STOURBRIDGE OLD EDWARDIAN CLUB

ED-WORDS NEWSLETTER AUTUMN 2024

I have two months to go before I hand over to my successor and I can only wish whoever it might be  ‘All the Best’ . "     Clive

1. This will be the last newsletter under the auspices of our seemingly ageless President Clive Bowen-Davies and before a new President is elected at the AGM on December 2nd. Clive deserves a special thank you for taking on the role for this Club year (in addition to his considerable efforts managing the 50-Club lottery) so consciously and energetically in a fashion that puts most of us younger but lesser mortals to shame. Congratulations, Clive, on continuing to do a job very well done.
2. Further down this newsletter you will find two most interesting articles, one by our archivist Kenneth Wright and the other by our "rambling story teller" Arnold Homer.  We have included each of these in their entirety since, although each is quite lengthy, they are both an excellent read and worthy of being fully visible to the reader. We would encourage you to take the time to read them as both are thought provoking in their own right.

This is a polite reminder that membership renewals were due on 1st October so are now well overdue for those who wish to renew and who have not paid them as yet. If this applies to you then please CLICK HERE>> and process (or via the form which was posted out a few weeks ago). We will be modifying our database and access codes to lock out non-payers soon. Please do not reply to this email but address any queries to the Hon. Membership Secretary via the appropriate form in our CONTACT  section.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS are visible on our Events Calendar>>. That section has been updated to clearly identify those occasions that are open to Club Members. Please phone the Club directly on 01384 395635 for details of any event (do not respond to this email as responses will not be monitored).

A comprehensive list of all bookings (including venue hire) may be downloaded from within the Events Calendar section.

PAST EVENTS write ups are on the website HERE>> but specifically the following are worth a mention since the last newsletter:

TRAFALGAR DAY will be celebrated by a lunch at the Club on Tuesday 22nd October. CLICK HERE>> for details.

LUNCHTIME TALKS WITH BUFFET: Mike Aston's hugely successful initiative of a programme of talks followed by buffet will resume in Autumn and over the Winter months. These are as identified in our EVENTS CALENDAR>>  with the next event from the well known historian Dr. David Cox on Friday November 1st.  CLICK HERE>> for information and booking and see the description below.

On leaving college, Jack, on 27^th April 1939, enlisted as a clerk in the Royal Army Service Corps which was responsible for logistics. He received his first “stripe” promoting him to Lance Corporal, although he was most probably, prior to enlisting in the Regular Army, a member of the Territorial Forces as he was awarded the Territorial Medal; therefore, he would have benefited from initial military training.

Dunkirk - May 1940

While on leave in the early summer of 1940, he gave an interview to the editors of the School Magazine, “The Stourbridge Edwardian”, who published an account of his war-time experiences to date in the Summer 1940 edition.

He recounts that his convoy of lorries was carrying vital ammunition following up the advancing fighting forces until they reached Brussels. Here they suffered several German air attacks and were forced to take cover. Then came the order to retire.

His unit formed part of the retreat to Dunkirk, and he describes being followed by a German bomber squadron which caused much havoc. In an attempt to escape the bombing, they took to a wooded area where Jack narrowly escaped a small bomb which exploded just ten yards from him and he was machine-gunned but avoided injury by scrambling under a hedge. As they neared the coast, the action got even hotter, and what followed and his escape from Dunkirk I will let Jack tell you in his own words:

The retreat went on steadily and normally enough until members of the Fifth Column began their treacherous work. Eventually I found myself in the infantry, and for three days we defended a canal stubbornly. In counter-attacking, we drove the Germans back many miles.

 On reaching Dunkirk we abandoned and blew up our lorries and then went down to the beach to try to get on a boat. For three days we had an air-raid every ten minutes, and the devastation was terrible. It was an awe-inspiring sight, however, to see, when German ‘planes flew low, thousands of soldiers putting up a terrific barrage with their rifles, machine guns and anti-tank guns, We saw some amazing dogfights between our Spitfires and Messerschmitts, and, although outnumbered, our ‘planes could always out-manoeuvre the enemy.

 I came back on a paddle-steamer which, though both bombed and machine-gunned, got through almost unscathed.

 So ended the first of Jack’s brushes with the enemy - being one of the 300,000+ British Expeditionary Force soldiers and Free-French Army troops to be evacuated from the Dunkirk beaches under Operation Dynamo. But there is more to come.

Operation Claymore – Lofoten Islands, Norway – 4^th March 1941

After the Dunkirk evacuation, Winston Churchill was looking for something to boost British morale. He came up with the idea of a special force to inflict casualties on the enemy such as to “develop a reign of terror down the enemy coast”. The Commando groups came into being.

Ever keen to get back in the action, Jack quickly volunteered to join the newly formed Special Service Brigade in July 1940, and he was posted to No. 4. Commando.

“Operation Claymore” was made up of 250 men of each No. 3. Commando and No. 4. Commando (together with a Royal Engineers section and 52 men from the Norwegian Independent Company). Their objective was to destroy fish-oil and glycerine (extracted from the fish oil and used for manufacturing explosives) producing facilities operated by the Germans. Their Royal Navy escort, apart from transporting the landing force, was also to destroy or capture any German shipping, or, Norwegian shipping working for the Germans, and to provide fire-power in support of the raiding parties.

The Operation was a success, with the destruction of 3,500 tons of oil and glycerine, 18,000 tons of shipping sunk, and the capture of 228 German prisoners and a number of “Quisling” collaborators. There were no Allied casualties.There was also a further prize from the raid. Before the German armed trawler “Krebs” was sunk, the British forces captured a set of rotor wheels for an Enigma machine, and its code books, which were soon despatched to Bletchley Park.

It was subsequently found that such raids could well be used as a “cover” for seizing cryptographic equipment without the enemy realising the true purpose of the raids. These raids also had the effect of tying up huge numbers of German soldiers to garrison and protect their Norway interests.

After returning from the raid, Jack remained in Scotland as an instructor in one of the commando training schools.

It was while Jack was in Scotland based in the Troon area in Ayrshire that he met and married his first wife, Jean Young Rae, on 18^th July 1942, at Troon Old Church. They had a son, John Michael Anthony, born on 5^th October 1944 at Mary Stevens Maternity Home, Stourbridge. Mother and son went on to live with Jack’s parents at 38, Hagley Road. The marriage subsequently failed.

Sicily Landings 9^th-10^th July 1943

The Glider Pilot Regiment was formed in December 1941, and this new unit soon appealed to Jack’s sense of adventure. He transferred to the Regiment, trained and qualified as a glider pilot. Jack (known in the Regiment as “Johnnie”) with the rank of Sergeant, rising to Staff Sergeant, became part of the 1^st Battalion, The Glider Pilot Regiment. The unit in early 1943 was sent to North Africa to join Montgomery’s 8^th Army.

Part of the training of a glider pilot was the concept of the “Total Soldier”. In addition to being a trained glider pilot - requiring all the skills of flying but without the responsibility of an engine(s) - he was also expected to fight as an infantryman following a successful landing, as will be seen from what happened to Jack next.

Following the Allies successful North Africa campaign, they then turned their attention to invading Nazi-occupied Europe, initially landing on the south-eastern coast of Sicily.

The Glider Pilot Regiment had come about from the need to train military personnel as pilots for the wooden gliders used to ferry in men and light armaments as part of an invasion force. These pilots would require all the skills of an aircraft pilot, save that there was no engine to control.

The first time the Regiment went into action as a massed force was on the night of 9^th/10^thJuly 1943 in Operation Ladbroke as part of Operation Husky - the Allied Invasion of Sicily - taking off from Tunisia - destination the southern town of Syracuse.

It was a Baptism of Fire for the new Regiment. Out of 134 gliders carrying around 1,500 men, (including soldiers of the local South Staffs Regt.), along with Jeeps and anti-tank guns, only 12 landed on target and 47 came down in the sea – including Jack’s glider. The gliders had been released from their tugs too soon with insufficient height to glide the necessary 3,000 yards to the shore. The loss of life was high, many losses caused by drowning. However, despite ditching in the sea, Jack made it to shore, engaged the enemy, and was awarded the Military Medal for his bravery.

His Military Medal citation reads as follows:

Sicily 10.7.43.

This Staff Sergeant was forced to land his aircraft far out in the sea when attacking Sicily.

Having seen that his crew were provided with life saving jackets and that all had been extricated from the water logged part of the Glider, he swam ashore 3 [sic] miles distant.

Armed with nothing but a fighting knife he killed two sentries and with the rifle of the second continued fighting throughout the battle. The leadership and courage of this S/Sgt. Pilot was in the best traditions of the service.

Granted an Immediate M.M.

H.C. Alexander, General,   General Officer Commanding-in-Chief,   15 Army Group.

Citations are of necessity succinct, and only the soldier and those who were with him know the fuller story, as provided by Jack’s family.

The citation is a little generous with distance from the shore that the glider landed - from other accounts nearer to 3,000 yards (1½ miles) as being more accurate.

Jack was piloting an American Waco glider towed by a US C47 (military version of the DC3 Douglas Dakota), with an American crew. The flying conditions were far from good, with poor visibility and high winds. It is suggested that the US crew were inexperienced (quite probably, as this was the first mass glider operation), and may have panicked by releasing the tow rope too far from land and the intended landing zone, and possibly at the wrong altitude. It is also suggested that the tow rope may have damaged the glider, causing it to go into a steep dive - there is, however, no independent evidence of this happening. What is indisputable is that without sufficient speed and height, the glider will land short of the landing zone. To Jack’s credit, he brought the glider to a safe landing on the sea, keeping it intact, enabling the wooden structure with outspread wings to remain afloat. It is said that Jack never forgave the US crew for casting them off early.

After the forced landing, Jack went to the aid of two of his South Staffs Regt. passengers who were caught in the tail of the glider which was submerged, and ensured that they each had a life-saving vest. He then joined the rest of the complement sitting on the wings of the now floating glider. Remembering that he had a tin of cigarettes in the glider, he stripped off to his underwear (which elsewhere is described as a pair of blue football shorts) and dived under the partly submerged fuselage, and through the door, to recover his cigarettes.

Returning to the wing and sitting for a time smoking, he decided to swim ashore for help. Still in just his shorts and carrying only a fighting knife and to cries of “Good Luck” from the survivors, he swam the 1½ miles to shore. Referring in detail to the account in the family archives:-

John [Jack] came ashore underneath an Italian pillbox that occasionally sniped at him, but made no attempt to leave the pillbox and capture him.  Slowly crawling through barbed wire entanglements for some 300 yards inland, he spotted an Italian sentry walking casually up the beach towards him. Letting him come within 5 yards, John killed the sentry without a sound by using his fighting knife.  Taking the dead Italian’s rifle and ammunition, he continued to move inland towards his original objective, silently killing two more Italians with his knife.   During his move inland it seems that John became disorientated and decided to wait for dawn.  

 At first light, John saw that he was within range of a house with a large number of Italians occupying it and began to take occasional potshots, using the rifle and ammunition he had taken off the Italians he had killed earlier.  It wasn't before long that this attracted the attention of the Italians who promptly sent out a patrol, capturing John.  He was taken to an Italian HQ, along with several other British troops.  He was searched and questioned about why he was covered in blood, but luckily, he had disposed of his fighting knife, believing if he was captured with it he would be shot out of hand if he was found responsible for the deaths of the 3 Italian soldiers the previous night. 

 It was at this point that John and two officers from the Glider Pilot regiment now decided to try and demoralise the 40 Italian soldiers guarding them.   They told them that the 8th Army was near at hand and they would be saved if they surrendered.  It appears that this information, along with hearing the roar of armoured vehicles in the distance, persuaded their Italian captors that the game was up.   On disarming their former captors, John and his fellow glider pilots continued to fight independently until linking up with the Royal Scots Fusiliers.  For his actions in Sicily John was awarded the Military Medal.  Everyone from his glider was later rescued and safely returned to Tunisia.  

 Without question, the “Total Soldier”.

Although the Sicily Landings are perhaps overshadowed by subsequent events, they did provide valuable lessons for the Normandy Landings the following year.

Popski’s Private Army – North Africa July/August 1943

Attached to the Western Desert Army were three irregular units engaged in raiding, reconnaissance and intelligence – namely, the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), Special Air Service (SAS), and Popski’s Private Army (PPA), this last being the smallest.

Officially named PPA No. 1. Demolition Squadron, this unit was formed in October 1942 at Cairo by Major Vladimir Peniakoff. He was nicknamed Popski from a Daily Mirror cartoon character; he was born to Russian Jewish parents who had emigrated to Belgium and he had been educated in England. PPA became operational on 10^th December 1942 with a total strength all-ranks of 23. It was unusual in that all officers reverted to the rank of lieutenant, and other ranks to private. It was informally run with no drill or saluting and officers and men messed together. The only punishment was being sent back to their original unit.

By the summer of 1943, the size of PPA was extended to about 35 all-ranks, and while in Algeria and Tunisia, recruiting and training of new volunteers continued. For a short period, PPA experimented with using 1^st Airborne Division’s gliders for the proposed transport of their men and jeeps behind the Axis lines in Sicily, but this part of PPA’s operation was eventually cancelled at the last minute. Following Jack’s exploits in Sicily, he was returned to North Africa, and it is recorded that Jack was to have been part of this experiment as one of the six glider pilots selected for PPA’s next operation, for which he had trained with them from late July and throughout August. PPA eventually went to Sicily by sea without the glider support.

Arnhem – Operation Market Garden 17^th – 25^th September 1944

Jack, having recovered from his broken ankle sustained in Normandy, was now fit to fly again.

His R.A.F. Pilot’s Flying Log Book, issued as standard to all Army glider pilots shows that by the beginning of August 1944, he was again training on the Horsa glider, which continued to the latter part of the month.

The next entry is 17^th September, when as 1^st Pilot he lands a Horsa carrying troops from the Border Regiment on Landing Zone “S”, north-west of Arnhem.

In keeping with the Glider Pilot Regiment’s concept of “The Total Soldier”, all pilots including Jack, on leaving the gliders, joined the attacking force and fought as infantry.

Operation “Market” was the code for landing the airborne troops by gliders and parachutes into Occupied Holland. These included the 1st British Airborne Division and the U.S. 82^nd and 101^st Airborne Divisions. Within 1^st British Airborne Division was 1^st Airlanding Brigade in gliders carrying infantry as “passengers” from 1^st Border, 7^th Kings Own Scottish Borderers, and 2^nd South Staffs.

Operation “Garden” was the capture of key bridges to allow the advancing Allied forces access to the German border. The combined operation lasted from 17^th to 25^th September and, while there were some successful battles, the Operation failed and the surviving British Airborne troops, who were neither killed nor taken Prisoners of War, escaped over the Lower Rhine and made their way back to Belgium where they were evacuated to England.

Infantry troops of the 1^st Airlanding Brigade received their training for the Operation around the town of Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, an area better known for its bomber airfields.

Following their training, the troops were sent to airfields on the Oxfordshire/Gloucestershire border where they met up with the gliders that would take them to their Landing Zones (L.Z.) 6 to 8 miles west of the town of Arnhem.. Jack was posted to 2 Wing, F Squadron, with take-off from RAF Broadwell, Oxfordshire, south of Burford and a short distance from RAF Brize Norton and, on this occasion, again towed by a C47 Dakota. Along with all the other planes either towing gliders or carrying paratroopers and based at various nearby airfields, Jack’s tug joined this massive air armada, forming up over Hatfield, Hertfordshire, and making their way via the Northern Route. Jack’s glider was designated to land at L Z “S”.

A little more can be learned about Jack’s brief stay in Holland from another Old Boy, Donald Canadine-Bate. Don and Jack knew each other quite well from two connections. Firstly, through the school, and Don, as a former pupil, was co-editor of the school magazine at the time Jack gave his report on Dunkirk in 1940.

Secondly, Don had also joined the Glider Pilot Regiment but a crash- landing had led him to switch to the 21^st Independent Parachute Company. Don had met up with Jack while in North Africa and they travelled back together in early 1944. Don, who in the post-war years was to make a name for himself in journalism, kept notes of his time in Arnhem and had a report published on his return to England in the Evening Despatch.

The role of the 21^st Independent Parachute Company during Operation Market Garden, was that of pathfinders, dropped in advance of the main airborne landings to mark out Landing and Drop zones, landing at 12.20 on Sunday 17^th September 1944.

Turning to Don’s article for the Evening Despatch, and based upon his notes of events he records:

Monday 18^th September……..We pass up to the glider pilots who are now forming in a fighting unit, and I see Staff-Sergt.  John Ainsworth MM, who was at school in Stourbridge with me………….We exchanged a cheery if somewhat pungent greeting.

 Tuesday 19^th September……..By early evening we had not been able to get through to the troops fighting at the bridge………………We moved back on to higher ground and dug in…………………

 For the next five days, the majority of the British troops remained in the wood where they had dug-in around the village of Oosterbeek.

The area around Oosterbeek, a village situated between their L.Z. and Arnhem, was referred to as the Oosterbeek Perimeter, formed by British troops occupying positions to the east, north and west of the Perimeter, the southern boundary being the Lower Rhine, (which they ultimately needed to cross in order to escape). The glider pilots, taking on their role of “total soldiers”, were formed up in groups with the pilots of F Squadron, taking up a position in the north-east of the Perimeter. In the centre of the Perimeter was the Hartenstein Hotel, (formerly the German Field Marshal Model’s H.Q.), which became the Division’s H.Q. [Today the hotel is a museum dedicated to the British Airborne Division]. The Perimeter remained a “hot spot” with considerable numbers of British troops being killed, wounded or taken prisoner.

On Sunday 24^th September, a unit of about 200 Polish troops crossed the river in an attempt to relieve them.

Referring again to Don’s article:

Monday 25^th September……We are told we are going to withdraw over the river tonight…………A trying hour in the mud on the riverside…………… Jerry, realising at last that we are withdrawing, showers the bank with mortar and machine-gun fire, causing the worst hell of all the fighting. Men now so near the end of it are shot down right and left.

 Tuesday 26^th September. At last, I am across. It is two o’clock in the morning. Passing through the Dorset lines I link up with Johnny Ainsworth. He is unhurt, and together we trudge back to the Dorset HQ. Slowly feeling very tired and wet through by pouring rain, we plod through the mud………………….

The Battle of Arnhem was an airborne battle, and to quote Martin Middlebrook, a well-known military historian and author “,………was the last major battle lost by the British Army. Lost, not by the men who fought there, but by the over confidence of generals, faulty planning and the failure of a relieving force given too great a task”. Lt. Gen. Sir F.A.M. “Boy” Browning, Commander of the 1^st Airborne Division, is alleged to have said “I think we might be going a bridge too far”.

According to the research of Martin Middlebrook, a total of 11,920 British and Polish personnel took part in the airborne operation; he gives the following statistics:-

                                                                POW &

                                   Total         Fatalities            Evaders          Evacuated safely

I^st Airborne Div.       8,969           1,174           5,903                   1,892

Glider Pilots           1,262              219             511                      532

Polish Brigade        1,689                92              111                   1,486

                           11,920          1,485          6,525                    3,910

Less than a third in total of those who took part were safely evacuated to England: less than half the glider pilots (including Jack), and a little over one fifth of the airborne troops (including Don).

Testimony to Jack’s and Don’s skill, and, in part, good luck, in surviving.

Passage to India and Disaster in the Pyrenees

 Jack, with four major battle ‘honours’ – Dunkirk, Sicily Landings, D-Day and Market Garden and other lesser-known operations – could now look forward to a relief from the dangers of combat flying. He, and a number of other battle-hardened pilots were destined to be transferred to India to train junior pilots in readiness for possible deployment, depending on how the Asia campaign progressed. But Jack and danger were rarely far apart.

Late morning on 5^th December 1944, along with 19 other senior glider pilots, with a crew of 2, they left R.A.F. Northolt on a C47 on the first leg of their journey to India. However, they did not reach their intended destination.

At about 15:30hrs the C47 (No. FL588) crashed in heavy snow in the Pyrenees mountains on the Pic de la Camisette, near to the commune of Mijanès.

Of the 22 airmen on board, only six survived the crash, one of whom died a few days later in hospital. Due to adverse weather conditions, bodies of sixteen of the dead were not found and recovered until April the following year.

Two of the less injured survivors, on the day following the crash made their way down the mountain to Mijanès to seek help. Although a search party of French locals set out that evening, despite the moonlight they were unable to reach the top of the mountain. The next day 7^th December at mid-day, the search party found the wreckage and the remaining four survivors sheltering under the wing. These included Jack Ainsworth, who had suffered from 2^nd degree burns to his hands, two broken ribs and frostbite, resulting in the loss of some of his toes. All the survivors were taken to Carcassonne Hospital for treatment.

On 10^th December, an American air ambulance and surgical team arrived at Carcassonne and decided to move five of the six survivors to 43^rd American General Hospital, Marseilles. The one survivor was too ill to move, and he had a leg amputated but died shortly after the operation. By early January 1945, the remaining survivors, including Jack, had been returned to England.

Despite a colleague’s comment to the contrary, it is unlikely that Jack was eventually sent to serve in India due to his injuries.

Jack was ultimately discharged from the Army on 26^th August 1945 under Kings Regulations 1940, para 390 (XVI) “ceasing to fulfil Army Physical requirements” i.e. honourably discharged as unfit for active duty.

Note: The remains of the wreckage of the crashed C47 (No. FL588) are preserved and on display at the Château d’Usson, near to the crash site.

Post-War

Despite being discharged from the Army as being no longer physically fit for military duties - and of course the War had ended - his condition did not impede an active life-style in “civvi street”.

His first marriage having ended soon after leaving the Army, a number of years later he married Lys Harley and they had two daughters who survive him.

Initially, he settled in Hereford, and then moved to Sandycove in Ireland where he took up the post of a property manager. Always active, his hobbies included country sports and rally-car driving, amongst many more pursuits. Jack fell ill during the latter part of 1968 and was admitted to a nursing home near to Dublin where he sadly died on 21^st September of that year, aged just 48. Officially, his death was caused by a brain tumour, but the family believe that it was instigated by the impact of the harsh landing at Pegasus Bridge on 6^th June 1944.

So ends the relatively short story (it needs more words to do Jack full justice) of the life of a remarkable man - a true unsung hero of the Second World War

Acknowledgements

I am extremely grateful to Tim Wargen, who is married to Jack’s grand-daughter, and is custodian of the family files about Jack. Tim, without knowing me and little of what I was up to, voluntarily and speedily offered me information about Jack’s life that filled gaps in the information I had already gained, and also freely gave me details of Jack’s private life.

I am also indebted to Henry Whittington M.A., archivist of the Army Flying Museum, Middle Wallop, who has made available to me every document in their library where Jack’s name is mentioned, including two of Jack’s Flying Logs which are in the possession of the Museum, as are his medals.

And of course, this article would not have been possible without the services of a tireless and tenacious researcher, Annabelle. I am also most grateful for the assistance of Past President Rob Hill for his I.T. skills and additional research.

My thanks to all of you.

Kenneth Wright
Club Archivist

"In my student days, I recall my principal coming into the office with a rare smile on his face saying that he had just driven past the Lyttleton Cinema in Halesowen which was advertising next week’s programme.   Those were the days when there was a mid-week change of film. The Lyttleton’s offering was “Love is a many Splendoured Thing” – For three nights only!

I don’t know what your answer would be were you asked what you thought the  most popular word within romantic fiction and music to be but I suspect that love would be up there.

The circumstances in which one first hears a song sometimes ensure that it will for ever be at the back of one’s mind.   One might not hear it for years, yet one’s memory will overflow when one unexpectedly hears the first notes. The Debbie Reynolds hit of the late ‘fifties’ -  “Tammy’s in Love”  does it for me, having been top of the pops in my Royal Air Force years, and my being delighted to hear it recently on Serenade Radio.

But not only is the word used romantically; it drops off the tongue descriptively when expressing delight in an object, a place, and so on, such that unless one’s mind is concentrated on the circumstances, it somewhat loses its impact.   I spotted it headlined in a recent National Trust Magazine, as I was putting this ramble to bed, over a few lines encouraging  participation by children – “Passing on the Love”.

A favourite trick question in  any quiz embracing biblical facts is to ask the number of commandments; the usual unthinking answer of 10, ignoring the eleventh commandment in the Epistle of John, “that one loves one another”.

In short, the word can be interpreted in so many ways, many of them influenced by the mind of the speaker, listener, thinker or observer.

I shall never forget hearing it one beautiful autumn afternoon when strolling through the delightful shopping area in Brighton known as “The Lanes”; daylight morphing into dusk; and a talented young lady busker with a small instrumental backing thrilling everyone with a rendition of “Fly me to the Moon”, of which I see on subsequent research there to have been some 500 recorded versions.   Written in 1954 by Bart Howard (originally titled, “in other words”), it is as popular now as ever, my recently having heard it twice in as many hours when working  to the background of a broadcast of light music.

“Fly me to the Moon,   Let me play among the stars , Let me see what spring is like On Jupiter and Mars . . .

Fill my heart with song; let  Me sing forever more . . .            

In other words, please be true, In other words . .  “I love you”.

It was so appropriate that I heard it on that afternoon of Autumn mists and mellow fruitfulness, since the following day I was to hear speak at a conference, the first British astronaut, Doctor Helen Sharman.

She went into space at the age of 27 and was not much older when I heard her speak. She introduced her adventure by describing her journey home one evening from her job as a research chemist in the confectionary trade and frustratingly delayed by busy London traffic tuned into the John Dunn Show.

Her timing was immaculate, the presenter reading an unusual extract from the Evening Standard  - “Astronaut required – no previous experience necessary”. There were 13,000 applicants!

To the delight of the popular press, she got the job, inspiring such headlines as “Girl from Mars to go to the Galaxy”. Her address to the conference was inspirational, my never forgetting the essence of her concluding words . . .

“If you ever seek an example of the meaning  of ‘love’, this is mine –  “When you are fitted tightly with two others within a capsule hurtling through space; when the lives of each depend upon the actions of the others; and you accept that as a condition of your mission; such is love”.

*     *     *     *     *

Much learning has always been available within the background story of a well-researched novel, a first class modern example being the regularly produced romantic novels of Katie Fford.

Go back 150 years and the Thomas Hardy  novel “Far from the Madding Crowd”, popularised by the outstanding adaptation by Birmingham Royal Ballet, fits the bill, one learning in that story the legal and commercial consequences of inheritance, shepherding, husbandry and storm influenced by military life, fairground deception and murder, with the heiress Bathsheba  Everdene and her herdsman and farm manager Gabriel Oak surmounting all difficulties in a dramatically sensational conclusion where the smacking together of hands after a touchingly tempestuous five year relationship tells one only thing – Love.

This ramble does not dip any further into either of those authors or the numerous others within that genre and area, but simply recalls the moving oration by Nasser Husain on 8 August 2024 during a high profile cricket match echoing his contemporaneous newspaper article following the tragic death of Graham Thorpe at the age of 55.

He unsparingly in both refers to the love of the cricketing community for a colleague in mental torment after an outstanding career with Surrey and England, his having scored 16 centuries during his 100 full test match appearances for his country, the last of which was against Sri Lanka in 2002, following which he spent his years in coaching and management. Mentally strong on the cricket field, in good physical health and despite being enveloped within a  loving family, his demons overcame him.

There are many others in all walks of life where similar stories abound, Graham’s family having indicated that they are not hesitant to talk about his death believing it would be of help to others and are minded to consider what help, through an appropriate charitable organisation set up in his memory can be given to others who are similarly troubled. There are indeed existing charities in the cricketing world which embrace that need including those resulting from the deaths of Bob Willis and Ruth Straus together with the Cricketers Trust.

Another family whose love survives tragedy is that of Sean Devereux about whom I learned on a recent visit to Stourbridge Rotary Club when the visiting speaker was a university colleague of Sean and of the then President.   He was speaking in aid of the Charity set up by Sean’s family in his memory, having at the age of 29 whilst giving his life in support of the children of Somalia, been assassinated by those whose exploiting interests were threatened by his love.  

Two poetical extracts come to mind contextually:

Alfred Lord Tennyson in his memorial to his college friend and would be brother in law, Arthur Hallam, said of love –

                  “I hold it true, whatever may befall

                    I feel it when I sorrow most

                    ‘tis better to have loved and lost

                    Then never to have loved at all”

Then from the ninth of Twelve Songs by W H Auden, memorably featured in the film, “Four Weddings and a Funeral”:

                  “He was my North, my South, my East and West

                  My working week and my Sunday’s rest

                  My Noon, my Midnight, my Talk, my Song;

                  I thought that love would last for ever; I was wrong”.

Those last three words bother me; how about you?; and I would be deceiving myself and yourselves were I not too say that I often find it difficult to reconcile love with the abhorrent and intolerable, hence the need for reconciliation flavoured with common sense".

AJH / 09/2024

Our venue hire bookings continue to grow thanks to the excellent catering facilities provided by our stewards Tim and Tracey.

Contact Tim or Tracey if you know of any organisations who would gain from booking the Club.

In order for you to keep abreast of the news of KEVI College Stourbridge, then rather than ask them for specific articles to spoon feed to you,  we have thought it is best for you to explore their latest missives directly as relevant. Their website is included at the foot of this email but for convenience CLICK HERE>>  .

This is another  reminder that some months ago, we  have responded to the request to make it easier to get in touch with the Committee and have issues addressed.

Please consult the CONTACT section of the website where you will see clear directions of which electronic from to complete under which circumstances to get responses addressed in the fastest and most efficient way. In particular, ensure any issues affecting membership (fees, fobs, applications etc) are addressed by completing the Membership Issues form and they will be sent directly to the personal email box of the Hon. Membership Secretary for prompt response.

Likewise, any issues which you want addressed by the General Committee should be sent via the "Feedback Questions" form.