Lord Kitchener

It was with great sadness that I learned just before Christmas of the death of Henry, 3rd Earl Kitchener on 16th December 2011.

As previously mentioned I have an interest as one of the trustees of the Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre. Lord Kitchener had only been our patron for a relatively short time, after the death of our previous patron HRH Princess Alice, but he had been a vice-patron and a stalwart supporter of the Centre at Lowestoft for a number of years.

The trustees were very grateful that his family had managed to arrange what turned out to be his final visit to us in September this year and our heartfelt condolences go out to them for their loss. We also have every sympathy with the unfair situation expressed by Julian (Fellowes), Baron Fellowes of of West Stafford, that his wife The Lady Emma, although Lord Kitchener's niece and legal heir, cannot inherit the title as 4th Countess under current legislation.

Loss of friends

Self, Keith
Ann, Doreen

It's been a sad week for us with two funerals. The first, on Monday, was that of Penny Barley, much loved wife of Robin with whom I worked for several years in the late 1970's and who was taken after a very short illness. She was far too young to have been taken yet at all and the sense of loss and her popularity was marked by the standing room only at the celebration of her life.

Yesterday, Thursday, Ann and I attended that of Keith Savage whom we had known for the nearly fifty years it is since he and I had served together with the East Suffolk Police at Lowestoft.

Those were the days of foot patrols, of great-coats surmounted with a cape when on night patrol shaking hands with shop door handles and of point duty in a white-painted wooden box at what was known as Tuttles corner, the junction of Waveney Road with what was then the A12. This was some time before we eventally took delivery of the first Panda cars in the town and he became Panda 4 and I Panda 2 (it was physically more comfortable policing but we lost touch with the public).

Towards the end of the 1960's Keith and I, with our respective wives Doreen and Ann, spent a memorable holiday together bed and breakfasting round the Highlands of Scotland. Being realistic about the reliability of our own cars, Keith's Morris Minor and my Sunbeam Alpine, we hired a Ford Corsair.

The image shows that we made it, all the way to the top (click the image for a larger version where the text is readable). We were young, carefree and full of hope and anticipation if a little windswept!

Yesterday brought some consolation, that of renewed acquaintance with Keith and Doreen's son (and our Godson) Gary and of meeting his wife Natalie. Doreen and Keith had every right to be very proud of Gary's achievements, of his double first at Cambridge, his doctorate and his teaching career at Eton, Westminster and now as Headmaster of Alleyn's School at Dulwich. It was also good to renew friendships with colleagues not seen for so long.

In latter years after he had retired from the police Keith, always a collector, became a fellow bookseller with a shop in Saxmundham. We would visit on an occasional basis but never on a Tuesday afternoon or a Saturday when Ipswich Town were playing at home as he always had a prior engagement!

We'll miss you, rest in peace Keith.

AGM of Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre at Lowestoft

From left: Guest speaker Colonel Moss, Lady Fellowes, Lord Kitchener,
Chairman: John Greenacre, Lord Fellowes, Trustee: Michael Sims

Wearing one of my other hats I recently attended the Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre for their Annual General Meeting. The LKMHC is a prime building facing the sea in the Suffolk coastal town of Lowestoft which provides serviced holiday accommodation to ex-members of the merchant and armed services. It first openend its doors in 1919 as a memorial to the national war hero the first Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, who had died with his staff when HMS Hampshire was sunk by a mine off the Orkney Islands in 1916.

The Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre, Lowestoft

This year, after much planning, we were delighted to welcome back our patron, the present Lord Kitchener, who had not been able to visit us for some years after a stroke. By planning well in advance his niece and her husband, the Lord and Lady Fellowes of West Stafford, were able to drive him from his home in West Sussex. Lord Fellowes is better known as Julian Fellowes (the actor and writer, Gosford Park, Downton Abbey, etc.) and his wife Lady Emma, and we managed to fit the AGM into their busy schedule so that they could bring Lady Emma's uncle.

The AGM was attended by some 90+ friends and supporters of the Centre in a somewhat less formal meeting than of recent years. We heard a brief summary of the last financial year from the new chairman of the management committe, Dr. John Greenacre, an interesting account of his work by Colonel Neale Moss, Commander Aviation 16 Air Assault Brigade, and a short address by Lord Kitchener. Lady Emma was presented with a posy by the chairman's daughter, Alice Greenacre.

Lady Emma and Alice Greenacre

The meeting was very well attended and as well as the top-table guests our distinguished visitors included Major-General John Sutherell, Peter Aldous MP, the Chairman of Waveney District Council, the Mayor of Lowestoft and many more. All the armed services were represented as were many ex-service associations. Aftewards we enjoyed an excellent buffet prepared and served by the Centre staff and our VIP guests took the opportunity to talk to our many other guests at the Centre that evening.

The stamina of Lord Kitchener, now in his nineties, was amazing and he circulated and spoke to many people during the buffet. This was Lord and Lady Fellowes of West Stafford first visit to us and they really showed in interest in what we were doing at the Centre. Lady Emma was given a short tour of some of the rooms and I even managed to get my first editions of 'Snobs' and 'Past Imperfect' signed by Lord Fellowes (in his persona as Julian Fellows).


The stalwart service of the Centre manager Steven Schofield, his wife and Centre housekeeper, Lorraine, and their staff was publicly acknowledged. The Centre, which is open from April until th end of October is able to offer bed, breakfast and an evening meal to 20 guests at a time in 10 en-suite twin-bedded rooms, at a rate which is kept below the minimum income level by grants from service charities.

The management committee and trustees are all unpaid, a fact to which tribute was paid by Lord Kitchener, who has experience of management fees being charged in other charitable enterprises. The trustees and management were very grateful to all those who made the evening go so well, not least the police at Lowestoft who were able, by their presence, to ease the arrival of guests in a single-carriageway road. It is hoped that the visit of our noble, gallant and distinguished guests can be repeated next year.

From the left:
The Baron Fellowes of West Stafford (Julian Fellowes),
The Lady Fellowes of West Stafford (Lady Emma)
and The Earl Kitchener of Khartoum

Further details about the Centre and the service offered can be found at:

Lord Kitchener Memorial Holiday Centre

Lowestoft and Plaisir Twinning

With delight I have discovered the Lowestoft and Plaisir Twinning Association blog.

Choisissez une langue de traduction:

What seems like a lifetime ago in 1979, when I was still serving in the Suffolk Fire Service, my wife and I were the guests of the the Briand family when we attended the original twinning ceremony between our two towns in France. Lieutenant Briand was in command of the Sapeurs-pompiers at Plaisir and I was a full-time operational Sub Officer at Normanshurst in Lowestoft.

The formal ceremony 1

(Click on any image for a larger version)

The formal ceremony 2

The formal ceremony 3

After the formal ceremony. Lieutenant Briand (fore-ground, in uniform) with his wife and mine, Ann

I believe the visit was for three days, a most hectic period of almost non-stop activity covering the twinning ceremony itself, the 'cross' (a cross country run, viewing not taking part), a social event in a community centre, a jazz gig in a park, a visit to the the Caserne (Fire Station)...

A visit to the Caserne....

....where I am even allowed to play with some of the equipment.

and another to the Palace of Versailles, as well as the hospitality at the home of the Briands and of their friends and neighbours.

...and another to the Palace of Versailles...

The Briands had no English and we had only very rusty 'O' level French, but with the help of a French/English dictionary we managed to communicate. In fact we found that it was by far the quickest way to learn French, to be plunged into a totally French speaking environment!

Sadly, shortly after our visit I started to develop health problems and after one more promotion and a couple of years taken for the diagnosis to be completed I had to retire from the Fire Service on grounds of ill health. I have lost touch with the Briands so if anyone knows of their whereabouts I would be pleased to hear.

A little while later we were able to return a small portion of the hospitality that we had received. The Briands were unable to visit but another family (sadly their name has been forgotten) who had connections with SNCF stayed with us.

At the time we were running a guest house but they stayed as our guests and, in the hope that the Transport Museum at Carlton Colville might be of interest, took them there. They appeared to enjoy it but after their high-tech French railways it must have seemed rather quaint.

With other commitments in our lives we lost touch with those involved with the twinning. The level of commitments in other directions is still high but it is great to have the opportunity to try to establish them again.

A cautionary tale...

You wouldn't think that selling books would involve the loss of much blood but unless you keep your concentration, it can!

The steri-strips came off today but you can still see the angle at which the steel rule was being held to guide the Stanley knife through the cardboard of the book-pack, trimming it to size. Only a blade past the prime of sharpness prevented complete removal of the top right corner of the index finger. On the other hand (so to speak) a sharper blade might have cut straight through the slight fault in the cardboard that made it jump.

Either way, it has been a 'sharp' reminder to keep your mind on what you are doing!

An RNPS silver badge file in the National Archives

Late last year I was asked if I would like to give a short talk to the local Rotary Club about the Royal Naval Patrol Service. Flattered that anyone would think that I knew enough about RNPS to take it on I readily agreed and then wondered if I could really get away with it. This would be to a local Lowestoft audience, men who could well have served or whose fathers had served in RNPS and I needed to get my facts right. I knew my limitations but fortunately I had a couple of months in which I could refresh my memory and try to fill some of the gaps in my knowledge.

I was a bit hazy about the sequence of events surrounding the development of different minesweeping methods. I re-read my references and all that I could get hold of from elsewhere. Amongst the sources I examined were the cabinet papers of the first few months of the war, when Churchill was First Lord of the Admiralty. These are held in the National Archives and fortunately most of them seem to be online. It was while I was searching in the National Archives (as one does!) that I checked to see what they had on the silver badge and I came across a file from 1940 with the name:

HONOURS AND AWARDS (85): Institution of silver badge for personnel serving in Auxiliary, Anti-Submarine and Minesweeping Vessels.

(For those unaware, the silver badge was unique to the RN Patrol Service. It was produced at the personal intervention of Winston Churchill when First Lord of the Admiralty in December 1939 and it was awarded exclusively (it was believed, more later) to RNPS personnel after six months sea time on minesweeping and anti-submarine duties to reflect the hazards of their tasks. It was indeed solid silver and was a much prized mark of distinction).

The file sounded intriguing but unlike the cabinet papers, it was not online I could not dip into it to confirm what it was about and there was no mention of the Patrol Service in the heading. To have confirmation I would need to get it copied and there would be a cost involved, unless I wished to travel to Kew to view it in person.

As I hadn’t previously heard of this file before deciding what to do I checked with the RNPS museum curator to see if he already had a copy or even knew of it. He hadn’t heard of it so I asked the National Archives to quote for supplying a copy.

The basic information available about the file did not give any indication about its size. The scale of charges by National Archives is a very reasonable 43 pence per A3 photocopy plus a charge for post and packing. When you ask for a quote they promise a reply within ten working days and after about a week the quote duly arrived.

They set out the number of pages and the cost of copying and shipping. Although the per page cost of 43p had seemed very reasonable it was a bit of a shock to find that the file contained 120 separate pages and the quote including carriage was £65.00. This was, however, a record that needed to be investigated, would be cheaper than travelling to Kew and I am delighted to say that it was worthwhile.

Although there appear to be gaps in the file it contains copies of correspondence between Admiralty departments, between the Admiralty and the Ministry of Shipping, the Patent Office, The Royal Mint, the Naval Press Bureau etc. on all aspects of the design, production and distribution of the badge. There is even a covering letter from the Royal Mint to the Admiral Commanding Reserves for the fee of 50 guineas charged by Mr Kruger Grey for designing and modelling the badge, asking for sanction for its payment.

Unfortunately there are copyright issues with showing some of the contents of the file which I have not yet cleared with the National Archives. There is much more of interest in the file which needs time to detail than I have at present but I hope to have a better description and permission to supply images available in subsequent posts.

Rotary East, Lowestoft

What nice people they are at Rotary East, Lowestoft.

They recently invited me to talk to them for 20-30 minutes about the history of the Royal Naval Patrol Service, a branch of the Royal Navy which had been based at Lowestoft during WW2. They gave me a very nice meal and were very patient when I was still talking 40 minutes later.

I took a visual presentation with me, to help get the message across. They seemed to appreciate it and were very complimentary at the end.

I wonder if they'd invite me again if I could think of something else to talk about?