To echo
a request made
in October, please consider submitting a
piece for inclusion in a future ‘Reflections’ and thus help us
maintain it’s standard and size.
And finally an administrivia request… To assist in keeping costs
down, if
you currently receive 'Reflections' by post and might now be
able receive it via email, please let us know and we will send a test
message to you. Also please get in touch if you no longer wish to be
on the post or email mailing lists - thank you
Dave
120
3120
2 Chris#
Newsletter of Old Boys & Friends of 70
th
London BB Company
REFLECTIONS
Edition
13
April 2015
In this Edition
In this EditionIn this Edition
In this Edition
…
……
…
The Reunion proved to be another enjoyable occasion with much sharing of early
experiences. The report on the day, included within, is longer than usual so as to provide
more by way of background for those unable attend and to serve as an update re. the
newsletter and the website.
Contributors to this edition are Peter Clark, describing his full and interesting life in the
army and (surprisingly :) the civil service; and Keith Holbrook relating a touching story
which he unearthed after seeing a name on the new War Memorial in Carshalton. Our
thanks to them both.
Since the reunion we have heard from Bill Pizey the sad news that his wife Beryl lost her
battle with cancer in January. Please remember Bill in your thoughts and prayers.
Our
OurOur
Our
Reunion October 2014
Reunion October 2014Reunion October 2014
Reunion October 2014
The sun
The sun The sun
The sun shi
shishi
shining
ningning
ning on the righteous?!
on the righteous?! on the righteous?!
on the righteous?!
When they reached 18 most of my peer group was
called up for National Service, so many of you will
have a similar story to tell. lt was a tough call for
parents to see their sons go off to possibly some
dangerous place for 2 years. In our case it broke up
the family. Three of us children had been
evacuated early in the war. Ten years later Owen
and I were to join the army and sister Jean was off
to Westminster Hospital to train as a nurse.
The BB was quite a good preparation for army life
as it was similar but more so. We had to clean our
uniform and attend drill parades. lnstead of
camping for a week in August we were permanently
camping in barracks or when abroad, in a tent. The
food was generally similar and there were a lot of
chaps of one's own age around so there was a lot of
fun. And it was like a permanent club night with
ping-pong and billiards in the NAAFI in our free
time.
I joined the RAMC (Royal Army Medical Corps, or
‘run away matron's coming’). Basic training in a
camp near Aldershot was not difficult. As a non-
combatant corps we were allowed to fire rifles only
to
defend our casualties so we did not do rifle drill.
I remember re-assuring my brother Owen that with
our experience of the Company and athletics, army
training was no problem. In fact he had been
granted a deferment to complete his external BSc
and joined
6 months after me. He joined the Signals
and went to Cyprus where he worked long shifts
receiving and decoding signals. Troops there were
largely confined to camp because of terrorism.
Following basic training we were assigned our
future roles. Some went off to train as hospital
staff, some to Field Hospitals but a group of us
including former trainee meat or sanitary
inspectors, were sent to the Army School of Health
and Hygiene to learn about pests and the spread of
diseases, water supply and sanitation. The school
was at Mytchett, an improvement on our former
barracks. The weather was beautiful and of an
evening I would cycle round the country lanes and
over the Hog's Back. Sometimes I would visit friends
of the family, Jack and Phyllis Mayhew who were
officers in the 1
st
Farnham BB and Lifeboys and at
weekends I would cycle home, a pleasant way to
pass the summer.
REFLECTIONS
Page 2
After training I had the good fortune to be posted
to Libya, one of the best postings. Others were not
so fortunate with postings to outposts of empire,
usually troublesome. Our purpose in going to Libya
was eventually revealed as preparation for the
invasion of Egypt, another fine mess and the whole
expensive exercise proved pointless and
embarrassing for the Government.
Our function was
to maintain hygiene in the various
camps, which proved very interesting as North
Africa including Libya had been the bread basket of
Rome 2000 years earlier and there was much
evidence of Roman occupation still visible, in
particular the vast towns of Sabratha and Leptis
Magna. So while visiting camps on the coast I took
the opportunity of seeing these two towns, which
had been substantially preserved, rather like
Pompeii but under sand instead of ash and pumice.
Libya was a very peaceful spot and people
nowadays would pay a large sum of money for such
a long holiday in the Mediterranean.
My time in the army was not wasted since as well as
improving my ping-pong I learnt how to press
trousers using a shaving brush, a bowl of water and
some brown paper with the iron plugged into the
light bulb socket (best not to try this at home). I
also developed a professional acquaintance with
cockroaches and bed bugs. As some of you will
know from your foreign holidays, the latter are
Peter Clark
From Libya to Whitehall
From Libya to WhitehallFrom Libya to Whitehall
From Libya to Whitehall
The Noise job was good because it meant that we
looked after a number of non-civil servants. The
Noise Advisory Council included, groups of experts
in all aspects of noise, professors, ear specialists
and representatives of Heathrow protest groups as
well as the aviation industry. The council sponsored
the Darlington Quiet Town Experiment to see if by
increasing public awareness noise nuisance in the
town would be reduced through influencing
behaviour. In fact the perception of noise
increased. A reasonable subjective result.
These Quangos involving outsiders were most
interesting and I was lucky to serve on 2
Commissions responsible for helping staff who were
in danger of losing their jobs as a result of local
government re-organisation. The commissioners
were drawn as usual from the ‘great and the good’
,
mainly retired town and county clerks plus a trade
unionist.
I
t was here while serving the l974 Commission that I
first heard a dictum that has stood me in good
stead ever since. I had to represent the Chairman
at a fund raising event in aid of Chetham’s School
at the Whitbread Cellars. It was a good lunch and I
sat next to the bursar and made the Chairman’s
apologies. When I reported back to the Chairman
that afternoon, he said "I hope that you promised
them every assistance short of actual help”. So
whenever I hear someone in Government saying
how concerned they are about a particular issue, I
say to myself “every assistance…”
Peter Clark
REFLECTIONS
clever little chaps who hide in th
e crevices in the
joints of beds, in door locks and picture rails from
where they emerge to visit you at night. Their
activities are identified by a double puncture of the
skin. We were called upon to spray officers' married
quarters in town and tactfully did not dispute
parents' allegations that their children were
suffering from mosquito bites.
After 2 years real life caught up with me and I
returned to England to re-join the civil service. My
friend Brian Rance had recommended the service as
he pointed out that it left you free to do other
things and did not intrude too much into your
private life. Thus I had time to work with Brian with
the Company athletics team and the Duke of
Edinburgh's Award Scheme.
Brian was in the Post Office Department and at
that
time he was an expert on telephone poles and
could read their hieroglyphics to say who had
supplied them and when they had last been
maintained.
When I started in the Ministry of Housing and Local
Government it was a busy time for the authorities
as they were encouraged to demolish the slums,
buy up land and build large numbers of houses and
then blocks of flats. At a time when there was little
cash to spare they were building over 350,000 units
a year. See. It can be done!
We occupied the Treasury building on the corner of
Whitehall and Parliament Square so were well
placed to see the Opening of Parliament and visits
by Heads of State. St James' Park was also just out
the back, handy for a lunch- time stroll.
The Department covered a wide range of topics so
as I progressed I moved to several different parts of
the Ministry from housing to planning, including the
development of a further wave of New Towns and
later on to Noise, then Housing Associations and
Hostels. The latter were interesting as they
provided for people with particular problems and as
a result I found in the course of my visits a hostel
which served the best soup in London.
Page 3
From Libya to Whitehall
rom Libya to Whitehallrom Libya to Whitehall
rom Libya to Whitehall
continued
continuedcontinued
continued…
……
…
Th
e Reunion on October 11
th
went well with
laughter and chatter again filling the Longley Rd
middle hall. There was a larger than usual
contingent of ex. GLB / GB members thanks to the
efforts of Daphne Knights and Pam O'Brien, while
the number of Old Boys was slightly reduced when
compared with 2012. Overall 48 people registered
which, taken together with those who somehow
managed to sneak past Keith and Bettie Holbrook at
the reception desk, took us just over the 50 mark.
For those unable to attend, the extract below is as
delivered on the day during the more formal session
Points and comments made at the time and
afterwards are shown thus.
Absent Friends…
Avis Rance and Jack Mayhew, both of whom passed
away this year, were two friends who would have
undoubtedly been here today. We much miss their
presence and positive personalities. It is good that
Alan feels he can be with us and we welcome Jean,
Avis’s sister. We also fondly remember Brian Flint
who was with us here in 2012.
Those too sick to join us today are Bill Pizey, Jack
Fishpool and ex. Captain Neil Pheasant. Bill and
Jack have had some real ups and downs this year
and Neil, whose health is not good, would I know,
love to be with us. They all send their good wishes;
Th
e
‘Committee’
Tallest on the Left
shortest on the Right
etc!
Keith Holbrook; Alan
Rance; John Ward
and Dave Richardson
please keep them and Neil’s
wife Karen in your
thoughts and prayers.
We have also received ‘absence notes’ from Bob
Verrills, Harvey Dunford and Mike Wallace, they all
request their best wishes be passed on.
The Future…
Time rushes by and as we 'regulars' get older we can
start to envisage a time when the numbers who are
able to attend a Reunion will diminish to the point
when it is no longer viable. Our hope remains that
we can, by that time, have interested a younger
group to 'carry the torch' - they too, as they grow
older, may wish to be reminded of early shared
experiences and friendships, much as we do. Our
efforts to facilitate such a transition will continue
and we will keep in touch with any developments…
For all the advantages and historical links
associated with meeting in the Tooting Junction
Baptist Church halls, they are not well situated for
transport access; car parking in particular. At the
Reunion there were more stories than usual of
people spending much time trying to locate a
parking space, paying £2.50 per hour for the
pleasure and then having to leave early. With this
in mind, the committee is investigating possible
alternative locations in the general area and a
communication will be sent out eliciting opinions
should any likely alternatives be identified.
Reunion 2014
Reunion 2014Reunion 2014
Reunion 2014
…
……
…
Page 4
REFLECTIONS
The ‘
Reflections’
Newsletter…
Thanks to Alan and all the contributors for
maintaining the newsletters’ high quality. The
contributions pipeline is however almost dry and if
this remains so then smaller, less frequent editions
are in prospect. If anyone has thoughts on this
please contact Alan or myself
The Website…
All has been quiet as we have now exhausted the
Company material digitised as part of the 2008
Centenary Project. The website now exists
principally as a digital repository to make the
Company archive material readily accessible.
We agreed in 2012 that, at the next Reunion, we
would review the future of the web site, ie. does
it’s value to us and others match it’s cost of around
£90 per year?
It was agreed that we would continue to fund the
website and review the situation again in 2016.
Not an exact science as it is based on a ‘cookie’
stored when a person enters the website, but the
total number of website ‘hits’ in 2014 are reported
as: 170 first time visits and 99 return visits.
Our Finances…
The Reunion collection in 2012 was £224, thank
you. The items of expenditure since then have
been...
Website running costs are approx. £90 p.a.
- mainly the site hosting fee of £72. Our
site is now considered a large one!
‘Reflections’ posting and stationary costs -
£20 per issue (we post to 39 OBs and
friends) and we are indebted to Chris Buss
who continues to get copies printed for us.
Chris is hopeful that this can continue up to
March 2016 when he plans to retire. We
also send out ‘Reflections’ via email to
around 60 people.
Reunion expenditure - consists of a
donation to the Church of £50 and the cost
of ingredients for the large homemade
cakes.
After taking into account the expenditure for
today, our current balance is £24.
The collection on the day was £315.50 and
subsequently an anonymous donor contributed £90
specifically to fund one year’s website costs. Many
thanks to all. After making a donation to the
Church and reimbursing the cake maker, we are left
with a healthy balance of £430.22.
With Thanks…
Thank you all for coming. Our thanks also to
Tooting Junction Baptist Church, to Janet and the
Church ladies for again looking after us so well and
lastly to the committee for their work over the past
two years and here today.
To end this session can we sing ‘Will Your Anchor
Hold’ and then close with prayer (Les Wright).
After a short break we sang some BB and other
familiar Hymns - thanks to Alan for accompanying.
We did not quite raise the roof, but we are
definitely getting louder… For those with an
interest, the pieces requested were:
‘To God be the Glory’, ‘Blessed Assurance’,
‘We Thank Thee O Our Father’. ‘The Day
Thou Gavest’, ‘My Faith it is an Oaken
Staff’, ‘Love Divine all Loves Excelling’, ‘O
Jesus I have Promised’ and
‘Underneath the
Banner’.
That is all I think, as ever, thoughts and comments
welcome
Dave
REFLECTIONS
Page 5
2014 Reunion
2014 Reunion 2014 Reunion
2014 Reunion
continued
continuedcontinued
continued...
......
...
Our next Pub
lunch g
athering
for
‘
S
outhern’
OB’s will be
at the Victory Inn, Staplefield
,
West Sussex in April 2015. If you may be interested in joining us, please contact Dave.
Caption Competi
Caption CompetiCaption Competi
Caption Competiti
titi
tion
onon
on
REFLECTIONS
Page 6
Here we
have
John Ward and Bob Verrills at
a recent pub gathering of old boys in
Sussex…
Here are some suggestions of what was said:
From Alan Rance...
Bob: "Are you sure it was today John?"
Alan Verrills...
John: “Those Windeaze tablets are
working really well for you Bob.”
Bob Verrills...
“Can’t believe they wouldn't let us in
without proof of age!”
Dave Richardson...
Bob: "Was it something we said?"
John: "I only asked whose turn it was to
buy the next round."
Jack Fishpool…
“Didn’t we camp here with the BB in
1956? Bob?”
“No John, your memory’s going, that
was the Isle of Wight.”
Plus a couple more from the above…
“Embarrassing being thrown out for
fighting, John.”
"Am sure they were here a moment ago
Bob…”
"Quick John, now's your chance to get
us a beer."
Thanks to all…
The
New War Memorial
in
Carshalton
A new war memorial was recently unveiled in Carshalton’s Garden of Remembr
ance. It is for the fallen of WW2 and
is situated alongside Carshalton Ponds. Walking through the park one day last November I had a closer look at the
Memorial. While casually reading the columns of the dead engraved in the stone I came across a name that
sounded
familiar – Walter Pook. I thought I had seen that name on our website; so on returning home checked the archives
section and came across the entry ‘540 Walter Pook Devonshire Road 1941’. Knowing that Les Wright had been an
NCO around that period I contacted him and got the following response.
“Oh yes, I remember Wally, he joined with a lot of other lads early in the war. Can’t remember much
about him – he was just another boy in the company with nothing particular about him that stood out.”
I decided to try to find out more. A local historian was helpful as were various websites. What I have discovered
may not give the full story but reveals an intriguing glimpse of a very brave lad who lost his life in the service of his
country.
Walter joined the 70th around his sixteenth birthday and was probably a member for less than 18 months. When he
died he was 17 years old and serving in the Merchant Navy, at that time a highly dangerous place to be. The battle
of the Atlantic was then at its height with the potent U-boat threat ever present.
Why did Walter join the Merchant
Navy? Could it be because of his age the only service a 17 year old could join was the Merchant Navy? Though it is
unlikely that answers to these questions will ever be known I think it can be assumed that he was so keen to serve
that he took the only option open to him.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has been the most informative and Walter is ‘Remembered with
Honour’ on the Tower Hill War Memorial, in London. This Memorial commemorates men and women of the
Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets who died in both World Wars and have no known graves. Walter joined the SS
Carperby which was a cargo ship based at West Hartlepool and as a crew member was classified as a Deck Boy – not
an easy life as one can imagine! The ship’s final voyage was crossing the Atlantic as part of Convoy ON-66 before
dispersing off Halifax, Nova Scotia. SS Carperbly then sailed as an independent but 400 miles off the coast of
Newfoundland was then torpedoed by U-boat 588 on March 1st 1942 and was lost with all hands.
Thus concludes this sad story of youthful heroism in which a former member of the 70th lost his life.
Keith Holbrook
Walter Pook’s inscription on the
Tower Hill Memorial
In Memory of
Deck Boy
Walter Pook
S.S. Carperby (West Hartlepool),
Merchant Navy who died on 01 March
1942 Age 17
Son of Henry Albert and Susan
Florence Pook, of Carshalton, Surrey.
Remembered with Honour
REFLECTIONS
Page 7
In Memory of Deck Boy Walter Pook
In Memory of Deck Boy Walter PookIn Memory of Deck Boy Walter Pook
In Memory of Deck Boy Walter Pook…
……
…
POST SCRIPT
POST SCRIPTPOST SCRIPT
POST SCRIPT
: We welcome all comments and suggestions on
Reflections
Please contact either Alan Rance:
alan.rance@virginmedia.com
01491 839164
or Dave Richardson:
davri22@gmail.com
01323 483066
www.70thlondonoldboys.org.uk
REFLECTIONS
Page 8
Remember
Remember Remember
Remember these
thesethese
these?
??
?
Just when we thought that 70
th
archive material had all but dried
up, we have received copies of
Membership Cards, including names
of Staff and Squad members, for the
years 1955-56, 1956-57, 1957-58 and
1960-61.
Scans
of the originals came from Ron
Sale, via Jack Fishpool and Alan
Verrills, thanks to them all.
They are ideal material for the
w
ebsite and transcriptions have been
added to the site’s ‘Archives’
section.
If anyone has cards
for other years,
or other Company material of
interest, please get in touch.
