OUR AGM & REUNION WEEKEND IN STRATFORD-UPON-AVON 28th to 30th JULY 2023
I know that every year I say it was a lovely reunion and great to see old faces and make new friends, but 2023 was an extra special one. Sadly some of our members had been quite unwell over the recent year and it made it all the more special that they were well enough to attend and for us all to be together.
I know that every year I say it was a lovely reunion and great to see old faces and make new friends, but 2023 was an extra special one. Sadly some of our members had been quite unwell over the recent year and it made it all the more special that they were well enough to attend and for us all to be together.
This year we were joined for the first time by Beth Weldon and her friend Beryl, all the way from Australia. Beth’s father John Craig had been with the Royal Norfolk RCOS and held at Changi, on the Thai Burma Railway and ended the war in Iruka, Japan, his widow, Joan, is one of our widow members.
Also coming for the first time was Judith and Gary Provis, Judith being the daughter of our sorely missed FEPOW member Charlie Peall. Charlie was with the RASC attached to the 35th LAA RA, taken on Singapore, worked on the Thai Burma Railway and ended the war in Ubon.
And again, first time attendees, Christine Beer and her partner Doug. Chris being the daughter of Henry “Nobby” Hall of the 135 Field Regiment, 18th Division who was taken on Singapore and worked on the Thai Burma Railway. Her mother, Henry’s widow, Irene is also a member.
We were very happy to welcome our much loved regular faces too, including Civilian Internee Paul “Werley” Werlemann, and ‘us kids’ in alphabetical order …. John Baxter, Christine & Alan Broadhurst, Richard & Susan Brown, Stephen & Su John, Tom Jowett, Caroline Maddocks, Martin Prechner, Lore Ridings, Steve Surr, Sue Turner & her partner Peter Parmee, Hazel Wilson, and again the gorgeous Susie Browne who always used to attend with Bill Frankland.
As ever, we all met for dinner on the Friday night and held our AGM on the Saturday morning where everyone was introduced to each other and many research links were made. Saturday afternoon was at leisure, when some found a pub, others explored the local area (and shops), and Chris & Doug took in some culture with a Shakespeare play.
Our Saturday night ‘Gala Dinner’ is now a less formal affair than in previous years, but we all ate together and had lots of fun taking the mickey out of our rubbish raffle prizes!
If I may please take this opportunity to let everyone know that bringing some silly prizes for the raffle does not mean you get an opportunity to empty 3 crate loads of old stuff from your garage (Tom!!!). But it did cause lots of hilarity, even if it meant we were there half the night trying to get rid of prizes! The favourite outfit for Steve to model this year was an ‘urchin’ costume, courtesy of Beth and Beryl, thanks to Steve for being a good sport!
On the Sunday morning we were joined by our old friend, Honorary Member, Dave Hastie. He and his lovely wife, Margaret, used to always support us when he was Chairman of the Stratford upon Avon RBL. Whilst he no longer lives locally, his son brought him along and everyone was so happy to see him.
The lovely Roger Bliss from SoA RBL, kindly organised our service and Standard Bearer for us this year, alongside the Padre Steve Jarvis and their new Chairman Kevin McCarthy.
We were also joined in the beautiful Stratford upon Avon Garden of Remembrance by some local people with FEPOW connections. Our Java Club FEPOW wreath was laid by myself and Paul Werlemann.
Some of you may recall that we had a tree planted to honour our FEPOWs some years ago in the garden at The Falcon Hotel in Stratford upon Avon. Last year I reported that the tree had got far too large to move and as we no longer visit the Falcon it was decided to get a new tree for the lovely Stratford upon Avon Garden of Remembrance. I was happy for us to pay for the plaque, but needed to get a tree from somewhere.
Roger Bliss was instrumental in getting us a new tree, donated by the RBL, and organising the permission alongside our friends at the SoA Town Council. Photo right: our lovely new tree.
He then went to the trouble of having it planted for us too! The committee has subsequently decided to make Roger an Honorary Member in recognition of his years of friendship and support.
After the service on the Sunday morning we dedicated the new tree and planted our plaque. The plaque says …
The Shakespeare Hotel’s manager, our old friend Jason and his lovely staff looked after us well. The food was especially good and the weather held out for us too, in fact the rain started as I drove out of Stratford upon Avon on the Sunday afternoon.
The hotel still plans to close for refurbishment soon, but we hope to be able to meet again there next year. I will hopefully have a date and news of it in our January newsletter.
My thanks go to all our attendees, old and new, for their enthusiasm and friendship. Many of us shared some special moments whilst we thought of our fathers and reminisced about old reunions with our FEPOWs. It was very touching and we could feel them all smiling down on us.
As mentioned, the local newspaper was primed with a full article on the tree planting, the meaning of VJ Day etc, and supplied the photo. Whilst we were pleased that they ran it a couple of weeks later for VJ Day they cut it down dramatically.
Oh well, hopefully with this and the tree/plaque we have piqued the interest in some to look into it further, or hopefully visit our web site, so that our boys can be acknowledged and remembered by many more people.