Notice Board

This Notice Board was last updated on 21 June 2007

Peter Kitchin Found (in New Zealand)

Peter Kitchin was just browsing and put his name on the web and was surprised to see a photo of himself in 1958 appear. He now lives in New Zealand with his wife, Agnes. He left the RAF and joined British Airways (BOAC) and the emigrated to NZ in 1977.

If you want to get in touch with Peter, contact the Secretary for full details.

Geoff Potts joins the Association

Geoff Potts has now joined the Association. He is currently working for Searle Manufacturing, Fareham as a Work Study Engineer.

If you want to get in touch with Geoff, who lives in Gosport, Hampshire, contact the Secretary for full details.

Richard Howse joins the Association

Richard Howse says he was a late comer to modern technology (the computer) and unfortunately did not find out about the 89th Entry Association sooner. Richard has now joined the Association - better late than never.

If you want to get in touch with Richard, who lives in Gloucestershire, contact the Secretary for full details.

John Wainwright - Sad News

Those members who have e-mail will know already that John Wainwright died following an operation for cancer. He had complained of stomach pains and was admitted to hospital. He had most of his lower bowel removed and was in intensive care for a while. Initially he appeared to be on the mend but sadly he succumbed to the illness on 11 February when he died with Sue, his wife, at his bedside.

Whilst it was obviously a sad occasion, Sue had wanted the service to be a celebration of John’s life—and so it was. John was ‘escorted’ to the crematorium by a New Orleans style jazz band. The service was conducted in a ‘humanist’ way rather than religious as neither John nor Sue were church-goers. The hall was packed with his friends and colleagues. Sue spoke of her life with John, sadly cut short by his illness. His work colleagues spoke of their great respect for John and his influence on their lives. Following the committal, Keith Arnott piped the congregation from the hall and then he played a number of familiar RAF Halton Apprentice tunes before we departed for a reception at Hollin Hall Hotel. At the hotel, we were entertained once more by the Jazz Band and there where more tributes paid to John, including one from Andy Andrews who had been John’s best man at their wedding

John Stewart Found

John Stewart found the 89th Entry web site and made contact. He left the RAF in 1972 and now lives in Thailand.

If you want to get in touch with John, contact the Secretary.

Eddy Taylor joins the Association

Eddy Taylor was searching the Internet for Peter Ayee and was directed to our Web site. Eddy was Peter's best man in the early 60's. He is about to depart the UK to live in Malaysia and regrets having not located us before now as he would have liked to have come along to one of our reunions.

If you want to get in touch with Eddy, contact the Secretary.

Squadron Leader Philpot - OC 89th Entry

The latest edition of The Haltonian has an article from David Andrews, 91st Entry regarding a drawing of Squadron Leader Philpot, the Officer Commanding 89th Entry. The article reads:

HERR PHILPOT?

David Andrews wrote to say that his village had welcomed a new vicar where he lived - a lady. Her fame preceded her and I knew that she came from an RAF family. Visiting her he noticed that she had already started making herself at home by hanging one or two pictures. The most prominent among these was just inside the front door and appeared to be a cartoon of someone dressed in a Nazi type uniform with a POW camp scene in the background. Thinking that this was, to put it mildly, an unusual picture for a vicarage, David asked her about it. "Oh, that's my father. It was given to him when he left Halton. She further explained that it was a farewell present from "his Entry", the 89th. It seems that her father was Sqn Ldr Philpot, OC 3 Sqn, 2 Wing when the 89th were in residence in 1959-61. David took this photo of it and told her that he would write a piece for the Haltonian asking for information about it. She also has an 89th Entry plaque on display.

Following enquiries in the Association Newsletter, Steve Perrott shed light on this caricature. "I can remember doing caricatures of Sqn Ldr Philpot and of Harry Beeny (Beenie) the Sergeant in our block; both drawings had a 'concentration camp' theme but I cannot be certain that the one to which you referred was the one I drew as a whole or had only a hand in it."  The information was passed on to David Andrews who, in turn, passed it on to his lady vicar neighbour.

Niall Thomas Joins Association

Tom Muncaster found Niall Thomas and he has joined the 89th Entry Apprentice Association. Niall left the RAF to work briefly at Heathrow, before moving to Spalding to marry Sandra. He runs his own small haulage business in Spalding but it trying to run down towards his retirement.

Paul Sweetman Joins Association

Paul Sweetman wrote to say that it was about time that he met up with his past and joined the 89th Entry Apprentice Association. He is semi-retired and has time to meet up with old faces that he met in 1958. To this end, he asked for details of the 2004 Reunion Weekend at Chester. See you there Paul!

News of John (Jock) Sorely

Following contact from John (Jock) Sorley's son who had not seen his father since he was 2 years old, letters were sent to the addresses of 16 John Sorleys found on a 'UK Info' database. None of them turned out to be our John Sorely but one of his namesakes kindly telephoned all the Sorleys in the Fife area and found his brother Bruce, who works as a caddy at St Andrews, Scotland. Sadly, Bruce said that his brother John died about 10 years ago from cancer.

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