ISSUE NUMBER TWO DECEMBER 2001
This is my first attempt at a newsletter so
I
must hold my hand up if there are any mistakes.
REUNION. As
those of you who were there will know, on the weekend of 28/29th
April at the International Hotel, Bromsgrove Hanover, we held a reunion to
celebrate 50 years of our joining the Apprentices There were 77 all told, 42
ex-apps and 35 wives. Notable attendees
were Graham Eves and Sam West from New Zealand, Derek Holt from Calgary and Roy
Thompson from Colorado Springs. We had
a great time renewing old acquaintances over the odd pint of the amber nectar
the ladies, God Bless them, enjoyed the trip to Stratford that had been organised
for them. A full report is in the current
issue of the "Haltonian". We
all owe a vote of thanks to Mike Williams who, with the able assistance of
Margaret organised it all. It was so
successful that we are going to do it all again in 2004 to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of our Passing Out. The
venue will be the same and provisional dates are 24/25 April 2004. More
of this later.
68TH ASSOCIATION. During
our reunion we held a meeting at which we decided to form an Entry
Association. The main object of the
exercise was to build on the work already done by one or two of us in bringing
old friends together and keeping everyone up to speed on what is
happening. The current members of the
committee are: -
Tony Whiting Chairman
John Player Secretary
Mike Williams Treasurer.
Maurice Kidney, Jim Le Moine and Eddie Harmer are
representing their respective trad
2)
The Internet W.W.W.vimart.co.uk this is a web site run by one Ian Martin
(Royal Navy 1964 - 1989). He has had 4,400 entries on the site
since May, as he says, "These are from all walks of life" so if
you are looking for anyone give it a try.
You can even put your own info on the site if you wish. If you use
either of these sites and have any luck, or more importantly know of
anywhere else where we may find friends or aquaintancies let me know and
I'll get it into a future newsletter. ENTRY WEBPAGE. For those of you who can't
remember the address is: - W.W.W.the68th.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk Before I say
anything else about the site I must give a big vote of thanks to Brian
McCarthy for all the work he has put into developing it. I can't pretend to understand how he did
it but sufficient to say it couldn't have been a 5-minute job. Thank-you
Brian, on behalf of all of us. I have just
been into the site and it has had 1134 visitors since it was opened on the
21st May this year.
However, like this newsletter, it will only get better if we have
input from you. Most of you will
have a photo from the old days that we would all love to see or a little
story that is worthy of retelling so let's be having you guy's. EPILOGUE.
I currently have 'E' mail addresses
for 24 of you, which means that I will have to send the rest of the copies
of the newsletter by "snail mail". If you have recently gone onto the Internet and have an 'E'
mail address please let me know.
The more copies I can distribute electronically the less the cost to
us all. Finally I
wish you a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, may you and your
families have a wonderful time. The next
newsletter is due for publication in June of next year. INSHALLAH. We all considered it a great day, the
weather was kind, the company good.
We were fortunate to attend this special event with some long-term
old friends. Tony
Whiting. HOBBIES/UNUSUAL ACTIVITIES. Just over 18 months ago to keep the grey
cells working I embarked (no pun intended) on a period of study of the Victorian
Navy and in particular H.M.S. Warrior circa 1860. (No aircraft in Portsmouth
Harbour). It has given me a
fascinating insight into the workings of the navy and of course the terms
and expressions they use. I
currently operate on a voluntary basis as a tour guide. If any of you are in the Portsmouth area
and would like a tour around the ship I would be only too willing to
oblige. (Note I will be in Oz until
early Jan.) Colin
Childs. (Contact address from John
Player.) ENTRY TIES. Mike Williams is currently looking at
having an entry tie produced. The thinking is to have a plain coloured one
with the wheel, 68 and the year's 1951- 54 on it somewhere. The idea is still in its infancy, so
more about it later. WHERE ARE THEY NOW? I have had an 'E' mail from Mark Ballamy ex 70th
Entry who is trying to locate two of our brethren. They are Fred Marshall and
"Bert" Brain. If anyone
has any ideas then please let me know and I'll pass it on. If you are looking for anybody then a
couple of places you may not know of are: - 1) T.V
Channel 4 teletext page 172.
The section title is Service Pals.
It's worth a browse if you have a spare 15 minutes and if you wish
to use their services they are free and all the info you'll need is on the
screen. I used it to try and find members of our entry, I had no responses
in that field but an old friend from the RAF and Saudi Arabia got in
contact with me, so it does work, albeit in my case, in reverse.