Recent changes.

Have a very merry Christmas everyone.
John Roberts of ex 82nd fame found by Jim Robson and address forwarded to me. Despite me being unable to contact Brian Hyland by any means, it appears he is still with us, 'cos he sent me an email telling of his impending move to Suffolk. His email is so intermittent, I will leave the contacts page untill he obtaons a new one.
Bill Sherman has been added to the "wot we bin doing" page.
I meanwhile am still having to suffer the constantly changing weather of Florida, the temperature keeps goes up and down between 70F and 80F, and we had ten minutes of rain t'other day.

4th December 2007 Mick Flynns email address added to contacts page. Jim Robson has given me an address for Taff Cooksey, but he wants nothing to do with the RAF so have it just for emergencies.
I enjoyed the write up in the Haltonian, reference National Sock Day, it sure brought back a few memories.
I am now in the the USA, but all mails come as normal, and if you wish to follow my movements, I am running a blog on http://janton-usa.blogspot.com.

12th November 2007 Ernie Bees poem added to 2007 reunion list.
Mike Willet has apparently moved to another town, The Mayor where he used to live is attempting to find his new address for me. Does anyone know it??

5th November 2007 Next reunion date added.

23rd October 2007Regular users will have already noticed that the website is being redirected. After consultation with John, it was decided due to circumstances that we host the website on a single server instead of using my free webspace. At the same time I purchased, from entry funds, a different URL which I reckon is very appropriate and puts us on a world footing. So the URL for our website is from henceforth www.84thentry.com. This I can update from anywhere in the world, so my impending "holiday" will not stop its usage. Any changes, suggestions or abberations on my part, send them to the usual email address, and WIFI being willing I will pick them up and do the necessary.

11th October 2007 Once again hundreds of brats turned up at Halton for the Triennial on 22nd September and amongst them were 21 of us.   Everyone appreciates the splendid efforts of the committee in organising the Triennials, but services provided by the company hired to run the bar, were, in my opinion , abysmal.  Only two serving points for 1300 thirsty guys is bound to cause discontent.
We did however form some semblance of order and most of us managed to "march" up the hill, we could even hear the band sometimes, so we must be getting nearer to the front.
We shared the hotel with 79th, and a load of rooks, but the staff treated us well even if the booze was expensive.  John Gale provided the caberet later in the evening by deciding to faint, two ex-nurses and 3 paramedics provided the supporting cast. He was fine the following morning, but he never apologised for delaying the coffee.
No doubt John will be putting out a newsletter shortly with more details of events, so that those who do not read the website will know what is going on.
A few people have failed to inform me of a change of circumstances with regard to their email address, the emails I have been sending about the last reunion have bounced, so have removed the following from the contacts page.
Derek Cox,   Dave Horne,    Chris Ferris,   Peter Bradsworth,   Ted Mullinger,   Malcolm Wood,   Alf Pream,   Mike Willett and Brian Hyland
However I have been trawling the known bodies with Telephone numbers and have gained a few more email addresses, these are from Tony Whitehill, Tony Bradford, Peter Bidwell, Mike Slater, George Thomas, Vic Prior, Malcolm Simpson and Mick Church. all of these guys have now been added to the contacts page.
Pete Wildish has informed me that he has moved to France, so we all know where to go for holidays next year, and his email address has changed, as has Ron Macleods, both are on contact page.
Now for the good news, for me that is, not necessarily for the website.  On 25th November this year I am flying to Florida and commencing a six month tour of the lower states of the USA, to California and back, and I cannot update the website when away from a computer running through NTL. It may be therefore be that you will not be getting any updates for that period, but I will attempt to inform JH how to send out multiple emails, so anything important can be transmitted by email. I will be checking my usual email on an ad hoc basis whenever there is a WIFI connection to be had, so will not be completely incommunicado. I will also take a complete listing of the emails with me so I will be able to send to all if need be.
As mentioned before, and requested at the last meeting, I have added a bit to the website for any of our guys to tell the rest about their service careers. Mick Godfrey made the suggestion and is the first contributor, but I have placed a link to Pete Rushens thoughts as well. So bring them on, the link is under "Other Websites" called "My Service Career".

7th October 2007 It is with deep regret that I have to inform you that Glennie Richardson succumbed to her illness and died on Monday 1st October. The funeral will be held in Ferndown, Dorset at 12.30 on Tuesday 9th October. I am sure you will join me in sending condolences to Jeff and his family.
Apologies for the late notice but I have not been able to update the website recently.

29th August 2007 Peter Cook and Alan Simmons have changed their email addresses, see contact page for new ones, and Phil Horton has moved house to the grand county of Lincolnshire. I had an email recently from Jeff Richardson saying that Glennie is unwell again, and is having to undergo further chemotherapy. If you of a religeous nature then do your stuff, for those that are not please think of her, it cannot do any harm.
Fred Munson visited Mick Burns a little while ago and raided his photo album. The scanned results are on a new page in "Old Photographs"

Will you, do you want to tell other brats about your lifes journey, do you have any funny stories, quips, mistakes or successes that others would be interested in? They do not have to be RAF orientated, but it may interest others more if they were. What is the reason for this? Well the subject has been suggested by one of our members, and I note that other brat websites carry pages relating to members past experiences which I personally enjoy reading. We have some guys who are real success stories, and no doubt others who muddled through life, but all of us had that initial life changing experience at Halton, so why not tell the world. I can raise a page on the website to enter the stuff you send directly, or insert a link to your very own website area. In fact there are links already in "Other Websites" but you may not want to go that far, so why not follow the guidelines below suggested by one of our members. EX APPRENTICE POTTED HISTORY
Brief résumé of service Career
Most embarrassing personal service story
Happiest RAF Posting/Station and Why
That Unexpected Decision (by someone other than you) that changed your Career Direction
That Moment you thought your Career was over.
That Moment you knew your Career was over.

I have one contribution which I am holding over until after the entry meeting in September, so it will probably become a reality, but think about it.

1st June 2007 Fred Finlay has been in touch with yet another email address, Jordan this time, so he is back on the list. Ian Vaughan contacted me out of the blue, his email is now on the contacts page, and he also told me he knows where Ron MacLeod lives, Ron then told me about Derek French and he pointed me to Harwich where Dave Garnett was living, however a telephone call from the guy owning the house he was living in rang me and informed me that Dave had unfortunately died about two years ago. I have no reason to think he is wrong so have posted Dave Garnett on the deceased page.
Another guy took a long time to track down. Mike Plimmer sent me a cutting from the RAF news last November, in it was an article about Terry O'Connell making possible history by serving The Queen for 50 years. Have now tracked him down to Peterborough and have added his email to contacts page. So five more found, thanks everybody, keep them coming.
JH is bemoaning the fact that he has very few bookings yet for the September reunion, so come on fellers, send him your loot and let us have a good one. PS. I have sent mine.

17th May 2007It is with regret that I have to inform you that another of our number has gone on his last parade. Bill Brindle died of a heart attack on the 9th May, the funeral is at John the Baptist Church in Bisley (Surrey) on Tuesday 22nd May if anyone else wishes to attend. The Entry will be represented by Mike Plimmer and Les Phillips who live nearby.
Len Pettit has decided to retire shortly, and as a result his email address has been changed on the contacts page.

12th April 2007 Rehashed the contacts page to alphabetical order by surname, and removed brats who were not contactable. ie Fred Findlay, Ted Mullinger and Dave Horne.
Derek Cox has changed his email address to wanadoo, well it takes all sorts.

22nd April 2007 New block picture added, plus some of the Armourers test jobs sent in by Brian Jones.
Letters and emails have been sent out by JH reference the coming reunion in September, see reunion page for details. Get your shoes on for the trog up the hill, and bear in mind that we are getting closer to the front every year.

11th March 2007 Brian Jones has changed his email address as have Jim Robson and Brian Osbon. Curley Knowlton who came to us from the 81st has been found courtesy of 81st webmaster, unfortunately he is not on the internet, but I have his telephone number and address if anyone wishes to contact him. The same goes for Dick Butt who came to us from the 83rd.
As you will have read on this website, Dave Billings is passionate about Amelia Earhart. Well he is still looking for the aircraft and gave an interview to US radio "Aero News" on 5th of March. You can hear this interview by feeding this URL into your PC. http://www.aero-news.net/podcasts/casts/8/ann-special-feature-2007-03-05.mp3. Be aware though that it is 11Mb, contains engine advertisements and a bloke with a strange Australian accent.

26th January 2007 A belated Happy New Year to all our readers. No updates for ages and I put that down to an incident with my car, Christmas, gluttony, a veritable flood of alcohol and a recurrence of my bloody Gout, (and if you have had this you know what I mean) but basically it was down to pure laziness. Hey Ho you all suffer see.
Pete Adams has changed his email address due to his disappointment with Tiscali, see contacts page for the new one.
Have been chatting with Glennie Richardson and I am pleased to say that she is very chirpy, she is in remission and has "bumfluff" on her head, so when we see her next she will no doubt have a full head of hair. Well done girl.
I knew somebody would eventually come up with the name of the unknown lady at the reunion, Colin Green got nagged, so have added Sandras name to the listing.
Eric Shipley sent me another photograph of his misdoings in Aylebury way back in the dark ages. Why the two of them are lying on the grass is a mystery to me.
Thanks to Bill Sherman a few more names have been added to the 3 Wing photographs. He is not too sure about Shenzie Davies, but I am sure someone can put me right.
We are a bit worried, (the "we" being Mike Plimmer and myself), Terry Hooper appears to have disappeared, we think to the Camarthen area of Wales, to what we believe to be a campsite. His email is not bouncing but that is not unusual, some ISP's just dump email if they don't know where to send it. Mike is attempting to track him down, but if anyone else has any information it would be greatly appreciated.
Bill Sherman also raised the point of lack of photos from the reunion in September 1996 to celebrate our 40th Anniversary of joining. We stayed in Wolverhampton and went to Cosford and the ladies went to a stately home called Shugborough. Anyone with photos of this event please let me know and I will make up another page on reunions.

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