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UK REUNION

SOUTHPORT

MAY-JUNE 2006

Southport is now a nice but cold memory in the minds of those who attended the Prince of Wales Hotel on beautiful Lord Street. Southport Has links with Burtonwood as there were two American Red Cross Clubs there, one at the Palace Hotel in Birkdale an d the other just off the promenade at the Sunnyside Hotel in the twin centre, now both demolished.

The organisation was originally started by Dave and Margaret Goulden together with Sheila

Waddington but with Dave’s untimely death Aldon stepped in to work with Sheila. She in turn was ably assisted by Margaret, Wendy Boardman and Iris Simpson.

We had an excellent hospitality room which was well used plus the facilities of this Victorian hotel which has recently been refurbished. After the long trip from the US the first day was casual and leisurely with a welcome party in the evening together with excellent buffet and slide presentation on Southport and the weeks events.

Saturday saw the first trip which was to Rufford Old Hall a beautiful Medieval house only 30 minutes drive from Southport. Here guides met us, broke us into small groups and gave us a detailed and fascinating tour of medieval history and living. Unfortunately the weather was cold and wet and a planned visit to a local garden, only open once a year, had to be abandoned by al except the most hardy who spent a few minutes admiring the plants and flowers.

Sunday was a day of rest allowing exploring or Southport, Liverpool and the surrounding area.

Monday was a Bank Holiday but we had arranged a trip to see our colleagues at BAD#2 Warton, near Preston and Blackpool. A brief history of BAD#2 is elsewhere in this issue but sufficient to say it was almost a big as Burtonwood and complimented it by overhauling in-line engines (against Burtonwood working on radial engines) plus majoring on B-24 Liberators and P-51 Mustangs amongst many others. Warton has a thriving association and their hospitality, led by Harry Latham, was nothing short of wonderful. We were taken into the church at Freckleton adjacent to where the B-24 crashed onto the village school, that fateful day on 23 August 1944 when 38 children and 23 adults including the three crew of a Liberator perished during a terrible storm. The story of what happened that day together with personal memories of survivors were heard; some form survivors who joined us. After setting the scene we went into the churchyard to pay our respects to the mass grave at the back of the church and then on to the memorial set up by members of BAD#2 together with the memorial playing field adjacent. The school is gone and redeveloped but otherwise the area is little changed. We then moved into the village hall where Harry and many local helpers had prepared a great sandwich lunch for us with tea and coffee and made us all very welcome. The North West Heritage Group based at BAE Systems at Warton (Brian Tomlinson) put on a photographs display of the tragic crash and other aspects of AD#2 for our interest. The Chairman of the Parish Council came to welcome us. After being well fed and watered we went back to the buses to see some of the remaining living sites and then a brief run around the outside of the airfield. Warton is still very active being the flying and assembly factory for the UK’s military aircraft with its runway extended and many new high tech buildings erected.

Harry and his team made us all very welcome and our sincere thanks go to him and them all.

Tuesday took us to Burtonwood starting with a church service at St Michaels Church in Burtonwood village officiated by Dr Henry Boardman, a member of the Association. Rev Russ Naylor had retired last year and moved out of the parish. It was Russ who helped us so much with the installation of our Memorial Window in the church. After a friendly welcome and service in which Jim Ruel and Aldon Ferguson read lessons we had time to admire the Memorial Window before moving onto the airfield where a further service was held with Rev Normal Huyton, the Association’s Chaplain, when the ashes of Dave Goulden and Floyd Shirley were scattered onto the remains if Burtonwood Airfield.

Next stop was the new Heritage Centre at Gulliver’s World where the members filled the building admiring the exhibits and memorabilia of Burtonwood. The Mayor and Consort stayed with us all day and were there when a special Memorial seat was dedicated to Dave Goulden. arranged the seat as a tribute from the US side of the Association and it was jointly unveiled by Jim Ruel and Aldon Ferguson. The Mayor paid a special tribute to Dave as he was a local councilor and was well known to local politicians. The police also made an appearance and were happy to pose with the American visitors for photo calls.

All too soon we had to move on back to Burtonwood village where we had lunch in the Village Hall where a superb spread of sandwiches, pastries and sweets were laid on for us. Speeches were made by the Mayor and Aldon. After that we took a scenic tour of Warrington to take in as much of the town centre as possible now it is pedestrianised and a huge amount of new development is continuing. Pete Boardman arranged this routing before we left Warrington, traveled down the M62 motorway right down the main runway at Burtonwood on which the motorway was built and back to Southport.

A long tiring but interesting day, to be followed by an even longer day on Wednesday. Again an early start from the hotel took us to Chester. This time we split the group into male and female parties with the ladies going to be guests of the Lord Mayor of Chester who gave a guided tour of the Town Hall including the regalia and robbing rooms and explaining the traditions of Mayors in England. After tea and biscuits the ladies were taken the short distance to the Cathedral where another guided tour was made of this old and beautiful building.

Meanwhile the men were at the Airbus A380 wing factory at Hawarden just outside Chester. Here the two year old factory which was spotlessly clean, makes the wings for Airbus aircraft. On other parts of the site the smaller wings are made for the family of airliners but the A380 will be the biggest civil aircraft in the world and needed special, fully computerized manufacturing facilities. We saw the complete production line from the raw materials coming in to the complete set of wings ready for delivery. Parts came from the US, UK, Malaysia and all over the

world. The finished wings go by road a short distance to the River Dee where a specially built barge takes them to Mostyn Docks where they are loaded onto a larger ship and sailed round to Toulouse where they are mated with the rest of the aircraft. A truly inter-national manufacturing effort.

At lunch time the two groups merged back at Chester Cross where the Town Crier gave a special performance just for the Association and made many disparaging remarks about our friends in the ‘Colonies’ complaining about taxes and throwing our tea into Boston Harbour. He said ‘What can’t Americans make a good cup of tea? Don’t they know they should warm up the harbour before they throw in the tea!’

Lunch on our own was followed by the trip back to Southport ready for the evening’s activities. The day at Chester was arranged by Carl and Marie Mann who made all the arrangements and we thank them for al their very kind and very hard work putting the programme together. After the event the Town Crier e-mailed Carl with the following message:

‘Greetings Carl!

Thank you for booking me to make the welcome proclamation to the Burtonwood Association today. They were a responsive and fun group which made it an enjoyable assignment for me.

Thank you also for your consideration with the timing.

Yours in ringing tones

David Mitchell

Chester Town Crier’

After a rest e boarded the bus again in Southport to go to the Southport Theatre on the Promenade to see ‘That’ll Be The Day!’ a musical tribute to the hit music of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Initially they talented group played British hit records but slowly we started to here Elvis, The Beach Boys, Everley Brothers, Buddy Holly and Tina Turner. A loud, stirring musical evening crowned another long day.

Next day was free except for Don and Janet Getty who has spent the first night of their honeymoon at the Prince of Wales Hotel way back in 1953. The local press and TV wanted to hear their story so they became stars of TV twice that day remembering their first night together 53 years ago!

By Thursday night it was time for the Farewell Banquet (again!). This time the Mayor of Southport joined us (Councillor Tommy Mann and his consort) – our third mayor guest at the reunion! Here also we had Laurel and Hardy look-alikes who met and greeted the guests with humour and magic tricks, continuing around the tables during dinner. They were interrupted by two pipers fully regaled in Scottish uniforms who marched around the Ballroom playing favourites like ‘Amazing Grace’. After speeches and UK appreciation shown to the organisers and many helpers the disco started and was kept busy until midnight when the tired members wound their way to bed ready for a return to the US the following day or tours around the UK and Europe seeing relatives and friends.

There are many people to thank for the reunion: Sheila Waddington had the hotel fully organised and was helped by Margaret Goulden, Iris Simpson and Wendy Boardman; John Mortimer for driving the bus for us; Carl and Marie Mann for Chester and the Airbus Wing factory; Southport Publicity team for help with Goodie Bags and the TV coverage of the Getty’s; Ian Murphy and Pete Boardman for setting up the Heritage Centre; Rev Harold Boardman for the Church Service, Rev Norman Huyton for the spreading of ashes and everyone else – a great big THANK YOU!

Those who attended:

Bill & Margaret Benoit

Jim & May Bentley

Pete & Wendy Boardman

Thomas Cahape & Thomas Campbell

Audrey Cash

Al Conner & Ellen Sherer

Doyle Dillon

Bob & Myra Durham

Aldon & Sue Ferguson

Patsy Fine & Tony Stark

Edwin Floyd