Recent changes.

When we passed out in 1959, it was stated by the revueing officer that the entry was nothing spectacular, and would probably not amount to much. They may not be the words used, but the meaning was clear. Ian Blunt was not one of the high flyers who won the books or cups for the highest brat in the entry for this or that, he actually came 35th on the passout Order of Merit list, but in my humble opinion he was the best of the bunch. He went full circle from a raw brat to the Big Boss in charge of RAF Halton, he obviously thought it the pinnacle of his career, for he retired to civvy street from that position, feeling that he could never surpass that post. Maybe I am abusing my position as webmaster for stating this for all the world to see, but I, and the entry guys who attended his funeral, were at the very least disappointed at the appearance of only four 84th at what was a well attended funeral.
Mike Vincent’s funeral was a woodland burial, in a cardboard coffin. Mick Church represented our entry, and reported that it was a wonderful occasion, with probably over 200 mourners. One of the eulogies was by Mike’s boss, an ex brat, who was SNCO i/c the bay during Mike’s first tour out of Halton.
I am sure our thoughts are with Jean and Linda at this sad time.

25th November 2010 Some of you will have already been informed of the fact that Ian Blunt finally succumbed to the Big C. After an operation and many sessions of chemotherapy, he finally lost the battle and died on Saturday morning, 20th November. Ian’s funeral will be held at the West Wiltshire Crematorium, Devizes Road, Semington BA14 6HL, on Tuesday 30th November at 12.15pm
Mike Vincent funeral will be held in Norwich on 3rd December.

18th November 2010 I am not absolutely sure of this fact, but I believe it to be true. Ginge Scott, John Horan, Jeff Richardson and myself all met up in Horse Guards Parade Ground for the march past the Cenotaph, out of all the apprentices on parade, I think we were the biggest entry, so one up for us, and we could definitely hear the band (s). It really is one of lifes better experiences.
On a sad note, I have to report that Mike Vincent, of plumber fame, collapsed and died suddenly last Friday evening. Mike Church also lives in Norwich and will be representing the entry at the funeral which will be on Friday 3 December at 1330 at Colney Woodland Burial Park, Norwich.

9th November 2010 A few more reunion photographs added courtesy of Fred Munson, and you will notice that the page starts with a cartoon. Rob Knotts obviously thought it funny that the new station master had only been there a few days and had to stand still whilst the ancient ones snaked past in some semblance of order. I hope she appreciates his artwork as much as I.
One more thing - Geoff Newman has had his mailbox hacked and has changed his email address to prevent anymore upsets, see contacts page for details.

28th October 2010 Well I have finally got around to doing the post reunion update. As John said in his missive, it appears that we all had a good time. I know I did, it was good seeing the "old" faces again, not enough of them unfortunately, but we can't have everything.
It was certainly different having to amble down the hill instead of up, and the ending was an anticlimax with a general "fall out" by schools. To top it off, we are still not close enough to the front to hear the Golden Oldies playing.
Ernie Bee presented me with a packet of 1996 photographs just before we left for Halton, all I have to do is scan and publish them. I tell you they are fated. They have taken 14 years to surface, I managed to leave them behind reception when I left the hotel on the Sunday, and now my scanner is playing silly b.....rs, but I promise I will get these reminders of our youth on the web eventually.
Pete Rushen is wandering again, you can follow his travels by opening your browser and punching in the following url. http://rushenabout.blogspot.com/

12th September 2010 John Gale has joined the ranks of the initiated and got himself an email address, Gordon Monteath and Paddy Gibson have changed theirs, so for all the guys with email please see the contacts page.
All the "bumph" has been sent out about the 25th of this month, so if any extra guys are interested then please contact John or myself immediately.
See you there I hope.

23rd August 2010 It has been pointed out to me by two of our members that I am actually going blind and/or senile. It appears that I placed the same photgraph on the website and asked for names. It does prove one other thing as well, at least two people view the results.
Have removed Bill Sherman from the list of expats, he is back in the UK, so do not go galavanting off to Spain for a free holiday.

11th August 2010 No news is supposed to be good news, and the only things I have to report are easy. Pete Rushen sent me a photo of a load of rooks, so if you can fill in any names, then please let me know.
Methinks Rob Knotts has been tidying out his attic, and has passed on a few more photographs from our time at Halton, thanks Rob, all contributions are welcome.
The Triennial is fast approaching, so if you haven't yet contacted John about a pitspace, then please do so ASAP.

10th May 2010 The latest newsletter has been sent out, so if you have not recieved a copy please contact me ASAP.
There will be one new face at this years reunion. David Sharples, one of our armourers and missing members, has contacted me and stated he will be there in September. His email address is on the contact page for your welcome messages.

29th April 2010 Yet another of our bretheren has been dragged into the electronic age. Curly Knowltons wife Beryl twisted his arm, so his address is now on the contacts page for anyone to send him greetings.

22nd April 2010 So out of the blue comes an email from another 84th member, which proves that the website is doing exactly what it was intended to do.
Donovan Slaney of 14 block and Armourer fame discovered that most of us are still alive and kicking.
You may have known him as Ginge or Derek, but don't let small details put you off. Drop him a line, his address is on the contacts page.
Look out for an email about the next reunion, John is finalising his missive, and it will be dispatched shortly.

18th March 2010 John Horan has changed his email address, see contact page for new one.

11th March 2010 Mick Sharp has changed his email address, see contacts for details.
A few more old photos added to the existing, Pete Rushen sent in a load more that he found whilst rummaging, together with a couple from Ha Noi, and Jeff Richardson sent in the Block 13-1 Christmas display.
An apology to Brian Singleton for not including his email on the contacts page. This has now been rectified

10th February 2010 I have to thank Ted Cossins (the 85th webmaster) for pointing me in the right direction to display something to people who search for us using Firefox. At least the front page shows now and tells 'em what to do. I apologise to anyone who prefers Firefox, but the amount of stuff on the site that does not display is enormous, so I took the easy way out.
Something else for us to indulge in. Follow the escapades of Pete & Claire Rushen as they travel back to the Far East again. They do not set off until the 25th Feb., but the blog is up and running already, check it out regularly at http://rushenabout.blogspot.com/

15th January 2010 Found a bit of time to go through the site to see if links were working. WOW, due to MSN, AOL and GEOCITIES killing their hosting facility, loads of links were defunct. It appears that most of them were on the "Others" page, including links to the following Entries. 36th, 55th, 69th, 97th, 124th, 144th and 212nd, so if you find something strange happening on that page, reload it by pressing F5 when the page is showing.

11th January 2010 Good day, and a Happy New Year to all our readers. Another decade has dawned to test our powers of survival, let us hope that we can overcome our personal, national, and worldly troubles, to enjoy it as much as possible.
Some of you may have noticed that Pete Rushens RAF Ramblings were failing to open, this was due to Geocities "giving up the ghost". He is now hosted elsewhere and the links work fine now.
If you notice a link not working, please let me know and I will attempt to repair it.
On a lighter note, I was browsing the site to see if everything was working as it should, and realised that we have had the website for over 10 years now, and still haven't traced everyone. Where are they ?
Have a look at the listings and see if you can help with the missing.

END