Well it has soon rolled round to what appears to be our annual reunion. We had a total of 32 ex 51 Squadron members turn up and several had partners with them so I think we can count that as a bit of a success. I can,t remember all the partners names so please forgive me for not mentioning everyone.

Every one seemed to enjoy themselves againwith cries of, "you haven't changed a bit" and "sorry who had you used to be ".

I managed to get a bit of a slide show going. and Len Millward and his wife brought a a video of their wedding that had been made from an old 8mm film. No sound of course but, there were the younger versions of people attending the reunion running round on screen to show that we were not always "Wrinklies".

When we took the group photo there were people who were present at the reunion but otherwise occupied at the time. I have manage to stick them on another photo by cutting and pasting from other photos so that the whole group can be seen. Both the group photo and the one with added images can be seen on the Reunion 2010 page.

We had a bit of a ballot about whether we should future reunions at some other venue further North i.e. around the Midlands. I counted the votes and they actually came down in favor of keeping it at the same Hotel. However it was  a close vote so we will still look into finding some other venues and put it to every one when we can get a favorable deal.

The voting went as follows.

For the same location                                 15 Votes

For a more Northern or midlands Venue.   12  Votes

Neuteral Vote                                              5  Votes

As soon as possible I will get a newsletter out to show everyone the pics of the Reunion in a bit more detail and to spread whatever other news comes to my attention. I will also try to fulfil the requests for pics and media that people hve asked for. The news letter should be within the next two weeks and the rest as and when I can do it. I will not keep anyone waiting any longer than is neccessary.

Well thats it for now. I think I will try to catch up on some rest after a very nice but very hectic weekend

Beef

Just a few lines for the begining of the month.

John(Pip) Harris sent me a few pics and I have added them to the same page as the Malcolm(Chalky) White picture page. This way it keeps the number of pages down and is less to trawl through.

I have managed to contact Mick (Geordie)Marsall and had a chat with him. He seems to be keeping well and like many of us he is retired now. He says he will not be able to make the reunion but sends you all his regards. I got Micks number via Mike Scott.

I have also had a contact with Richard Sandy (Lt Sandy) He says he ended up as Col and then became  a British Attache in the middle east. When I spoke to him he had just got back from there. Len Milward had the first contact with him and he passed the number on to me. Mr Sandy sends his regards to anyone who remembers him.

Its only about three weeks to the  Reunion now and I am looking forward to it. See you there .

Well the next Reunion is getting nearer and there should be around 30 of the old Sqn attending if everyone turns up.

This month there have been two new contacts Lt Sandy and Ken (Scouse) Bradshaw. (Nice to hear from you Gentlemen) Mr Sandy retd as a Col and then spent time in the middle east and has in fact just returned from there. Ken Bradshaw lives in the Dover area and says he will be at the reunion.

Len Milward sent me a phone number for Mr Sandy and Ken got in contact via the site.

I can' remember if I wrote this in the last news or not but Clive Lee informed me that Mr Farmbourgh dide in Cyprus just before Christmas. I did exchange emails with Mr Farmbourgh once or twice and he was very helpful in tracking down a few people who he knew had retired to various areas. RIP Mate.

Thats about it for this time.

Beef

Well here I am back in Old Blighty and the winter weather. I had a great 30 days in Singapore and loved every minute of it.

As I reported in the last blog I had a trip round some of our old haunts and things have changed quite a lot. The old camp at Seletar has shrunk to about a 16^th of it old size. Part of the old runway is used as a small airfield but most of the land has been taken over by civilian firms for various enterprises. Around the area of the old C of E Church is a country club with a swimming pool.

The old RAF headquarters is still standing and will be kept as part of the heritage programme as will the old Guard room. The remaining bit of the camp still has a few of the old blocks and a few of the old buildings like the Sgts Mess, the NAFFI with the cookhouse below and the Malcolm Club. The Cookhouse is still used by the Singapore Engineers who are billeted there.

The trip to Serangoon Gardens was a bit of a disappointment in some ways as new development seems to be creeping in at a fast rate but it is still recognisable.

The top part of Jalan Kayu nearest the camp has gone to make way for new Road works. However the bottom part remains and is still more or less the same.

I will be making a page with all the new pictures sometime this week so you will get a better idea of the changes from them.

I met up with Keith Thomas and his wife Anne who was on a three-day stopover on his way to Bali. We took a trip to the Kanji War memorial and the old ford factory where the British signed their surrender in WW2.

I also met up with Gareth (Taff) Davies and his wife in China town. Gareth is on a nine-month posting after coming out of retirement for the third time.

A trip to Changi proved to be a bit of a disappointment as it is now called Changi Village and is used to milk tourists of their hard earned cash. It is quite pleasant to walk round the place and sit down to the kind of meals we used to have after a night on the booze in the old days.

Most of the coastline of Singapore has changed because of land reclamation projects and I reckon there is growth in land area of about 10%. The east coast has changed but it has been made into a long beautiful beach where you can take walks or bike rides and stop at food areas for some wonderful Makan.

There are now a total of three causeways into Malaya and discussions for another some time in the future. Singapore does not have to rely on Malaya for water now as they have built several new reservoirs and are even using desalination plants.

Overall it was a very nice stay in Singapore and at the end of it we were reluctant to come home. In the end though its nice to have your own bed back and the family round you.

Beef

Well here I am in Singapore again. The place has changed a lot since I was here two and a half years ago. One of the changes is a bit of a shock to the system it’s the exchange rate from Pounds to Singapore Dollar. I got just over two dollars to the pound. It is now much cheaper to buy electronic goods in the UK than in Singapore.

The people that only go to the tourist areas are finding that they are well over budget within hours of arriving. There are still bargains to be had if you know where to look and it is well worth chatting up one of the locals to steer you in the right direction.

I have had a trip to the Serangoon Gardens area and although there are extensive changes it is still recognisable if you remember the old days. There has been resistance by the locals to the ubiquitous high rise flats and the only real differences are the normal changes you would expect. The cinema no longer exists and a new building is under construction in its place ( who knows it may be the first high rise building).

John Gabriel is the Camp Commandant of what is left of RAF Seletar. He very kindly escorted my Son and myself round the old places that I remembered so well. Not only did he show us round but he also collected us from our Hotel, brought us a dinner and then returned us back to our Hotel. We managed to get a few nice photos, including one on the balcony next to my old billet.

The RAF treated us Engineer Lads as the poor relative and I have taken it as sort of boost to moral that the final Military occupants Seletar are Engineers of the Singapore forces and it will probably be Engineers who see out its last days.

As for the rest of Singapore, Some of the buildings that I considered new (30 years old) have already started to be knocked down to make way for even larger and newer buildings. I don’t think I have ever seen so many shopping malls in one place before.

It looks like little India is going the same way that Chinatown and Bugis Street went with the old being bulldozed to make way for the Ultra new.

During this trip I have managed to link up with Gareth Davies and also with Keith Thomas both with their wives. Gareth is here working and Keith is passing through on his way to Bali.

Gareth looks quite well although the flowing locks of hair have been replaced with a close cropped hair cut and he looks a lot leaner than I remembered. Keith has not changed a lot from the reunion in February.

Beef

Just a few lines to say we have a new Contact. Ron Snook met Bernie Barber at the REA Reunion at Chatham and put him in contact with me. I now have Bernie,s phone number and his address.

I sent out the Latest news letter to every one on my list although I did have a few whos emails came back. So if you have a new email please do not forget to advise me if you still want to stay in touch.

Speaking of the News letter. I was wondering if the Newsletter page on the website is now reduntant. Let me have a bit of feed back so that I can decide if I sould leave it as it is and add some thing every now and again, or, take it out altogether.

Thats about it for now folks.

Beef

 Well here it is September already and time for another blog.

Nothing really to report on the contact front as most of the information is already on the site. I did find a nice site that trawls the local voting lists of every town in the UK but it only allows you a few searches before it starts asking for money. I did however get a few leads that looked promising but in the end it was just a few delightful conversations with some old ladies but not real contacts. Ron has told me that maybe a few of the lads settled in the Channel Islands so I will be looking into that area next.

Ron has booked the Hotel at Chatham for the next reunion and managed to get a few consesions for us the details of which I will put on the Home page later.

Looking forward to our holiday in Singapore. Thats the next big thing for me as it means sorting out travel details and trying to arrange a meet up with Gareth Davies and Keith Thomas who will be there at the same time. My biggest worry is that I will not be able to get a trip round Seletar and be able to take a few pics.

Mr Keane has sent a donation to funds, though he says He is very unlikely to be at the reunion. He is 86 this year so I don't suppose he would travel too well. Any way thanks Mr Keane it will be put to good use.

On the home front due to the glories of face book I have managed to connect with a few of my extended family that I have not seen for a while.

Its a great site but you should be a bit wary of what you disclose on the site. For instance crooks have been checking it out to see when you are away on Holiday. I am not too worried about that because I have arranged house sitters for the time I am away.

I have just about recovered from our camping trip and now that the memories are fading I am considering something similar for next year. The next time it will be a bigger tent with decent beds, tables and chairs and a decent cooker for meals. I am older and need my comforts now.

Mike Rustons latest book is due out this month. I know Mike is not 51 Sqn but I did buy and enjoy his first two books and have pre ordered his next one. If you are interested there is a link on the links page.

Maybe we will get a nice Indian summer over the next few weeks to make up for the rain we have had through August. what ever happened to Global warming. I was just getting used to those nice long hot summers but it looks like the scientists can't get anything right.

Thats about all the chat I can think of so TTFN

Beef

Well readers I had not intended to write anything else this month unless I got something like photos or a good story. However I have just read two books by Mike Ruston and I felt I had to make a few comments.

The books are sort of biographical and are a really good read. So good in fact I have ordered his third book.

I brought the books mainly because they are by an ex RE and thought I should show a bit of support. The resulting read was great and I read both books within the first two days of receiving them. As with all good books I will be reading them again just to keep them alive in my mind. Don't just take my word for it just look up his blog page at http://sites.google.com/site/ourladricky/  I can't wait for the next books to come out.

On the contact front I have had an email from Jock Hoggan so any one who wants to contact him drop me an email.

Had a conversation with our old Sgt Major Mr Keane. he seems in good spirits an has his 86Th birthday this year. I have had a few emails from his son too and he has expressed a wish to join us at our next reunion. As far as I am concerned any one who is remotely connected to 51 is welcome and he was a Royal Engineer even if he did desert us and join the REME later.

Thats about it for now folks

Beef

Well we have just been on a three day camping trip around the Haidrians wall area.

I approched the whole thing with a slight feeling of dread right from the start and was already calling my self a fool for even thinking of it in the first place. In the end though it was not so bad.

I still don't like the condensation first thing in the  morning or the rough meals you always concoct and call it breakfast. If we ever do anything like that again it will have to be in a much larger tent that you can stand up in and have proper camp beds that don't collapse ever time you turn over.

The campsite had a very good amenities block with hot and cold running water, flush toilets and showers. There was also 3 large sinks to wash your utensils in and a laundromat for washing and drying clothes etc.

According to their advert there should have been an all day breakfast available but for some reason there was no sign of this.

We were camped on the top field that meant every time you needed the toilets or showers it was a hike there and back. That was not a problem for the young ones but my legs seem to have given up the ghost and it was a real struggle for me.

The grumps and groans aside it was well worth the effort as I have never been to Hadrian's wall before. The highlight for me was a place they called Vinderlana ( hope I have got the spelling right). This has the remains of Roman baths, Toilets, barracks, Shrines and the village out side the walls of the fort.

They are still digging the area and it looks like there will be plenty more to be discovered. As a fan of time team I was quite chuffed to be there.

I would have liked to do more in the way of climbing the peaks and hills where the wall runs but as I said before the old legs can't be forced in to it.

I manage to get some great pictures thanks to the wonders of the digital camera.

On the third day we took a trip to Newcastle and I went over to Gateshead to see John Collins. John is looking pretty good and its always nice to see him for a chat.

I have had a few emails from Sgt Major Keans Son and he tells me that his Dad is alive and well at the age of 86 and lives in North Yorkshire. He retired as Captain.

The third Newsletter is in progress and should be out in about 2 weeks.

Thats about it for now folks. I hope I have not bored any one too much.

Beef

I have just finished the second newsletter and spent most of yesterday emailing it to every one. As I do not keep an address book on line for security reasons I had to type out each individual email address. I am working on a method of sending bulk emails to save time.

It took most of the day to finish sending the emails but I was happy to do it as it means that we have a lot of people that we can now contact. Concidering that we started off with only 4 of us in contact it is a sign of our success.

There are still Quite a few people who do not have computers or at least do not have email addresses even if they have a computer. So today I will be printing off hard copies and posting them around.

When I speak to people on the phone I get hints of where some of the lads were last known to be and sometimes this provides a hint for searching for them. Some of the blokes seem to have dropped off the radar alltogether though. Dave Jordan, Geoff Mynette, Jeff Slack and Loffty Hale to name but a few.

Luckily we still have the odd trickle of people finding their way to the website. Tony Allen was one of these. He was visiting his Son in America. His Son was trying to get Tony to get a computer and get on line but Tony was apparently proving to be a bit resistant to the Idea. His Son then introduced him to the joys of computing and one of the first things they came across was our site. I understand from Tony that he is now looking to get himself on line.

Thats it for now folks.