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omimes when dad first arrived on stage taken on my phone at christmas whilst watching it again with the whole family last year it gives you the idea of how he loved to dress up and act the fool whilst growing up dad never mentioned what he did during the war sometimes when watching old war films mum used to say that dad was in the pathfinders but we didn t really know what that meant just something he did in the war dad never spoke about it like so many of these extraordinary men it s only during the last 15 years or so that we gradually found out what he actually did in bomber command with the advancements in technology the internet and dave emailing historian kevin bending from 97 squadron association who was researching for the book he wrote about the squadron achieve your aim which led to dad finally revealing many of his memoirs kevin put dad in touch with dirk ducupeyre who had corresponded with him over a book he was writing about the raids on his home town of courtrai and how the pathfinder force had minimised civilian casualties a trip to belgium ensued for dirk s book launch where dad was treated as royalty by all who attended with the power of twitter and facebook i connected with our very special bomber command family who got to know dad through my posts and found out all about our escapades over the years the incredible coincidences we encountered along the way the two most memorable ones were our first meeting with chris keltie how we met chris keltie when bill chorley s book of bomber command losses was dropped on the floor whilst chris was packing up his stuff to leave it fell open on a page highlighting a 97 sq tragic formation flying accident dad immediately recounted what had happened as he was in the actual formation and had witnessed the two aircraft crashing in mid air a few months later on our way home from east kirkby after chris keltie s book launch we tried to find the crash site in crowland near peterborough i tweeted about it which di ablewhite saw and asked for more information a few tweets later and to our utter disbelief we discovered that the propeller used for di ablewhite s memorial to the crew she had researched about a few years before had actually come from one of the two crashed lancasters she had often wondered what the story was behind that propeller here s dad with the propeller at di s memorial site di s video story we took dad to numerous pathfinder gatherings black tie dinners 97 squadron reunions visits to coningsby and east kirkby book launches and signings not to mention all the places and people we met whilst researching for sharon and martin s wonderful documentary finding the pathfinders another trip to belgium for filming about courtrai was arranged and was funded by the generosity of a very special friend i met on facebook to whom dad and the family are eternally grateful the film premiered at the kinema in the woods woodhall spa on dad s 90th birthday and the wonderful flypast by the bbmf lancaster the city of lincoln over the kinema afterwards was awesome she flew so low she set off the car alarms a few days before that at a birthday barbecue we hosted for dad we had another awesome flypast right over the house much to the neighbours and dad s utter delight excuse my screaming we d also played a hilarious game of passing the balloon between the legs which dad thoroughly enjoyed with all the young ladies there one of the most precious memories i have of the visits to raf wyton for pathfinder sunday was in august 2012 which commemorated the 70th anniversary of the formation of the pathfinders wyton is indeed the home of the pathfinders i ll never forget the look on dad s face when it was announced after lunch that the city of lincoln was going to land on the camp and the veterans and their guests had the honour of actually boarding her the look on the veterans faces was priceless and the way they clambered aboard maybe not as quickly as they used to was truly humbling a month or so later we had a vip tour of coningsby when dad actually got to sit in his mid upper gunner position we were all in tears in november that year we had a very special tour of just jane and dad got to sit in the cockpit sean with dad and i in the cockpit video courtesy of chris keltie had a few tears and a rather funny moment up there which you ll see on a previous blog post not a day goes by when i don t think of dad or his name comes up in conversation i have so many wonderful memories photos and videos to look back on dad s wicked sense of humour stayed with him throughout his illness even in the last few days when he was so very poorly one poignant memory i have is when one of the lovely district nurses came to see him the day before he passed away and went beyond the call of duty to make sure he was comfortable maintaining his dignity throughout afterwards he smiled weakly and thanked her asking how she did the job she did then reached out his frail arms towards her she leant in towards him and he kissed her on the cheek thanking her again with tears in his eyes then whispered don t tell er downstairs a priceless moment and i didn t know whether to laugh or cry so did both that moment will stay with me forever she even visited us the day after we lost dad the carers nursing staff and everyone at macmillan were absolutely wonderful to him and all the family shortly after dad passed i received an amazing gift from a close friend of mine which was a star named after him we often look towards the southern stars to see if we can see his devilish wink in the sky forever in my heart my darling dad you touched so many people s lives from those who knew you and those who got to know you through posts on facebook and twitter rest in peace love you with all my heart xxx posted by sandy cannings at 02 06 6 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest sunday 11 august 2013 finding the pathfinders not long now what a hectic few months since i last blogged we ve been busy researching dad s crews from 100 and 97 squadrons for sharon and martin s upcoming documentary finding the pathfinders and in between attended chris keltie s book launch at east kirkby and newark air museum we ve been up and down to lincolnshire so many times over the last few months our car knows its way there now we also went to yorkshire and suffolk to visit graves of dad s crewmates and next week we re off to belgium for a couple of days to film where dad bombed in courtrai and to meet a very special man more will be revealed in the documentary so check out the fabulous trailer in this link and book your tickets now finding the pathfinders just as a reminder it is being screened on dad s 90th birthday on wednesday 11th september at kinema in the woods woodhall spa doors open at 11 10 flypast subject to weather and serviceability approximately 12 30pm time yet to be confirmed one of our many trips over the last few months was in may when we visited waltham near grimsby waltham was home to 100 squadron and is now home to a well stocked museum we were shown around by sharon s friend roger who was extremely knowledgeable and told us stories about all the fascinating artifacts there each and every item had a very special story behind it i would loved to have spent more time there the waltham museum was full of fascinating memorabilia a haunting image of one night s mission to duisburg 100 squadron memorial in waltham we met up with mike the son in law of harry wood dad s wireless operator in 100 sq who shared some stories with us for the documentary here he is with mum and dad outside the kings head in waltham we took dad to the pub thinking it may jog some memories for him as it would have been one of his local drinking establishments as it was within staggering distance of the base but he didn t remember sadly martin looking very pensive in the background he s used to being behind the camera when dad walked onto the deserted airfield it brought a lump to my throat especially after i had this poem in my head which my friend dave sent to me shortly before we went gulps beautifully poignant isn t it twitter and facebook have been invaluable helping us in our search for dad s crews friends julian julia di and dave have been incredible and have been like dogs with bones investigating all lines of enquiry for us i must just share the story of how i met dave on facebook after the incredible dambusters week in may the battle of britain memorial flight posted a facebook update to thank everyone for all their support over the week i saw a comment by a dave donaghy which struck a chord with me what strikes is the sheer volume of support and love for these magnificent aircraft and all that they represent the bravery the sacrifices the sheer determination of a nation at war a time when great britain shone out like a beacon these beautiful aeroplanes must be kept and cherished forever i liked his comment and said something like it was a lovely heartfelt comment and i couldn t have said it better myself and thanked him for making me cry the very next day he sent me a friend request and i told him about what we were doing with dad and sent him a link to the finding the pathfinders trailer and he was totally hooked from that moment onwards within a couple of days he booked his ticket and was doing his own researches into finding dad s crews he bombarded me with so much incredible stuff he d found he worked night shifts so said it helped ease the boredom i don t think he or i will ever forget the message i sent to him asking how his night shift was doing but i missed off a crucial letter i still blush when i think of it shortly afterwards di julian and julia got involved through twitter and facebook and julia opened up a facebook chat for us all to share the information we had found sharon also made a finding the pathfinders facebook page as a way of thanking our research team we invited them to the special family reunion day at east kirkby on 24th july where some of the families from dad s crews got to meet dad and we spent an emotional day filming with them it was such a shame that some of the families we ve found couldn t attend this wonderful event because of work commmitments etc bbc look north were filming there all day and the following day a wonderful piece was shown on tv sharon has a copy of it on dvd but needs to find out about copyright before she lets any of us have copies a few of us were privileged to get on board just jane when her fabulous merlin engines were fired up it was an exceptionally hot day and inside just jane was like an oven sharon and myself proudly stood with dad under his position of mid upper ready for when the engines were fired up what a very special moment for us which was captured on camera by steve crier great nephew of andy barr dad s flight engineer from 100 squadron sharon also had a hand held video which she kept pointing at myself and dad dread to think what my face is like taken by steve crier arriving for filming pic courtesy of stephen from laburnum house dad sitting proudly in cockpit sharon being filmed for bbc look north standing under his mid upper position steve crier with dad mum and dad with mitch reid son of dad s pilot bill on 97 sq with bill s wife family reunion after a highly emotional and enjoyable day a few of us went back to laburnum house b b with the lovely stephen and sue who run this wonderful bed breakfast which has its own lancaster suite wellington room and hampden room sue had made us some refreshing iced tea and gorgeous homemade lemonade if ever you re in lincolnshire and need a base to stay to explore then look no further you are guaranteed a very warm welcome and sue is a fantastic cook too after lots of chat and laughter we headed out to sean s pub for dinner the blue bell inn at tattershall thorpe which i can type better than i can say too many s s in it for my lisp to cope with ok so there s only one but for some reason i just cannot say it mum has a very soft spot for sean and he always makes a fuss of her i don t think she ll ever be the same again sean asked dad to sign the famous ceiling of the blue bell seeing dad s name alongside names of fellow comrades from 70 years ago was a gulp moment for sure we had an excellent meal and many laughs with stephen and sue shirley sean s girlfriend who cooked the meal came out of the kitchen to meet dad after the meal i was reading out loud an article which had just been published on bbc website http www bbc co uk news uk england lincolnshire 23424107 sean s waitress was listening intently and after i d finished she asked with tears in her eyes and her voice cracking with emotion that she wanted to shake dad s hand she then disappeared off into the kitchen in floods of tears bless her heart dad seemed slightly bemused by it all so typical of him i m going to jump back to june now which is when we attended chris keltie s book launch weekend on the saturday it was held in the briefing room at east kirkby on a bright sunny day with a few torrential downpours during one of dad s eye witness accounts the sound of the torrential rain lashing down on the briefing room roof and the roar of the thunder and lightening was an eerie experience you felt like you were transported back to 1944 as we struggled to hear dad s voice above it as he recounted his memories dad with pam livingstone daughter of bill north s bomb aimer norman jarvis chris keltie and rhys bill s son and bill north himself overseeing the proceedings pam reading eye witness accounts about her father from the book dad doing his duty a bit of book signing bill north s crashed plane chris keltie presented a very professional and extremely emotional book launch there were moments when i don t know how he held it together and his voice cracked with emotion when he spoke about his beloved neighbour and friend bill north there were many tears amongst his captive audience i can tell you and not just me at the end dad carefully got a piece of paper out of his pocket and tentatively stood up to read out a brief tribute of his own to bill north it had everyone including him in tears this story should have been told long ago i consider bill north should have had a decoration of at least dso or even a victoria cross as he was able to bale out but he put his own safety on hold to try and save his comrades who could not bale out and decided to try and crash land in unknown territory and almost certain death to read the fabulous 5 star reviews of this wonderful book and to purchase click here riding in the shadow of death the following day saw us visiting the cockpitfest and yes i remembered to put the pit in this time at newark air museum a very special person attended this event mid upper gunner dennis bartlett the only surviving member of bill north s crew the moment when these two mid upper gunners met was extremely moving di and i trying to compose our...