Author: Paul Flint

 

November sees the centenary of the end of the Great War, the war to end all wars in which the dead from British and Empire forces reached 1,244,000 with more than another 2,000,000 wounded. Many have travelled to see the battlefields to gain a sense of what their forefathers endured during this appalling period in history which cost the lives of nearly 20,000,000 and 23,500,000 injured from all sides over four years.

Even on the morning of 11^th November 1918, 853 Allies and 3000 Americans were killed or wounded before the cease fire at 11.00 am.

As well as seeing evidence of trench warfare, visitors have seen the War graves, those silent battalions who lie in such tranquillity. Fewer people realise how these outstanding scenes came about and who were responsible for those temples of serenity so admired today.

Rhydian Vaughan, who is Vice President of the Bramley Royal British Legion, a village just north of Basingstoke in Hampshire, has been Battlefield Guiding since 2000 with eclectic groups, large and small, old and young. Passion is his driving force and bringing history to life: his strap line is “Without a passionate Guide a battlefield is just a field.”

The Probus Club of Basingstoke was enlightened to hear about how Sir Fabian Ware, who at 45 was too old to enlist, was, in 1915, leading a Red Cross unit in France. He recognised that no system or process existed for registering the dead who were buried in unconstructed graves near to where they fell. He anticipated future concerns would be expressed by a grateful nation at the lack of respect for the men who had made the ultimate sacrifice. Well connected he was able to influence the establishment of the Graves Registration and Enquiries Commission so early in the war.

By 1917 significant progress had been made and the organisation was renamed the Imperial War Graves Commission. Rather than repatriate the dead it was considered better that they were looked after in local cemeteries in individual graves. Until this time the war dead were often interred in mass graves. It set about planning for the creation of hundreds of cemeteries across all the countries where conflict had occurred.

It was felt that because the sacrifice had been in common, the memorial should be in common also. Whatever their military rank or position in civil life, they should have equal treatment in their graves. This brought about considerable consternation that families could not repatriate their loved ones for private memorials to be constructed.

Three great British architects were selected to lead the artistic interpretation necessary to overcome this antipathy. They were Lutyens, Blomfield and Baker, who headed up teams of younger architects. The teams would be men who had served and would understand the solemnity needed to carry out this task.

The Commission decided that the headstone would be a uniform height of 2 feet 6 inches and 1 foot 3 inches wide and made of white Portland stone. Simple inscriptions would contain the name, rank, number and date killed while regimental symbols allowed for some variation. Each team was responsible for subtle design differences between sites while conforming to the brief of creating the inspiring formation of headstones, memorials and buildings to be seen today.

The memorials have the inscribed names of around half a million missing who have no known grave. These include the famous Thiepval Memorial on the Somme and the Menin Gate, Ypres, where tonight, as on every night at 8.00 pm, buglers from the local Fire Brigade play The Last Post.

Kew Gardens had input on the style of the ground work of the cemeteries. It was decided that the individual headstones should appear to be set on flat turf rather than individual mounds. The garden designer Gertrude Jeckyll, was part of the committee as was the poet and writer Rudyard Kipling whose only son was killed in the war.

The Imperial War Graves Commission is today called the Commonwealth War Graves Commission whose headquarters are in Maidenhead. Regional offices are France, Belgium, Cyprus, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. They have research facilities that aid investigation by families making enquiries about the burial site of relatives who lost their lives in the service of this country.

See www.cwgc.org

 

As usual at this time of year the annual Summer Pub lunch of the Probus Club of Basingstoke took place. On this occasion it was at The Poacher Inn in South Warnborough which is situated on the Alton road south of Odiham.  Chris Perkins MVO, of Kempshott, being the newly appointed president, selected the hostelry ensuring not to replicate past venues.

This is an attractive and welcoming pub with a modern accommodation block, offering good pub food and the party of thirty six, consisting of members and their spouses/partners, enjoyed their time together.

During World War Two, the pub, then called The Plough Inn, was a popular off duty “watering hole” for all manner of air and ground crews from the nearby aerodrome. These not only included the Royal Air Force, but personnel from Canadian fighter squadrons together with Belgian and Free-French trainee pilots from the newly formed Elementary Flying School on the base. Today, renamed The Poacher Inn, it continues to be a popular haunt for many of the helicopter squadrons. The landlady and her team go to great lengths to offer their hospitality to all and have endeavoured to integrate the pub with the local community by providing an ideal venue for meetings and functions.

Chris commented, “As I served for many years at RAF Odiham meant that I was familiar with this establishment and confident that the licencee would be able to cope with such numbers arriving on their doorstep.”

He was not wrong. It was a splendid choice and the range of food and drinks on offer were of high quality and competitively priced.

Now in its fortieth year, the Probus Club of Basingstoke has a full programme of activities with monthly speaker lunches for members, who are all retired professional and business managers, with a variety of social outings that always involve the ladies.

 

 

 

The second annual golf tournament for Probus Club of Basingstoke members to compete for the “Shield” took place on Monday 30 July at the Test Valley Golf Club. It was a Stableford competition and for those non-golfers a simplistic description of the rules of play can be seen in the report about last year’s game on this web site in August 2017 so there is no need to repeat them here.

Apparently this year it was a close game with the winner being Geoff Twine on 32 points, second was Richard Stettner with 31, John Swain coming third had 30, fourth was shared by Alan May and Jeff Grover on 28 while David Wickens qualified for the wooden spoon with 20 points.

As the shield was donated originally by Geoff Twine it is only right and proper that he can take it home for the next year. The numbers being down on last year’s competition perhaps the newer members might have a golfer or two in their ranks who would like to make up the numbers next year. If so they should make themselves known to Alan May.

On the occasion of his first lunch meeting as the new President, Chris Perkins MVO was also the speaker this day, 10th July 2018. The subject was about the air station where he had been the longest in his service life.

Today the sight and sound of a Chinook helicopter flying across Basingstoke’s sky line is so common that in most cases they are ignored. Yes, we know they are based at RAF Odiham but most know little about our local airfield. Retired RAF Squadron Leader Chris Perkins MVO , from Kempshott,  gave a presentation to our members about the history and changing face of what is now home to the largest deployment of helicopters in the UK.

Chris Perkins served 22 years at RAF Odiham and became interested in its history, although there were little official archives. Just after WW1 the RAF air station at Andover carried out aerial surveys over Odiham Down, seeing potential to expand their activities to be closer to the army base at Aldershot and the important flying centre at Farnborough. In 1925 a summer camp was established and grass runways allowed some flying.

The 1930s saw expansion of RAF Odiham with two tarmac runways needed to handle heavier planes.  The Empire Air Day in 1937 was a great spectacle and interestingly an official visit to the station was conducted by Luftwaffe General Erhard Milch. During WW2 he oversaw aircraft production in Germany.  He was so impressed by RAF Odiham that he earmarked it for his HQ should England be conquered.

Within 10 days of the declaration of war in September 1939 the service men of RAF Odiham with their Lysanders and Blenheims deployed to France engaged in army support roles suffering several losses. They were replaced with RAuxAF Squadrons 613/614 with Hind, Hector and Lysanders together with a detachment of WAAFs filling administrative support posts.  Change continued at Odiham as in 1940 RCAF 110 Squadron arrived with other foreign personnel and the establishment of Belgium/French Flying Training units. They were visited by General De Gaulle.

Two days after Luftwaffe aircraft were spotted carrying out area reconnaissance, RAF Odiham was the target on 12^th August 1940 for Junkers 88 of Kampf Geschwadern51 (Bomber Group 51). They were intercepted by Hawker Hurricane fighters of 43 Squadron from RAF Tangmere in West Sussex. On 15^th August RAF Odiham was mistaken for the target RAF Andover when a Junkers 88 crew made navigational errors and their bombs killed several in Odiham village. The next attack was on 23^rd March 1941 when a Junkers 88 jettisoned 12 bombs in the vicinity of the airfield whilst trying to get away from a persistent Hurricane. Three days later another Luftwaffe bomber was engaged by the station’s defences as it flew over the camp. This was the last recorded incident of the enemy’s  attacks on RAF Odiham in WW2.

Following the formation of the Army Co-operation Command in December 1940, it was decided to replace the aging Lysander with fighter aircraft capable of completing photo reconnaissance missions. The American Curtiss Tomahawk was chosen and in April 1941 the Canadian 100 Squadron, renumbered 400 Squadron at Odiham, began to re-equip. They were joined by 171 Squadron.

May 1942 saw the first of the 1000 bomber raids with five Blenheim Mk 1V of 13 Squadron involved. They went on three such raids with several losses with crews buried in Holland.  August 1942 saw 13 and 613 Squadrons supporting the Dieppe raid.

From November 1942 RAF Odiham experienced a great build up with all types of army co-operation activities besides operational air and shipping support sorties. All were in preparation for the forthcoming invasion of Europe involving many types of fighter aircraft.

Transport Command came in 1945 with 233 and 271 Squadrons of Dakota aircraft and the Canadian Transport Wing formed.

There was a ground strafing range in Dogmersfield Park and Lord Haw Haw was returned via Odiham from Germany to face trial as a traitor. There were still many fighter aircraft based here. 54 Squadron with Hawker Tempest Mk11, 130 Squadron with Spitfire Mk1V and 247 was the first Vampire jet unit with 54 and 130 Squadrons converting to Vampires to form the first RAF Vampire wing. In 1947 54 Squadron became the first RAF formation team flying jets.

Flying machines had proven their worth in WW1 and became a separate military force in 1918 when the Royal Flying Corps became the Royal Air force. On 10^th July this year, its century was celebrated with a large fly past in London. RAF Odiham can beat that with the Coronation Review of the Royal Air Force on 15^th July 1953.

There were 331 planes on the ground and a fly past of 197 piston engined planes and 444 jets. This was, and will probably be, the largest ever collection of RAF planes ever seen.

The Worshipful the Mayor of Basingstoke & Deane BC, Cllr Sean Keating was guest of honour at the first lunch of the new Probus season on Tuesday 10th July 2018. The new President, Chris Perkins MVO,  presented a cheque on behalf of the club to the Mayor as a small contribution to his charity appeal.
Being a hot day the Mayor used a lightweight version rather than the usual heavy chain of office.

The 39th Annual General Meeting of the Probus Club of Basingstoke had a two part ceremony for the elevation of Chris Perkins MVO to become the President for the coming year. The actual handing over of the Chain of Office took place at the lunch on 12th June as Chris was on holiday on 28th June which was the date of the AGM.
Meanwhile back at the AGM, held at Christ Church in Chineham, after the various reports were presented there came the voting for the Officers and Executive Committee members for the ensuing year. Paul Flint remains as Hon. Secretary (as well as PR Officer) now with assistant Secretary Peter Hayes and Alan May as Hon. Treasurer with assistant Treasurer Dr Jeff Grover. Richard Wood becomes Vice President with the additional, new, role of Welfare Officer. Alex Marianos takes over as Lunch Steward from Stephen Thair who leaves the Committee after four years in that position and Tony Atchison continues as Outings Organiser while David Wickens becomes Programme Secretary now Chris Perkins has taken on the top position.

Dr Nick Waring received the Past President’s tie from Paul Flint. Dr Waring thanked Lesley Atchison for once again producing the nibbles after the meeting and presented her with some orchids.

 

Built in 1014 as a hunting lodge for the King of Saxony and today a hotel and Youth Hostel, its most famous face was that as a Prisoner of War camp for allied officers in WW2.  Hermann Goering, Hitler’s deputy, in 1939 described the castle as escape proof.

Colditz Castle became the most famous PoW camp during the war as it became the last ditch place that persistent escapees from other PoW camps were sent. It was the destination that the father of the speaker at the last meeting of the Probus Club of Basingstoke, the social club for retired professional and business managers, found himself in 1940. Peter Storie-Pugh (later full Colonel CBE MC TD DL) had been captured at a battle near Douthens and had escaped twice before ending up in Colditz Castle the place that ensconced officers from Britain, France and Poland.

His son, also a Colonel, Piers Storie-Pugh, who has a particularly impressive army CV, told of the experiences his father endured during five years of captivity. This started with a march from the station across the Adolf Hitler bridge towards the foreboding castle. There were 400 seasoned troops back from the eastern front set to keep control of 800 prisoners. Despite this ratio and with due respect for the actual position of the castle on a promontory there were 300 attempts to escape of which 130 were successful. There were 33 “home runs” where British officers made it back to UK.

Capt Pat Reid was the initial British Escape Officer who maintained that things ran on strict military lines.  He escaped in 1942 with three others to Switzerland subsequently becoming the consultant to the film The Colditz Story. It was important that British escape plans did not interfere with any from the French or Polish prisoners. It took up to nine months from the inception of a plan to fulfilment during which time it was necessary to create the circumstances to give the escapee the best chance of success. This could include creating suitable clothing to match German military uniforms or ladies’ skirts and blouses as well as forging the necessary documents. They carved tunnels, hid in the laundry, climbed over precipitously high roofs, vaulted over high fences and, of course, made the famous glider. This had been constructed in a supposedly locked loft room made from bed sheets and planks from the stage. It had been calculated that it would fly up to 1000 feet and was kept in reserve in case problems occurred with German troops inside the castle.

Peter Storie-Pugh was involved in assisting 21 escapes. Some were not successful in that the escapees were recaptured and kept in solitary confinement and fed on bread and water. The first successful escapee was Airey Neave, dressed as a German corporal. He became a barrister, worked for MI9, was elected as a Conservative MP and murdered during the Irish troubles in 1979 when his car was blown up on the ramp from the car park in the House of Commons.

Many rowdy games were played in the castle court yard as well as putting on stage shows that held the attention of the guards and covered up potentially noisy escape workings. In the meantime moral was boosted by a secret radio giving the football scores courtesy of the BBC and receiving coded letters from home and postcards from successful escapees. Peter Storie-Pugh also carried out a correspondence course with Cambridge University and gained a BA while still a prisoner.

This multinational mix of prisoners drawn from all three services from 2/Lt to General cooperated in escapes, shared cold, starvation and frustration, but seldom boredom as they tried every method of escape. But they kept German guards away from fighting against our troops. Colditz Castle was liberated by the US Army on 15^th April 1945 but the first person to enter the Castle by Jeep was a delightful young female war correspondent. A very welcome sight for the men of Colditz who should not be compared to today’s lightweight celebrities but were true role models who exhibited the finest personal qualities against a back drop of a world war.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday 7 June saw 31 souls consisting of members, wives, lady friends and some from the Ladies Probus Club of Basingstoke having a splendid trip by coach to Exbury Gardens.

Situated at the southern end of the New Forest and adjacent to the Beaulieu River the property was bought by the de Rothschild family in 1918. During WW2 the house was used by General Eisenhower, Churchill and General Montgomery to plan the D Day landings.

It has been a lifetime’s work for several generations of the de Rothschild family in creating one of the finest woodland gardens in the country extending to over 250 acres. Described as, ”bankers by hobby, and gardeners by profession” the gardens also include a narrow gauge steam railway conceived in 2000 and taking over two years to bring to fulfilment.

It had been hoped that the rhododendrons would still be in bloom but this year’s spring weather put paid to that although there are a few late varieties still in flower. Our group had the benefit of a guided tour while some less mobile used the services of a golf buggy complete with informative driver. The afternoon encouraged a ride on the steam train which took in parts of the garden not accessible on foot.

The annual Spring Ladies’ Lunch of the Probus Club of Basingstoke had as its guest of honour Joy Needham the President of the Basingstoke Ladies Probus Club.

Held at the Test Valley Golf Club this is one of two formal occasions in the year when members of the Probus Club of Basingstoke, the social organisation for retired professional and business managers, are accompanied by the distaff side of the family although there are many social events and pub lunches that couples enjoy.

Thanks are due, once again, to Alan and Liliane May for organising this lunch and paying so much attention to detail to ensure the occasion was very enjoyable.
And the food was excellent too.

 

 

 

“Learn a trade, son” was the advice Probus Club member David Wickens received from his father. Like many about to leave school in the Swinging Sixties, he had no clear idea of what to do with the rest of his life. Besides, these were exciting times and there were many distractions.

All around could be seen the Beatles, Elvis Presley, the death of Marilyn Monroe, the assassination of  President Kennedy, James Bond films, Twiggy with miniskirts and men with long hair and flared trousers not forgetting England winning the World Cup. But what to do?

An uncle gave him an insight into high precision engineering by showing him what went on in automatically testing fifty points simultaneously of jet engine fan blades.  An interest was born and the idea of getting an apprenticeship in engineering was forming.

Apprentices have been around for thousands of years as a way of a master craftsmen passing on his secret arts and skills to the next generation. The young person was “indentured” to the master for many years with onerous conditions, any failure of which could have significant repercussions.

Needless to say the restrictions placed on indentured apprentices of yesteryear of not visiting playhouses and taverns, gambling, committing fornication or marrying did not apply to the speaker during his five years with day release at technical college and night school. A company in the Cambridge Instrument group was the benefactor of the speaker’s ambitions having told the managing director at interview, that his job looked attractive.

Like apprentices in all trades he was subject to the usual initiations by the” timed served” tradesmen. Sending him for a tin of elbow grease or a bag of bubbles for the spirit levels, having his tools welded to the bench or having parts of his anatomy painted with marking blue dye was all to be endured. The only consolation was that he could look forward to applying the same rituals to the next incoming apprentice.

To further enhance his appreciation of how the instruments made by his company were used in the wide world visits were arranged to some customers. The David Brown factory in Newport Pagnell, was home of Aston Martin and Lagonda, the super cars of the 60s. Here he heard about the Aston Martin DB5 used by James Bond in the film Goldfinger in 1964 when six body shells were needed for various scenes..

The Royal Small Arms factory in London had produced swords, muskets and from 1895 onwards the famous Lea Enfield rifle which was greatly admired for the interchange ability of parts, its firing range and the competitive cost due to mass production.

The first large scale plant David visited as part of his apprenticeship was to the Dungeness “A” Nuclear Power station. This was a Magnox reactor with a capacity of 500 MW which could power 10% of Britain’s electrical needs.

The Stewart & Lloyd’s steel works at Corby was almost self sufficient from open cast mining of the iron ore using huge excavators with buckets that could carry 11 cubic metres of ore transported to the blast furnaces for ingot production and tube manufacture.

A visit to Heathrow airport to tour the BOAC Pilot Training School allowed him to try out the Boeing 747 – 136 Flight Simulator and visit the hangers to watch aircraft being serviced which demonstrated how they used the instruments David was training to make.

David Wickens was clearly good at his job, achieving the award of apprentice of the year. To demonstrate some of the skills learned in the early part of his apprenticeship he brought along some of the hand tools he had made in those years

Further experiences were developed in Work Study and Production Engineering, then in the Drawing Office where draughtsmen used pencil and paper well before the advent of CAD technology and eventually into Sales and Marketing. This latter area held him for the rest of his career as he progressed to become Export Manager visiting many manufacturing plants throughout the World.

And it all started the day he saw a fan blade being tested.