Changi ite newsletter 48_Changi ite newsletter 43 01/03/2012 16:17 Page 1 Flying over Changi: The Venom fighter bomber (see Page 4) RAF CHANGI ASSOCIATION including HQ. FEAF Spring 2012 Issue No 48 Changi ite newsletter 48_Changi ite newsletter 43 01/03/2012 16:17 Page 2 Page 2 The aim of the RAF Changi Association is to bring together all those who were stationed at RAF Changi (including HQ FEAF) Singapore, so they can renew old friendships and make new ones RRAFAF Changi Asssociasociattionion ((IncludingIncluding HQ.FEAF) Fooundedunded M ay 1999696 The aim of the RAF Changi Association is to bring together all those who were stationed at RAF Changi (including HQ FEAF) Singapore, so they can renew old friendships and make new ones Our website: www.rafchangi.co.uk THE TEAM President -- To be appointed Chairman: Mike James 12, Shiners Elms, Yatton, Bristol, BS49 4BY. Tel. 01934 833170 Vice Chairman/Archivist/Webmaster John Dicks, 4 Langley Crescent, Kings Langley, Herts. WD4 8EW Tel. 01923 400221 Secretary: Pat Holt. 14, Burrowfields, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG22 4XJ Tel..01256 477253 Treasurer Richard Collins, “Sandhurst Cottage” Corsley Heath, Warminster, Wilts. BA12 7PW Tel. 01373 832789 Newsletter Editor: Ken Dennis, 1 Warwick Close, St. Merryn, Cornwall. PL28 8LH Tel. 01841 521038 Membership Sec: Malcolm Flack, 14 Highfield Close, Amersham, Bucks. HP6 6HG Tel. 01494 728562 Publicity /PressOfficer Brian Lloyd 32, Redwood, Burnham, Bucks, SL1 8JN Tel: 01628 661005 Other Members Almoner/Medal Adviser: David Haylock, 37, Pierces Hill, Tilehurst, Reading, Berks. RG31 6RB Tel..01189 425753 Regalia Officer and ‘History of Changi’ Sales: Dolores James, 12, Shiners Elms, Yatton, Bristol, BS49 4BY Tel: 01934 833170 The Team’s E-mail Addresses Mike James (Chairman) [email protected] John Dicks (Vice Chairman/Archivist) [email protected] Past Holt. (Secretary) [email protected] Richard Collins (Treasurer) [email protected] Malcolm Flack (Membership Secretary) [email protected] Brian Lloyd Publicity Officer & Press [email protected] Ken Dennis (Newsletter Editor) [email protected] David Haylock (Almoner/Medal Advisor) [email protected] Dolores James (Regalia Officer) [email protected] COPYRIGHT WARNING No part of this Newsletter may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying without the prior permission of the Chairman, or secretary either by writing or telephone. Changi ite newsletter 48_Changi ite newsletter 43 01/03/2012 16:17 Page 3 3 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT EDITORIAL I am pleased to be able to welcome all new members to the Association. Thanks to a mailshot The response by sent out by our Publicity Officer (Brian Lloyd) last readers by Letters year and earlier this year our membership has and photos to my call increased. I hope they find some of their old for memories of Car comrades, and enjoy the comradeship of the RAF Nicobar was greater Mike James Changi Association. I am looking forward to meeting than I had hoped. It Ken Dennis our new members as well as the old ones at the next was magnificent. Thank you. Annual Reunion between Friday 4th May and Monday 7th May 2012 at Bearing in mind that it is a small, re- the Royal Court Hotel, Coventry. mote island in the Indian Ocean off the Before I go on, I must thank all members who sent Greetings Cards to North coast of Sumatra, which had a myself, and the Committee during the Christmas season. There were so many relatively small number of RAF per- that it was impossible to reply to all. The Committee has ask me to thank you for sonnel stationed there, it was quite a their cards as well. It was most appreciated. pleasant surprise. It is now April, and our main event for the year - the Annual Reunion - is Now I wonder if there are many almost upon us. It’s still not too late to book, especially for those new members RAFCA members with memories and who have joined since our last Newsletter. The Booking Form was inserted in photos of RAF Labuan. If so, please the middle pages of the Christmas edition. If you are interested in attending this let me have them with a view to publi- wonderful week-end, please contact me, and I will send you ,either by E-Mail or cation in a future editon of Changi-ite. by Royal Mail, the necessary application form (plus all necessary information). For the benefit of new members (55 But please apply soon, as time is now against you. in the past year alone) our Chairman, I mentioned in the last edition about the change in policy regarding items Mike James, has recalled (on page 5) of Regalia not being advertised in the Newsletter anymore. However, this does how the Association came to be not mean that Regalia items are no longer available. Please look on the back formed, and we have repeated an ar- page of this Newsletter for further details. ticle written by R. Still (now deceased) Look after yourselves. first published in 2007 on page 8. MIKE JAMES which looks back to Changi in 1953. PAGE CONTENTS PRESS & PUBLICITY REPORT We continue to be very active on the Publicity front, Pg. 1 Cover picture: using our well tried ideas and the experience which we Pg. 2 RAFCA Team contacts have built up since we formed in 1996. Any lead about a potential new member (PNM) from an existing Pg. 3 Team reports member is welcome, as this is good and often reliable. Brian W.Lloyd Pg. 4 RAF Halton. Book review We thank those members who have given us leads, many of which have Pg. 6 Bircham Newton materialized to become a Full, Associate or Affiliate member. Pg. 6 Changi colours & Queen’s Without spending large sums of money in magazines etc our name is well known but we can always improve. Diamond Jubilee Family enquiries are popular from Siblings who were on a married family Pg. 7 Changi Golf Club’s 40th posting, also from Widows whose partner served at Changi. We help Siblings Pg. 8 Looking back to early 50’s with their family tree, where the Parent has passed away and they are searching Pg. 9 RAF Changi weddings for information. All are very appreciative of this service and often they become Associate or Affiliate members Pg. 10/11 Searchline We continue to have good links with like minded Associations; and contact names of Changi people are passed to us and we do the same for them. Pg. 12/15 Your Letters and pics During December 2011, January/February 2012 we made contact with seventy Pg. 16 AGM Agenda plus local/regional newspapers asking them to publish an appeal in their Letters Column. This has produced encouraging results but we still have two thousand Pg. 17 Forthcoming events + other papers in the UK to contact. We know some will not be published Pg. 18 /19 Mem Secs. Reports because they want a fee, and many local papers also have their newspaper on a Pg. 20 Regalia. web site. In the latter case we send a message to the Web Master. BWL. Changi ite newsletter 48_Changi ite newsletter 43 01/03/2012 16:17 Page 4 4 90th Anniversary of Book Review RAF Halton Intakes. A LONG WAY FROM HOME RAFCA Member, Nigel Springthorpe (M677) has just HIS year it will be the 90th Anniversary of the had a book published entitled “A Long Way from Halton Apprentice Intakes otherwise known as T Home.” It is about an 18 year old called up for National the Trenchard Brats. As some RAF Changi Associa- Service and posted to RAF Changi. Soon afterwards tion members were Halton Apprentices, it is thought he finds himself on detachment to a staging post on a that some of them will be among those attending the remote island in the South China Sea, close to mainland celebrations taking place at the National Memorial Borneo Arboretum. His nine month tour of duty there is filled with a Halton is one of the largest RAF Stations in the succession of bizarre United Kingdom, and is located near the village of experiences. The story goes Halton, near Wendover, Buckinghamshire. HRH The Duch- on to describe his return to ess of Cornwall is its Honorary Air Commodore. Changi and his readjustment to civilian life In fact the first recorded military aviation at Halton after completing his two goes back nearly a century ago, to 1913 when the owner of years Service. the Halton estate, Alfred de Rothschild, invited 3 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps to conduct manoevres on his A Long Way from Home land. is a work of fiction inspired by the author’s personal ex- Following a gentleman’s agreement between periences. Rothschild and Lord Kitchener, the estate was used by It paints a wickedly humorous and perceptive picture the British Army throughout the first World War. Then, in from an era when National Service was accepted almost 1916 the Royal Flying Corps moved its air mechanics school without question. It also provides food for thought on the from Farnborough. Hampshire, to Halton. current debate about the desirability of re-introducing some SCHOOL ESTABLISHED form of military service. In 1919 Lord Trenchard established the No.1 School A Long Way from Home published on 1April 2012 of Technical Training at RAF Halton for RAF aircraft is priced £7.99 (£4.99 eBook) by Troubador Publish- apprentices - hence the ‘Trenchard Brats ‘ description for ing Ltd. of 9 Priory Business Park, Kibworth, Le- the trainees.