89th Entry Reunion

On Friday 10th October we left the Mepham home for the Ramada Hotel at Pembury, just outside Tunbridge Wells.

As the event had been organised by Mick, it was only right that we should spend both Friday and Saturday nights at the hotel with everyone else. After booking in - what a great room - Mick ensconced himself in the Bar area of the hotel and waited for the others to start arriving. I spent some time with him but also went for a walk to the local Supermaket whilst Sue and Maria went off to Tunbridge Wells for some retail therapy. An evening meal was part of the deal and we had been allocated a separate Dining Room so we all gathered for a meal and chat, renewing acquaintances and, in some cases, making new ones.
Saturday dawned fine with the promise of a glorious day. Once again, I decided not to go on the shopping trip with Maria and Sue and settled for a meander around the local Garden Centre in between meeting those members who arrived on the Saturday.
The evening get together proved very successful, with the staff looking after us very well.

Maria with Sue Mepham.

Anne & Gerry Klippel with Virginia Dalgleish.
Roger Gulliver looking on and the fit brigade dancing.

A good night was had by all with enough people dancing to justify the Disco. My efforts to dance all the way through "Tiger Feet" only went to prove that I am not as young as I used to be - I hope nobody had a Video Camera running!!
I cannot remember what time we went to bed, but we were up in the morning in time for breakfast followed by a very brief AGM. We look forward to meeting everyone again next year in Southport.
Having said our goodbyes, it was back to White Cottage where Jane & John Baker and Virginia & Dag Dalgleish joined us for coffee and chat. When they left, we spent the rest of the day relaxing in the Autumn sunshine.
The following morning, after a leisurely breakfast it was time to say goodbye to our hosts and make the long journey home. This proved to be a fairly easy journey with no problems.

Many thanks to Sue & Mick for entertaining us so well and we look forward to being able to return the favour.

13 May

There are some dates in a person's life that stand out as being memorable. In my case, six dates come to mind. They are: 18 March 1941 - my date of birth. 14 November 1964 - I got married. 23 January 1967, 13 June 1968 and 24 November 1969 - Andrew, Annette and Nick's arrival dates in this world. That is five, so what is the sixth you my ask?

13 May 1958 was the day I signed on in the Royal Air Force. I was one of about 155 callow youths who joined the 89th Entry, Royal Air Force Apprentices at RAF Halton. For those with a mathematical background, you will note that that is 50 years ago today.

Some of those boys are still in touch and some of them will have met up today at the National Memorial Arboretum to remember that momentous day (for some of us) 50 years ago. Regrettably, I was not able to attend but I have been thinking of friends made all those years ago and hoping that they have had a good reunion. I shall be at the next Annual Reunion at Tunbridge Wells in October.

Instead of celebrating, I have spent the day, amongst other things, in climbing up and down a ladder, cleaning the guttering. This is a soul destroying task slightly worse than cleaning windows, which I hate. I then had to fix the exhaust on the Ride-on mower before cutting the 0.81 acre field alongside the house. The Strimmer came next and I would like to think that I am getting better with it but the results leave a lot to be desired. In the meantime, Maria has been hard at work with a myriad of different things including washing, ironing and loads of weeding. We finally packed up at about 7pm, had some tea and settled down for the evening. For me that means catching up with the Blog, sorting the e-mails and tidying up some Family History.

Holiday Day 2 & 3 - Perth

After a casual breakfast we left Warrington, set the Sat Nav, plugged it into the charger, refuelled and set off for the 89th Halton Entry reunion at the Ramada Hotel, Perth. The journey of about 262 miles was a mixture of sunshine and dreadful rain showers but overall was not too bad. We were just entering the city boundaries when guess what, the Sat Nav screen went blank. More panic, where was the hotel (second moral from the day before - failed); I found a stop and plugged the Sat Nav in (properly) and we continued, finding the hotel with no problems at about 4 o’clock. After unpacking etc, we had time for the odd drink, meeting some of the Entry in the bar and swapping a few stories about the parking problems. Our room was fine but some had been recently painted and couples had to move rooms because of the smell, with one couple actually moving hotels for the night. We had a carvery buffet meal which was excellent and followed that with a few more drinks and some more talking before bedtime.
Saturday dawned fine and after breakfast we wandered downtown Perth for a look, prior to meeting up with friends who were arriving about midday. In that time we managed to buy a half-price Slow Cooker in Debenhams!
We met up with Dag and Virginia around 12 noon and spent the rest of the afternoon with them, including a drive around the local hills when I managed to fall asleep; it must be Dag’s good, sensible driving that does it. I did wake up to appreciate about half of the drive however and we ended up in Crieff where it seemed to be blowing a gale. It was here that Dag and I decided that we need to avail ourself of the local facilities. Having found the only public toilet that was visible, we then found out that it was very costly to use so, if you will pardon the expression, we paid 30p for 1p each. Then it was back to the hotel in time for a cup of tea, bath and change ready for the evening “do”. As I only took one photograph in all our time in Perth, I thought that I had better show you the best looking woman on show, so here she is.


There were, I think, 21 couples for the dinner, which I believe most people thoroughly enjoyed. Pete Bolton and John Boyack had done the organising and had come up with the idea of having a magician going from table to table to entertain. This was a splendid innovation and, even at very close quarters, he was very good and with a great line in chat.
After the meal we were invited to play “shove-pounds” to win a bottle of whisky and all the money that was thrown. Techniques varied but the best way turned out to be throwing, rather than sliding, as proved by Bill Butlin who won; he generously donated the cash, £45, to the North West Air Ambulance. I wonder whether or not I would have thought to do the same for the Cornwall Air Ambulance?
The end of the evening was spent in the bar catching up with old friends before retiring ready for the next stage of our journey the following day.
The following morning, we packed the car and had our traditional Entry AGM - did I really volunteer to organise a reunion in Newquay??