Snapper

Major Lucien Jack Algernon Feilden.was aged 35 when he died on 19th December, 1941. He served with the Hong Kong & Singapore Royal Artillery, attached to Headquarters from the British Royal Artillery. He came from Bury St Edmunds.

Really? Does this mean I can devise a new Holy Grail? Quality! I like the fact that Jack gave Ian and Lee a cup and saucer for their Camp coffee. How quaint for the Plankster to such a thing. Pukka manners.

I have to agree about the BofB hall. It's a dog's breakfast. My son and I experienced the film show thing and we had gone in specifically to see the German aircraft. I did not want to see them in a night time setting. I think they have cocked this up royally. Forgive me, but I know there is a RAF Museum person who uses this site who is able to comment on this, so hopefully he will. I think the Graham-White hangar is fantastic. It does open for brief periods and you have to be sure it is opening when visiting. In general terms I assume the RAFM is a victim of wanting to keep up to date by changing displays and remaining vibrant, because it must have regular visitors. I used to live there for quiet afternoons in my yoof. I can remember when the "old" National maritime museum, at Greenwich, was just a dust bowl of models and exhibits. But I am also old enough to remember the "old" Science museum, with it's sectioned steam train and rockets and stuff that was totally 'Boys Own', which must have been a main reason to change it. Modern rules of logic tell us Girls cannot possibly like trains. I think some things have to be inter-active and come alive..but it should not to be to deterement of the item or to our intelligence. For me this is the knub of the matter. Museums have to assume we are all stoopid, because so many modern Brits are know-nothings. Mind you, I cannot tell you all the X-Factor contestants, so I'm lacking in knowledge, too. It's about priorities I suppose. I HATE seeing aeroplanes hanging from ceilings. It smacks of telling the public they can actually fly (the modern RAF being a moot point with all the cuts). I imagine it is done for effect and to save space.Things on walls are not necessarily bad. The rank of cars in the Science Museum is spectacular.

These two ladies died in 1946. Both were nursing staff CWGC tells us. Matron Norah Kathleen Westaway ARRC, aged 51. Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service died 14.03.1946 daughter of Engineer Rear-Admiral Albert Westaway. The ARRC means Associate of the Royal Red Cross, an award for nurses. This means the award of the Royal Red Cross 2nd Class. (1st class of the RRC is listed as MRRC for Member) Sister Doris Bowyer Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service. died on 01.05.1946. I haven't found any more info on her.

This fellow is Lance Bomdardier Frederick Schnepel of 4 Medium Battery. Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Corps. He died on 15.12.1941 during the Japanese invasion. He came from Kowloon. The HKVDC were a volunteer organisation a bit like the TA. A great many of them died during the invasion and in captivity.

Thirty-one year old Private Colin Donald Nicol served with the 5th Bn Royal Norfolks and he died while a prisoner of the Japanese on 28.07.1944.He had been captured at Singapore in February 1942 and I am assuming he is one of many POW's taken to Taiwan, then known as Formosa; to work as a slave labourer in the Kinkaseky copper mine where many good men died. He came from Southend On Sea and we really hoped he might have been an Old Southendian to assist John and Lesley's project which may well move on to WW2 now that the first book is out, but Colin Nicol must have studied elsewhere. I suppose it is highly likely that his family may never have visited his grave so we feel we did a small service to our town by saying thanks. God bless him.

I'll bow to your moral superiority! But biscuits are a VERY serious matter. If I'm off Topic, it's because I've always preferred Cadbury's fruit and nut!!:-D

I'm a Peaked Freen man myself, but they are long gone, like many of South London's landmark industries. Terrible. So we make do with Tesco own brand custard creams in our house.

My two cats came with a free "whole heap of trouble". You did well just getting a tent.:coffee:

Looking forward to it already...

I'm at the office just now and don't have my copy to hand - but I would say there is something about the cover and to be honest I can't put my finger on it. I'll report back.

Last year I saw pictures from the CWGC book Remembered and one of the photos that inspired me was of Sai Wan cemetery on the island of Hong Kong. So, when I got a chance to visit the place this October, there was no way I would not find the time to visit this place. Of course, a cemetery is more than just a place filled with headstones. To me all the war cemeteries tell a story and I wish there was a way of finding out more about the individuals who rest there. Sai Wan was the site of an artillery battery which put up a brave fight against overwhelming Japanese numbers. When the gunners surrendered they were shown no mercy by their captors. It seems apt then, for the place to be a cemetery. Many of the burials come from Taiwan, where allied prisoners died in the mines, and there are also a large number of Dutch graves. One of the most significant contingents are the Canadians of C Force, two infantry battalions and supporting troops who arrived without any acclimatisation, no vehicles or heavy weapons (they were diverted to Manila) and little training. It is a beautiful place and quite spectacular. The stunning thing was the heat. It was +30 degrees C and I have never enjoyed such conditions on the Somme or in Flanders!

I'd just worry about your full colon :-D. I quite like being part of a rebel alliance myself...:-D

Bloody hard to work with, though. Kept nagging me about my F stops and composition. Bloody David Bailey.

Looks like something from a very early episode of Top Gear...

Hadn't heard of a British 9th Army. 1st 2nd 8th 10th and 14th I know of. But not a 9th. However - Wikipedia tells us The British Ninth Army was a Second World War formation formed on 1 November 1941 with the re designation of the HQ of the British Troops in Palestine and Transjordan. The Ninth Army controlled British and Commonwealth land forces stationed in the eastern Mediterranean. So...presumably this was the force keeping an eye on the Vichy French in Syria and Lebanon, who were a threat.

Hi Andy, I think this is a nice idea - and something to work on; but I know for certain we can't spare a board for it at the moment and it will have to stay in Other Stuff. Why not start populating a string with your favourite bits of poetry and see how things pan out? It's something different from spanners and worthy of a bit of group effort. These ongoing items, like the galleries and the stuff I occasionally play with are long running themes thru the life of the forum and we need to keep them going. Ta, MB

Grimmer John had worked out a good walk for us to go from Auchonvillers and out over Hawthorn Ridge to the road that goes down into Beaumont Hamel. We crossed this road and went up Redan Ridge. If you look at this countryside, which looks lovely; you have to wonder where in God's name Joffre got the notion this was good attacking country when he bequeathed it to the British. He had previously decreed that the lethal landscape around Loos was such an opportunity in 1915. The British army suffering 60,000 casualties in two days. As we know, it was even worse on the Somme a year later. As we know, Haig had no specific qualms about attacking over this countryside. We hear a lot about the gift of hindsight - but I would think any fool would defer the chance to attack up and over one valley and up to another with the enemy holding all the high ground. But this is precisely what happened. The first pics show the view towards Beaumont Hamel cemetery from Hawthorn Ridge and then the reverse view from the cemetery. It is a great place to walk - but not with new boots, eh John! Out of shot to the left of the cemetery seen from the ridge is the spot where Geoffrey Mallins filmed the Hawthorn Ridge mine being exploded. This tragic waste of effort alerted the Germans that an attack was coming. They had plenty of time to massacre the attacking infantry. Mallins film remains a classic bit of Great War generic. What it must have been like to have crouched there filming is a moot point.

It was a team effort with Grimmer John...share the credit please (I have to go drinking with him tmrw evening!)

Frederick Birks was born in Flintshire, Nth Wales in August,1894. He emigrated to Australia in 1913 and enlisted in the 2nd Field Ambulance on 18th August, 1914. He was wounded at Gallipoli on 20th June, 1915 and was promoted to lance corporal the following April. He was awarded the MM for his "consistent good service" at Pozieres in 1916 and promoted to corporal. He was commissioned on 26th April, 1917 and transferred to the 6th Battalion with whom he won the VC at Glencorse Wood on the 20th of September. He died the following day and is buried in Perth (China Wall) Cemetery. There is a superb account of his life on the BBC Memoryshare site at http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/memoryshare/A37377336 This cemetery is an important one because another VC is buried there as are a number of men who were 'shot at dawn' . It makes for an interesting contrast.

Patrick Kenneth Pearce. Aged 27. Son of Thomas and Louisa Mary Pearce, of Ryde, Isle of Wight. God bless him.

Tony. The Vampir (apparently!) interview is on my PC, right here, right now. Just got to put it all together. The man to thank for this is John Grimmer the demon Barber of Southend...(an in-joke courtesy of the Southend Evening O Heck, which is a bit like a regional Grauniad. :-D I'll get on it. Yeh - a road trip in our motors would be great. I just get impatient doing the road miles from Calais via the Dunkirk turn off and off again at Steenenvoorde (or whatever it's called) - the place with the church with the tall spire - before I find things to look at.

A simple rockery just wasn't good enough for Norman...

Thanks to the pix requesters. Right - I will sort a disk out when I get my house back in the fag end of this year or early next. But please PM me and keep nagging. I find I will have to make a job diary for all these tasks. If Mr Murdoch makes me redundo in January I will have bags of time....I'll be playing Scrapheap Challenge. M:-D