Reunions

To date we have only held one reunion, to celebrate our Golden Anniversary.   This was held on 20th/22nd April 2001 at the Falcon Hotel in Stratford upon Avon when 19 of the Entry and their ladies attended.   The attendees were John Boulden and Jo Taylor, Brian and May Bullock, Phil and Dorothy Claridge, Dennis and Pat Davey, Malcolm and Thelma Gissing (from Canada), Pete and Doreen Golding, Bob and Celia Haslam, Les and Betty Lawson, Alan and Brenda Letts, Bryan and Chris Linnell, Roy and Joy Marshall, Jim and Barbara Morris (who organised the reunion - who else), John Robinson, Pete and Gladys Smith, John and Lorna Snook, Maurice and Pat Stocks, John and Sheila Tonkinson, Ron Watson, Tony and Pamela Wyman.   Three other couples had planned to attend but circumstances and the years conspired against them.   They were Pam and Bob Barker, Peter and Christine Brown and Stan and Pat Gibson.   

Arriving on Friday afternoon we enjoyed meeting and catching up with friends most of us hadn't seen for 50 years.   Common themes heard in conversations were how we could all have circulated around what is an ever shrinking number of RAF stations without meeting up, and secondly, when you imagined a little more hair and a little less weight, how little we had changed since Cranwell days!   The latter remarks says something about how our eyesight/memory has deteriorated!!   We gathered together in the evening in a reserved room for a casual evening of chat, the odd bevy or two, viewing old photographs and other memorabilia that we had variously brought along.   We also viewed a video of apprentice training at Cranwell which included a small sequence taken at our passing out parade.  

One of the highlights of the evening was the unveiling of a large board, lovingly created by Les Lawson, who had spent months and many hours searching out from many sources photos of entry members taken while at Cranwell.   Amazingly from our original intake he had only failed in six cases, three of whom were members who did not complete training.   He has since found one of the other three who did pass out.   He even managed to get photos of 4 of the 11 who joined us from senior entries.   This board is now held by the Apprentice Museum at RAF Halton with the rest of the Cranwell Apprentice memorabilia.   If you look on the "Entry List" page, those for whom we have no photo are marked "NoP".   If anyone can fill these gaps we will be delighted to receive copies of the photo.   A thumbnail photo of the "Lawson Board" appears below.   Click on these photos to obtain enlarged versions.

Saturday morning and early afternoon were allocated as "free time" and most spent this wandering around the delightful town of Stratford upon Avon.   In the afternoon we met up for a "photo shoot" and a thumbnails of two of the many photos taken are shown above.   View enlargements as before.   Those of you who have been following this story closely will perhaps notice that Pete and Doreen Golding were absent from photo parade!   It was later found out that they were in the hotel at the time, in fact in their room, but they said they had forgotten the photo call!!!   Sentence is still awaited.

In the evening we all gathered for a formal dinner where we enjoyed an excellent meal, and listened to three short speeches.   First Jim Morris opened with the Loyal Toast.  He then told us about his experiences as Entry Representative and closed by leading us in toasting Absent Friends.   He was followed by Dennis Davey who spoke on days at Cranwell and toasted "The Entry", and finally Malcolm Gissing toasted "The Ladies".

Sunday came and we all departed for home.   All agreed it had been a wonderful weekend and despite the difficulties hoped we could do it again.   Perhaps it was not really surprising how after a so very short time back together we were all happily chatting about past experiences as if we had never really been apart.   This born out of the common bond of our three years at Cranwell.   What was more surprising was how quickly and how well our ladies too found they had so much in common, and it was even rumoured that when it came to talking about "doing it all again" their arms were the highest in the air!

RAF CAA Annual General Meeting & Reunion 17th September, 2005

Once again the Entry were represented at the CAA Reunion.   This year Pete Smith, Alan Letts, Jim Morris, Phil Claridge, John Boulden, Gordon Heath, Maurice Hill, John Snook and John Robinson made it to the Reunion.    Apologies were received from Peter Brown, Len West and Dennis Davey - all hope to be back on parade next year.   

Pete Smith, John Boulden and Jim Morris together with their ladies stayed overnight at the Swan Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon and joined with members of the 61st Entry for dinner on Friday evening.

The three photographs below, taken at the 2004, repeat 2004, Reunion come to us courtesy of the 61st Entry who came to the reunion with camera at the ready.   The middle of the three pictures shows all those 1M9er's who made it in 2004.   Click on each photo to obtain an enlarged version.

RAF CAA Annual General Meeting & Reunion 16th September, 2006

Nine of us made it yet again.   This year we were pleased to catch up with Peter Brown, John Boulden, Gordon Heath, Dennis Davey, Alan Letts, Jim Morris, Len West, John Snook, and Phil Claridge.   They all appear on the center photograph below standing from left to right in the order listed.   Apologies were received from Peter Golding and Maurice Hill.

Jim and Barbara Morris, Peter and Christine Brown and Dennis and Pat Davey had all planned to join up with the 61st Entry at the Angel Hotel Leamington for a get together on Friday 15th but, because of health or other reasons, all failed to make it.

The three photos below were taken during the reunion.   Click on each photo to obtain an enlarged version.

   We hope to see even more members there next year   

Mark up your diary - Saturday 15th September 2007 at Warwick University.