4 10 August 18, 2010 KM Extra (FE) ontest brings out best story writers

AN APPEAL for entries for a in total from which we will short- festival is being held from Sep- writing competition with a £1,000 list five in the junior category tember 17 to 19. prize has had a good respons and five in the senior. Penguin Books, which i The short story contest is “We were concerned about the ebrating its 75th anniver: organised by the HG Wells Fes- lack of junior entries but now we has donated boxed sets of tival, which is being held in have had quite a few, some from published works of Wells as Folkestone for the second year children as young as nine. prizes for the festival. running. “Some are really very good. It is The weekend focuses on books After the deadline for entries extraordinary what good quality written by Wells when he lived was extended, more have been they are from such young writ- in the area. submitted. er Highlights include a dinner, a Reg Turnill, of the festival com- Mr Turnill has donated £1,000 history walk and art show. mittee, said: “It is now going very as the prize for the junior win- It will be opened by HG Wells’ well. ner. The senior winner will get great-great-grandson Alex “We have had around 30 entries £250 from The Grand, where the Wells.

Reg Turnill at the launch of HG Wells Festival and short story HG Wells Titles by the late author HG Wells competition Picture: Gary BrownePD1555135 \ugust 13, 2010 9 , ary Glitter

KING Henry VIII would probably have felt at home seeing children from Folkestone taking a step back in time at a Tudor festival 't be served’ in Dover. Many came dressed as Tudors to enjoy a wide range of activi- ties including drama workshops, “He was getting in the passen- sioner who lives there with her making a clay head of the King ger side and someone else was husband said she had not heard and learning about musical driving. the stories. Shown a picture of instruments, toys and games “Tt was definitely him. He Gadd, she said: “I think I may from that period. seemed very relaxed and was have seen him in the area.” The event was held around not wearing a wig or trying to Gadd was convicted of possess- Dover Museum, which they were disguise his appearance. He still ing child pornography and of later allowed to explore. has the little beard.” committing obscene acts with Pupils from Folkestone’s Pri- ‘Surprised’ two girls in Vietnam in 2006. mary Academy, Park Farm Road He was sentenced to three years and also Stella Maris Catholic Father-of-two Mr Parker, 35, in jail and deported to the UK. Primary School, Parkfield Road, who runs the pub with part- Since then he has been were among more than 350 chil- ner Debi Foulds, added: “I have rumoured to be living in vari- dren from across the county told my staff he will not be wel- ous parts of south and east Kent, attending the festival. come in the pub. I was not that including Ashford and Thanet. surprised to see him but would In May this year, he was pho- rather he was not living here tographed in London wearing a atall.” grey wig and without his trade- Left, Youngsters from Staff at Bar Vasa said they had mark goatee beard. Folkestone visiting the Tudor not heard of Gadd living in the li Have you seen him? Contact festival, which was held in area, or of him being in the bar. our newsdesk on 01233 895816 Dover At the house where he was or email tjamieson@thekmgro rumoured to be living, a pen- up.co.uk

ved on youth centre site developers contributing towards poor state of the roads, difficult community and play facilities. access for emergency vehicles There were four letters of objec- and the lack of parking. tion to the development control Two previous applications for committee, citing traffic con- homes and one to use the land for cerns, the loss of green space, the open space had been refused. TRIBUTE Fond memories of BBC reporter who broke the story of Apollo 13

By Chris Britcher [email protected]

'RIBUTES have been paid to Reg Turnill, the leg- endary BBC aerospace correspondent who re- ported on the most thrilling years of the space ce, and who died this week. Mr Turnill passed away after several months of ill health at the Pilgrims’ Hospice in Ashford. He was 97. 3orn in Dover, he spent recent years living in Sandgate, where he became an active member of the community. He enjoyed a remarkable career which contin- ued long after his retirement, supporting and founding the popular HG Wells short story com- petition in Folkestone each year and personally JOURNALIST: Reg Turnill went on assignment putting up the £1,000 top prize in order. to in- to Nasa during the Apollo Moon missions spire authors to write in the style of the famous storyteller. It forms a key part of the HG Wells Concorde and continued his association with the Festival in the town which Mr Turnill helped cre- BBC—most recently contributing to the corpora- ate in 2009. tion’s coverage of the death of Neil Armstrong, But it was his time with the BBC for which he the-first man on the Moon. will be most remembered. In later years, he became an active member of Having started his Fleet Street career with the the Sandgate Society, and a key player in the HG Press Association when he was 15, he joined the Wells Festival. BBC in 1956 a tant industrial correspond- However, he found his strict rules had to be ent. Two years later, he was promoted to air and relaxed in order to appease a modern audience space correspondent and found himself at. the Speaking to KoS two years ago, he said: “I centre of the fast-emerging space race between wanted people to write the stories by hand as a the US and U condition of entry to address the low standard of Among h ignments was a trip to Moscow literacy and handwriting th to cover the first manned space launch, and re- “It's an important art in itself ¢ nda many of our porting from the US on the Apollo Moon mis- most famous authors find that's the pet way to sions. It wasin 1970 he secured his biggest scoop do creative writing. My aim in offering the when he was the first journalist in the world to £1,000 prize was to get people to mimic “what break the news that Apollo 13 was in trouble HG Wells did in the 1900: when he heard the immortal words ‘Houston we Organisers of this year’s awards said: “His have a problem’ as he made a late night visit to death is a great loss to many a: yas a great mission control. man. Our thoughts are with hi ; Speaking of the moment years later, he said: “I Nick Spall, fellow of the British Interplaneta was just leaving the deserted press centre when I Society, added: “He was the astronaut who ney- heard the famous words. By 5am I'd broken the er made it to the Moon.” story. The astronauts were in deadly danger. He leaves behind his wife Margaret and their In 1969, he was on board the maiden flight of two sons.

Reginald Turnill 1915 - 2013 This week we have lost a truly great Sandgatean. During the last decade, | was privileged to have been able to work with Reg on many of his ce related projects and | learned so much from a man of incredible intelligence, integrity and modesty; a truly wonderful friend.

Reg spent his career covering all the manned space missions as well as planetary missions like Mariner, Pioneer, Viking and Voyager. He started in Fleet Streel at the age of 15, and by 19 he was covering the national news on the Press Associ ation staff. After join ing oo BBC in 2egan 1956 he covered the launc nix 1 and fou he ie space reporling his x Of him the late ¢George Low of NASA said “We indeed fave come long way, and we are fortunate a thet there have been men like Reg Turnill on hand to document our progress”.

Reg did many hundreds of radio and TV broad s during his coverage of Apollo, but very few radio pieces have survived in the BBC —_ d hardly any TV pieces because recording facilities were ery primitive in those Gays. On April 13, 1870 it was Reg was the first ‘ break the news that during the night Apollo 13 had been crippled byt an explosion when they radioed that now iconic message "Houston we fave a problem". Reg was the only jour tin the Press Room at the time

Six year o Reg, who was still writing well into his 90s, was the w s oldest -_ working space correspondent, and was g rC Clark fetime achievement award and Buzz Aldrin did a TV tnbute mark the occasi to Buzz, whom Reg and Margaret over fifty Ss, also did the foreword for Reg's book “The Mcoonlandings

ive of Reg was a friend and benefactor of the poet John id indeed gave the young, pove sn poet pen and paper d encourage him to write. That generosity of spirit must have be nthe ge s@ Reg was always willing to help with his vast experience he set up the annual H. G. Wells writi ng competition to s rly encourage the young and net so young to write.

In 1938 Reg married Margaret Hennings at Caxton Hall followed bya reception at the Streatharn ice Rink. Our thoug h Margaret and his sons Graham and Mike

Acknowledgement to David Cowell ©2013 Reginald Turnill =

the drama of the race to the Moon and banged the drum for Concorde BBC correspondent who followed : ; A AP PHOTO / ENERS

Reginald Turnill began his journalistic career at the age of 15 as a telephonist at the Press Association in the 1930s. He continued to work as a reporter for the news agency (after a break for war service) fora further ten years. Nothing about his work at that time suggesting the path his career was to take, but then his fortunes changed dramatically with his recruitment by the BBC in 1956. # Ae allen 2 ee He started as assistant correspond- of the Apollo 13 astronauts, after a Houston, April 17, 1970: staff celebrate the safe return to earth ent on the industrial staff, with the idea Mission Control, his greatest scoop board their spacecraft; the unfolding drama gave Turnill, above left, that he might help to bring little near-disastrous explosion on a modernity to the coverage of news in 1969, and the astronaut Neil Arm- family moved to London where he was with his wife, who accompanied him the aviation field. By 1958 he had educated at schools in Raynes Park. He on his US posting, and then popped become the BBC's air and space corre- strong making his “giant leap for man- began his working life as a copytaker at back to JSC to check that “all was well”. spondent, and a marvellous opportun- kind” on the lunar surface. Just as he was leaving the centre finally, As Turnill reported on the build-up the Press Association in 1930, within ity was suddenly open to him. He had five years graduating to become a re- to return home he heard the words landed the right job at precisely the to the US’s Moon landing prepara- “Houston, we've got a problem”, com- tions, he positioned himself close to porter himself, spending a period on a right time. South Coast newspaper before return- ing in from the space craft. Civil aviation was expanding expo- Nasa’s head of manned space flight, ing to the PA in 1938. “I went back to my desk and stayed nentially as the jet age got under way. George Low, and from him learnt that it was to be the crew of Apollo 11 who Atthe outbreak of war in 1939 he was there for the next three days,” he Space travel had dramatically become called up and served as a machinegun- recalled. In that time he was able to a reality with the launch of the Soviet would make the first attempt. From Nasa officials Turnill said that he ner with The Middlesex Regiment. He follow the dramatic events, as Houston} artificial satellite Sputnik 1 on October achieved the rank of warrant officer and its experts wrestled to save the| 4, 1957, about which he had written. subsequently learnt also that it had but remained determined not to accept craft and the lives of its crew members| Suddenly, the world’s two leading mili- originally been intended that the more a commission. In 1946 he returned to after an explosion and the loss of two tary and industrial powers, the US and mercurial, outspoken scientist “Buzz” out of three fuel cells 56 hours into the Aldrin was to have been the first man the PA. USSR, were straining every nerve to His period with the BBC covered not mission. Turnill followed the story get the first man in to space and then onthe Moon. through to the fiery re-entry of the land In the event it was Armstrong, aman justthe space race, but coincided witha onto the Moon. Turnill at the BBC had ing module through the Earth’s atmos: a front row seat for the action. whose greater gravitas was, officials phere and the dramatic, but safe splash As inter-service rivalry caused disas- decided, more suitable for the momen- At Nasa he saw at close down of the astronauts in the Pacific. ter after disaster in the US space pro- tous nature of the occasion, although quarters American will Turnill was not best pleased to bq gramme, the Soviet Union's mysteri- at the time Nasa officials merely said retired from the BBC on passing 60} ous “Chief Designer” scored success that the change reflected the fact that it and technical expertise but he continued to broadcast ona free after success with the launch of ever was physically easier for Armstrong to lance basis for the corporation, an heavier satellites —-while the Soviet exit the lunar landing module first. period of dramatic advances in civil avi- wrote widely on aviation. Besides hig leader Nikita Khrushchev rubbed in Although he had no special scientific ation with the introduction of such own books, which included Moon his country’s supremacy in mocking knowledge, and was no astronomer, pioneering airliners as the giant “jum- slaught: The Full Story of Man's Race tq speeches that derided the much Turnill was always able to use his the Moon (1969); Farnborough: Thd instinct, and his experience as a news bo” Boeing 747 and the Mach 2 Anglo- smaller American satellites as “mere Story of RAE (1980); Celebrating Con reporter from his years at the Press French Concorde. Turnill was the BBC oranges”. reporter covering Concorde’s maiden corde (1994) and The Moonlandings: Ar Turnill followed all this and reported Association, to give drama to his cover- flight at Toulouse-Blagnac airport on Eyewitness Account (2003), he contrib: on the developments that led to the age of the details of the space race. uted to the Observers Book of Manne What he lacked in technical know- March 2, 1969. He remained an enthusi- Soviet Union launching Yuri Gagarin Spaceflight, the Observer's Book of Un ledge he made up for by his tenacity astic proselytiser for the supersonic as the first man in space in April 1961, airliner, amid all the criticism that was manned Spaceflight and, in the 1980: apparently to establish an unassailable “on the story” and his unassailable con- edited Jane’s Spaceflight Directory. ly viction of the fundamental importance levelled at it on economic and environ- lead in the space race. mental grounds. 2006 he won the Sir Arthur Clarke Life He was then to report on the estab- of developments in aerospace, in which But he always thought that his time Achievement Award. lishment of the National Aeronautics he thought Britain should be playing its part. He was thrilled by the other avi- greatest scoop was his coverage of the Turnill married in 1938, Margare} and Space Administration (Nasa) in Apollo 13 lunar flight, which almost Hennings, and they had two sons. the US and to observe at close quarters ation story of that annus mirabilis of 1969 — the first flight of Concorde. became a disaster, in April 1970. He the remarkable effort of will and techni- had been covering the flight at Mission Reginald Turnill, journalist, was born on cal expertise that allowed the US to win Reginald Turnill was born at Dover in 1915. His father died when he-was 4, Control at the Johnson Space Center, May 12, 1915. He died on February 12, 201 the space race, with the touchdown of Houston, had gone home to dinner aged 97 Apollo II’s landing module on July 21, and his mother married again. The 1GM ~ a ee ; ae ‘ a . a Nt ry “~ A ar bi

° s - ent) ea 5 | PORE OT ee is ~ ORDER OF. SERVICE” Sha: Hime 2 =) 570g i lo) is i < i REGINALD eae aa : P i 12th May 1915 - 12th February 2013 7 i ‘sf a. i= J in .

Prayers

Commendation

Exit Music: ‘The Lark Ascending’ R. Vaughan Williams (Recorded)

Painting by Janine Umbers

At Barham Crematorium

Blow The Wind Southerly (Kathleen Ferrier)

Committal

Piano Concerto Second Movement - Edvard Grieg

Sandgate Printers 01303 858100 Entrance Music: ‘Spitfire Prelude’- William Walton

Welcome and Opening Prayer

Hymn: The Lord is my Shepherd

The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want; He makes me down to lie In pastures green; he leadeth me The quiet waters by.

My soul he doth restore again, And me to walk doth make Within the paths of righteousness, E'en for his own name's sake.

Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale, Yet will I fear no ill: For thou art with me, and thy rod And staff me comfort still.

My table thou hast furnished In prsence of my foes; My head thou dost with oil anoint And my cup overflows.

Goodness and mercy all my life Shall surely follow me; And in God's house for evermore My dwelling-place shall be.

Reading - Recording of Genesis Read from space (Apollo 8) Tributes- Mr James Wilkinson Mr Lewis Bronze Mr Michael Turnill Mr Graham Turnill Hymn: One More Step Along The World I Go One more step along the world I go, One more step along the world I go; From the old things to the new, Keep me travelling along with you: And it's from the old I travel to the new; Keep me travelling along with you.

Round the corners of the world I turn, More and more about the world I learn; All the new things that I see You'll be looking at along with me. And it's from the old I travel to the new; Keep me travelling along with you.

As I travel through the bad and good, Keep me travelling the way I should. Where I see no way to go, You'll be telling me the way, I know. And it's from the old I travel to the new; Keep me travelling along with you.

Give me courage when the world is rough, Keep me loving though the world is tough; Leap and sing in all I do, Keep me travelling along with you: And it's from the old I travel to the new; Keep me travelling along with you.

You are older than the world can be, You are younger than the life in me; Ever old and ever new, Keep me travelling along with you: And it's from the old I travel to the new; Keep me travelling along with you.