjoyed the day. Because of the Awful events in America our friends from the U.S.A were unable to attend, Our thoughts are with you at this difficult time.

The weather was kind to us considering the time of year, some brightness and a couple of very light showers, these did not interfere with our programme and all planned Aircraft except the Dakota appeared. The highlights of the day were many, most visitors said the Lancaster and Mustang were their high points, the Lancaster being a late replacement for the Dakota which developed an engine problem the week before our event.

Visitors also commented on the atmosphere that was created with the wartime music, military vehicles, WW2 display team with their encampment and recreations.

Our special guest Roger Freeman did an excellent job in opening the event for us and recalling memories and amusing incidents from his boyhood on the airfield.

We have sent out lots of Thank you letters to all those good people who provided attractions at little or no cost to the group.

The 1940s dance we held on the Sat night launched the weekend in style, everyone I spoke to enjoyed the music and the atmosphere, the band "Simply Nostalgic" were absolutely brilliant and this is something we will do again in 2002.

Now most important my Heartfelt THANKS to all those group members and partners who worked so hard over the weekend, on the Saturday preparing the rec for Sunday and getting the comm centre decorated and ready for the dance, Also all those who helped in making Sunday such a success and making the day go so smoothly. We had formed an organizing Committee over 12 months before the event and this group worked very hard to make the weekend such a success,

SO A VERY SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ANNE, JEAN, REG, ROY, BRIAN, DICK, ROBIN, ROBERT, DAVE, STEVE, DEREK, and MICHAEL.

The statistics, we had 705 visitors and we made £1,600 profit on the day. If you would like a copy of the accounts please give us a ring on the number at the top of the Newsletter.

Membership

As of the 20th October our membership now stands at 120, I am very pleased to say several veterans have recently joined:

Monroe Stuart Millar (Pilot with 62nd Squadron 56th F.G.)

Ralph Safford (Gabby Gabreskis Crew Chief during his time at Boxted)

Frank Gyidik (Crew Chief 56th F.G.)

Herman Pelkey (Fireman at Boxted throughout the War)

Charles Rankin (Military Policeman and later Lawyer)

With this Newsletter we are offering membership to:

Fred Christensen (Squadron Leader with the 56th)

Clayton Gross

Russ Kyler (Pilot with the 56th)

Some memberships are now due for renewal, If you joined during Summer 2000 and your membership number is between 20 and 40 Please could you check your card. We look forward to your renewal and hope you are enjoying your membership.

www.boxtedairfield.com

Yes our Website is now up and running so please take a look and we would welcome your comments, If you have already seen it we have in the last week made several changes and improvements so please have another look, Our EMail address is: xxxx

Changes to Committee

Some weeks ago we lost two of our original Committee, Steve Ball and Dave Chable, both resigned for personal reasons, just coincidence that both had made this decision at similar time. We are sad to lose them and would like to THANK THEM FOR THEIR EFFORTS both were with us from the start and the video certainly would not have happened without them.

I would like to take this opportunity to WELCOME new committee members, Robin Gooding and Beryl and Ron Tickner we hope you enjoy your time and welcome your contribution.

We still have a vacancy for a Treasurer, If there is someone out there who has done this type of thing before we would love to hear from you, or maybe you have not but would like to give it a go. Steve has kindly agreed to look after finances until we find someone else.

386th B.G. Reunion

Thanks to very good work by Henry Farwell we have recently had a couple of nice mentions in the 386ths Newsletter (The Crusader), As a result of this we have sent the group a complimentary copy of our video.

The group are currently holding their very last reunion in the U.S. and Henry is attending. We hope the video will be shown and hopefully create a lot of interest and perhaps we can sign up some more veterans as members. We hope Henry will have a great trip and meet up with some of his buddies. A report on the reunion in next Newsletter.

Forthcoming events

8th November

Vulcan Historic Trust

Venue is the boardroom at Colchester Institute at 7.30

This is not one of our functions, it is an invitation from our friends at Colchester Radio Amateurs to join them, for further information call xxxx xxxxxx.

11th November

Remembrance Sunday

10.50am Service at Langham Church

Followed by Wreath laying at Airfield Memorial

We would like as many members as possible to attend the Service, which will include 2 minute silence. This will be followed by Wreath laying at the village War memorial at 12.30 and the airfield memorial at 12.40. There will also be a service at Nayland at 10.50, followed by our group participating in the wreath laying on the memorial seat dedicated to Charlie Gumm. We would like to see as many members as possible at one or other of these services. Look forward to seeing you.

In the afternoon the Airfield Exhibition will be open from 2.30. Lots of new items on display will include: DogTags, Photos of Aircraft on the Airfield between the fifties and sixties, Photos taken on the 23rd Sep. We have also had a very nice donation of a piece of Thunderbolt nose that ways about one hundredweight, Roy Henson has worked very hard doing some restoration on it and it will be on display for the first time.

Due to rising costs we have had to increase the admission charge to £1, but I think you will agree an excellent pounds worth.

25th November

Langham comm centre

2.304.30

Table top sale

To reserve a table xxxx xxxxxx

Admission 20p

I think that is it for this time, With the weather about to change we shall wait until after Xmas for further events and outings. But we do have a good programme in the planning: