Month: November 2025

An extremely chilly but very sunny day greeted our group of twenty-one members and families of the Probus Club of Basingstoke for a visit to the RNLI Station at the very end of Calshot Spit.

The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service.

Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,700 lives. Until its closure in 1961, Calshot Spit had been the site of RAF Calshot, which was the primary seaplane/flying boat development and training unit in the United Kingdom.

After the departure of the RAF, Hampshire County Council opened an educational activities centre on the site. The centre was regularly being asked by HM Coastguard to use its boats, to go out and rescue people in trouble off shore. The huge increase of maritime call-outs were such, that, negotiations were established with the RNLI, with a view to there being a more formalised rescue service for this busy stretch of water. A year was spent evaluating this proposition and as a result, a RNLI lifeboat station was established on the site in 1970.

In 1996, the RNLI funded the construction of new shore facilities for Calshot Station, constructed on concrete stanchions to prevent flooding. Hampshire County Council provided a new boarding jetty for use jointly by the lifeboat station and the Calshot Activity Centre.

Various all-weather lifeboats have seen service at Calshot over the years, but in 2012, the Calshot board of trustees decided that the base would cease to be an all-weather facility. Consequently, the last larger Tyne class lifeboat was withdrawn on 4th of April of that year. Since then, Calshot has been officially re-designated as an Inshore lifeboat station with a responsibility stretching from the River Itchen bridge in Southampton, all the way down the Solent to the Isle of Wight. As such, it has necessitated keeping pace with improvements in facilities both for lifeboats and crews: not to mention the constantly evolving changes in equipment and operational procedures. Calshot at present, is equipped with both ‘D’ and ‘B’ class lifeboats. The D-class lifeboat is of an inflatable type serving the RNLI lifeboat fleet as well as a number of Independent Lifeboats around the UK and Ireland. It is one of the smallest lifeboats operated by the RNLI, and unlike other members of the inshore lifeboat fleet, does not have a rigid hull. At Calshot, it normally has a crew of three or and is primarily used for surfer/swimmer incidents as well as assisting in cliff or mud bank rescues. The very nature of its work requires a swift response, and the D-class can normally be deployed very quickly.

The much larger “Atlantic 85” B-class lifeboat named ‘Max Walls’ is stationed at Calshot. It is a fast inshore rescue craft and is named after Atlantic College in South Wales where it was designed. Capable of reaching a useful 35 kts, it can be deployed in shallow waters as well as handling challenging, open sea conditions. It is equipped with powerful twin 115hp Yamaha outboard engines and has a self-righting mechanism. It is also equipped with modern advanced navigation and communication systems.

An incredible visit was had by all and we were royally treated to the fine hospitality afforded by the RNLI Calshot Crew. Due to the restricted space within the base, we were limited in party size. However, the Probus Club of Basingstoke has booked for a return trip in the spring of 2026

Report by Chris Perkins MVO

Sherfield-on-Loddon resident Natalie Larner gave an outline to the Probus Club of Basingstoke of Captain John Aidan Liddell VC MC whose 1915 burial in South View cemetery, Basingstoke was attended by many dignitaries and public crowds.

Although he was born near Newcastle in 1888, during the early 1900s and after the First World War, the Liddell family lived at Sherfield Manor which today is Sherfield School. As a lasting connection one of the buildings at Sherfield Village Hall bears the family name and on 11 November each year a special service is held to commemorate his memory.

Following Balliol College, Oxford, where he had obtained a first-class degree in Zoology, at the age of 24 and not wanting to be a ’slacker’ John Aidan Liddell joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders following his maternal grandfather into a Scottish regiment.

When the first World War started, with the rank of Lieutenant, he commanded a Maxim machine gun section on the Western Front that remained unsupported for 43 days. For this action and for saving the Company Sergeant Major he received the MC.

This long time at the front, spent either in action or the suboptimal conditions of front-line trenches, where he changed his socks only once in that time, took a toll on his health and he was given leave.

Before the outbreak of the war, he had trained as a pilot, flying a Boxkite at the Vickers school at Brooklands and following recuperation from his battlefield experiences he joined the Royal Flying Corps being promoted to Captain and was stationed at Saint-Omer in northern France.

On 31 July 1915 he, together with an observer/gunner, was flying a two-seater RE 5 biplane at 5,000 feet near Bruges when they were fired on by enemy aircraft. Badly wounded with a shattered right thigh he lost consciousness and the plane nose-dived. Regaining consciousness, he was able to regain control at only 3,000 feet above enemy lines.

The plane was badly damaged and with the crew member, 2^nd Lieutenant Roland Peck, also wounded, he managed to fly back to base saving not only the plane but also the life of his observer. Captain Liddell had his right leg amputated but died due to septicaemia a month later. He was 27 years old.

There had been much publicity in the British newspapers of this event so that when his body was brought back to England and following a Catholic mass held in London, the coffin travelled to Basingstoke by train where it was met with pipers from his regiment. The cortege passed through the town where crowds lined the streets and flags flown at half half-mast. His observer was amongst many who attended the funeral.

The posthumous VC was presented to his father by King George V at Buckingham Palace on 17 November 1915. Only four such medals were awarded to members of the Royal Flying Corps.

Several commemorative plaques of Captain John Aidan Liddell VC MC are found around Britain, but Sherfield-on-Loddon has its own memorials. His name can be seen topping the list of other local men who lost their lives during this conflict on the village war memorial. And in 2015, the century after his death, a commemorative engraved paving stone, atop a brick plinth, was positioned near the crossroad in the village. Sherfield-on-Loddon residents are justly proud of their local man who became a war hero.

Stephen Thair and Paul Klinger, as President and Vice President respectively, represented the Club at the Remembrance Sunday Service and commemoration which was held at the Basingstoke War Memorial.

The event was very well attended with Veterans, the Gurkhas, Cadets, Scouts and Guides marching in the Parade to take their positions around the War Memorial, and many members of the public in attendance.

The Salvation Army Band provided the music, and the Odiham Military Wives Choir sang two songs. The service was led by Chaplain Charles Lewis.

There was a well-timed flypast by a Chinook helicopter from RAF Odiham and the Two Minutes Silence was initiated by the Last Post performed by a member of the Salvation Army.

The first wreaths were laid by the Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane and other civic dignitaries, and then representatives of other organisations followed, Stephen Thair laying a wreath on behalf of the Club. The wreath-laying was followed by the Remembrance Service, led by the Chaplain.

The event was a very moving commemoration and remembrance of those who had given their lives on behalf of our Country so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we have today. It was encouraging that it was so well attended, not only by veterans of the armed services and members of the civilian uniformed services, but also by so many  young people from  schools and various youth organisations in the area.

Stephen Thair

A split this month with the Portland Russian Spy Ring featuring in the Kempshott Kourier and the Chineham People magazine (a new A5 sized publication for us which was launched in the late spring this year).

The others all covered the History of Television with the Rabbiter and Bramley giving us full pages while the Link and Basinga used the reduced length report. A rare occurrence was that we were too late for the Villager magazine in Sherborne St John.