"We do not want to be remembered as heroes, we only ask to be remembered for what we done....that's all"
"I regard it as a privilege to fight for all those things that make life worth living - freedom, honour and fair play"

FEBRUARY & APRIL FEBRUARY 2008 Firstly, a belated but most sincere thanks to all members who sent Christmas cards to Steve and myself. There were, as usual, many scores of kind well-wishers, please forgive for not responding personally. There has been some excellent news recently on our fund-raising initiatives. Meetings are taking place very regularly with reference to our annual golf tournament and progress is definitely well worth a mention. I know that there are many members not the slightest bit interested in the sport but it will doubtless prove to be a wonderful means to an end, which is what counts in the long run. The latest astonishing news is that His Grace the Duke of Bedford has agreed to provide us with his prestigious Marquess golf course at Woburn for our Pro/Am tournament in September. This is something of a coup as the course has, as far as we know, never been closed to the club members and the general public on a Sunday before! We are indeed honoured and owe a debt of gratitude to Jackie and Peter Alliss for their influence in this direction. As we progress we shall let you know the names of the celebrities and professional golfers who will be supporting the event. All things being equal, your Society stands to make a very sizeable profit on the venture, one that will allow us to proceed vigorously with a number of our designated initiatives. In addition, we are delighted to report that the Society’s ‘Royal’ Maquette is soon likely to be sited in a very prestigious position in London. Currently in storage after its long sojourn in the RAC Club in Pall Mall, Maurice Djanogly has, with a little luck, found a wonderful new home for it in the Museum of London - fingers crossed, and more news later. The sale of the superb maquette should take place sometime in spring so, as ever, watch this space . . . I have been severely taken to task by ‘him-who-must-not-be-named’ (it’s actually our slave-driving Chairman of Trustees, Stevie Gleeson) for neglecting to inform the membership that our old friend Mark Andrew has stepped aside as School’s Plaque Manager. We are indebted to Mark who, over the years, has done a superlative job. When the idea was first conceived I would have been happy to see a couple of our plaques positioned every year but in the event we are rapidly approaching 40! This has been a wonderful achievement and is due entirely to Mark. Many congratulations on a fine job, Mark, thanks to you many hundreds of thousands of school-children, present and future, will be reminded of the debt owed by the whole world to ‘our heroes’. Happily, Mark has not entirely abdicated and, as can be seen on the back cover, is still involved occasionally. As can be seen from page 14, the scheme is still in excellent hands, with Chris Brooks taking over. On page nine of this Scramble you will notice a letter from the Hon. Sec. of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association, Group Captain Patrick Tootal. It is a really an excellent idea and one that we shall all be delighted with, I am sure. The letter from Pat makes mention of our old friend, Society President Peter Brothers. And so shall I. As you are aware, we asked Pete if he would be so kind as to sign copies of the famous photograph of himself and 32 Squadron colleagues to raise some funds for the Society. Pete was only too willing to oblige and I am pleased to say that recipients are delighted with their personalised mementoes. I must make mention of a little matter of the postage of October’s Scramble. Owing to the delay in its printing (NOT our fault), we cast around to see if we could effect a rapid means of packaging and posting, so as to minimise the delay. We were advised by our printers to contact a company that specialises in swift bulk mailing, which is what we did. Sadly, although they promised an immediate turnaround of the newsletter, they then sat on them for another eight days. But, (forgive the long-windedness but I am nearly there!) they do in point of fact save clients such as us money by posting their overseas copies from abroad, in this case Sweden. By the indignant tone of the remarks (made publicly) by a couple of overseas members about the foreign postmark, you would have thought we had just advocated the return to sweeping chimneys by stuffing small children up them! No matter, but in future if you do receive a Scramble with an exotic postmark you will know the reason why . . . The campaign to erect a monument to Keith Park continues apace and it should not be too long before a press conference is arranged to broadcast the initiative to the world. Terry Smith and Karl McCartney are determined to make this thing work and the Society is pledged to do all it can to help. If any member has any information regarding family, friends or people who worked for the great man, please contact this office a.s.a.p. Finally, our old friend Steve Saunders of ASA Productions has completed his documentary, ‘A Day to Remember’. It is a very fine account of the construction of our Monument and very worth the asking price of £14.95 inc. p&p. All enquiries to Steve, please, on 020 8464 7929. Sadly, none of the TV companies that Steve has approach-ed has agreed to air the film, which is a great shame as the film is great. APRIL 2008 Happy Birthday to our Society! Yes, we really are 12 years old this month! And just where has the time gone? It doesn’t seem possible that we approaching the end of the first decade of the third millennium. All the celebrations at the end of 1999 are fresh in the memory and seem just a matter of months ago. But then, it hardly seems like 54 years since North End were cruelly defeated by West Brom in ‘Finney’s Final’ at Wembley. I still keep thinking Tom might make a comeback some day, even though he has just celebrated his 86th birthday. What wishful thinking . . . . During the past dozen years we have experienced some marvellous moments, the most satisfying obviously being the unveiling of our wonderful monument. But, I get immense satisfaction from our two staple activities – the Graves Adoption scheme and the School’s Plaque scheme. These two initiatives must give masses of satisfaction to Society members and to those families and schools connected with our heroes. The Graves scheme is particularly poignant, given that the majority of the mums and dads of the Few must have passed on in the seventies and eighties. It is a shame that they were never to know that a bunch of wonderful, compassionate people, mostly quite ordinary like themselves, would willingly, and lovingly, give up their time to care for the grave of their son. So hats off to all those who are involved with the scheme, and in particular to Ray Crampin and Peter Saunders who worked (and work) so tirelessly to keep things together. It is not, of course, all plain sailing, as old friends Ken and Diane Lodge will attest. There is often a ‘jobsworth’ lurking somewhere in the background, ready to quote some obscure regulation to try and assert his authority, to puff himself up with his own self importance. When I read of the sheer frustration endured by Ken and Diane with regard to their own particular bete noir I am reminded of the final lines of the wonderful poem by Sir Walter Scott which concludes: The wretch concentred all in self, living shall forfeit fair renown, and doubly dying, shall go down, to the vile dust from whence he sprung, unwept, unhonoured and unsung. Console yourself with that thought, Ken and Diane. And then there is the School’s Plaque initiative. How good it that, then? Generations of schoolchildren gazing at the magic words ‘he helped to prevent the invasion of this country and the enslavement of its people’. Wow. It almost takes the breath away. I hope most fervently that we can oversee the siting of thousands of these wonderful plaques. Think how many young-sters will be exposed to the those incredibly evocative words, and imagine how many hundreds of thousands of them will carry the memory of the brave subject with them for the rest of their lives. So, hats off again, this time to Mark Andrew and Chris Brooks, society activists extraordinaire. There are, of course, hundreds of members spreading the word, as keen as any mentioned to play their role. I have to make mention of Tony Harding, who was quick enough to spot, and report to the correct authorities, a mistake on a plaque erected to pay tribute to Group Captain Vic Beamish. The council down-ranked him to Wingco, but Tony wasn’t having any of it. £200 of extra taxpayer’s money on a replacement plaque, but worth every penny. I received a wonderful book a week or two ago. Written by our old friend Derek Hollows, it is entitled ‘A Bevin Boy’. For those members under the age of fifty who may not know, a Bevin Boy was a youngster who volunteered to join the Armed Forces at the outbreak of WWII but was conscripted instead to work down the mines, producing coal that was vital to the war effort. Feeling short-changed the youngsters did not adapt easily to the life but soon forged bonds of friendship akin to any found in the Armed Forces. Derek’s story book is chock full of anecdotes and beautiful poems and paints a wonderful picture of life in the bowels of the earth. No wonder the late, great Brian Clough took his team of superstar footballers down the mines to learn the value of hard graft, not to mention comradeship. Finally, and in response to a great many requests, we are arranging another cruise along the Thames. Thanks to the incredible generosity of boat owners Mike and Jackie Britton, we are able to offer the same terms as last time (and the time before), £25 per head, which will include a super buffet lunch. The cruise will take place in October, so there is plenty of time to apply! Bill Bond Melton Constable. England