Not much to write about at the moment but on the premise that anything might be better than nothing I thought I should at least make the attempt.

Just got a few pictures from Chris Porter and put them on to the site. Its always good to get pics and even better if some writing goes with them to give dates and locations. Most of us have a tendency not to put names on the backs of our photos thinking that we will always remember who they were and where they came from. However as many of us are now discovering memory gets a bit cloudy.

Gordon Brady (Ex 45 Sqn) has started a sort of data base where you can log in and enter as much or as little of your details as you want. Its something that I had been working on myself but when I saw Gordon's attempt I realised it was better than anything I have come up with. All I can say is that it should be given all the support you can as it is a great resource

Beef

Although I have put June 2011 up as a header the reality is that June is nearly gone. That's the way my life seems to be going at the moment all passing in the blink of an eye.

As some of you may know I also run a website for 51 Sqn and the news for that site has been pretty grim as we have lost 4 members since January and all to "the big C"

I have not had much connection with 4 Sqn lads just lately (apart from those who share an attachment to 51). I had considered closing this site down because there seemed to be more going on with Face book than on this site. However I do seem to have some interested people checking the site out and it would be unfair to the ones who are showing an interest.

As I always stress that the best way to make the site interesting is to get stories, Photos and anything else of interest on to the pages. Unfortunately I have exhausted all my resources and now need input from others.

With tours all over the world going back to the stone age you would think there is enough material out there to fill twenty websites.

Bob keeps in touch occasionally as he only lives up the road from me and I get some emails when people include me on the email list of the latest "Funny"

Beef

I have just checked on the comments for these blog pages. I did not think I had had any comments at all but it appears that people have been sending me comments and I was supposed to check them before they went on to the site. So my apologies to any one who has put comments that have not appeared on the pages. I hope this problem has been resolved now.

Sorry there has not been much new stuff on the site but it has been a busy year for me this year. I will try to make it up by contacting some of the people who posted comments and after giving them my apologies ask them if they have anything to contribute.

Bee

Still not much to write about but I thought I should have a go any way.

When I was last in Germany, with 4 Sqn in the 70s I used to listen to a bloke called

Harvey Andrews. I bought his LP “Writer of Songs” and wore it down wafer thin because

I played it so often. I later brought 2 other LP,s “Friends of mine” and “Fantasies from

a corner seat “. My Record player broke years ago so I hadn’t heard the songs for a while. 

My son and my Daughter got me CD’s of the first two (“fantasies from a corner seat”

is out of print). I started to listen to them again and became hooked all over again.

Just out of curiosity I typed his name into google and found he was alive and well and

still performing. The upshot was that I brought 5 CD’s that I had not heard. The magic was

still there. The songs can make you laugh, put a tear in your eye and make you think about

life in all its vagaries.

You may not have heard of Harvey Andrews because he is not mainstream Pop music

but a lot of you will be familiar with his song “Soldier”.

Harvey’s web site has some samples of his newer stuff as well as the old

so if you want to check it out his site is at   modernprojects.com/Harvey/  

It’s well worth a look.

Harvey is appearing at Chatham on the 22nd of April.

Looking out of my window at the moment it is raining and the wind and cold

make it feel a bit depressing. It makes me wonder what ever happened to global

warming.  I supose the good weather went with the credit crunch. ( I blame the bankers for everything)

Just had my 65th birthday (2 weeks ago) so now I can realy get down to being a grumpy old man.

TTFN

Not a lot to report so far this month but I did get som pics from Ian Savill and I have given them a page all of their own.

I did not manage a meet up with Bob Chapman. I had some kind of bug or virus of the human kind that laid me low for a couple of weeks but I hope to make new arangements for a get together some time soon. I have spoken to him on the phone and he mentioned that he could not remember Mr Mound. I suppose it depends on when you served when it comes to who you remember.

I look at some of the photos and I can't remember names so well. At the time the photos were taken I thought I would always remember the names. Now I wish I had wrote them on the backs of the photos. So if any of you younger members are reading this put names on your pics because when you are old and grey it is hard to remember them all.

All the best

Beef

Well here we are into a new year and still plodding a long despite all the trials and tribulations of last year. So a Happy new year to you all.

Still not much in the way of news from any one so nothing really extra to put on the site. I had hoped by now to have a few more pictures or a few more contacts to report on but things seem a bit slow.

I had a trip back to Singapore where I served with 51 Sqn and the weather was wonderful and has made this recent cold spell a bit harder to bear.

I hope to meet up with Bob Chapman for a drink some time this month so if any of you reading this live in the enfield area of London maybe you might want to join us.

I have started a page to collect names for a data base for old mates to contact each other. If I can get enough people on the list I will probably start another site with a data base for ex RE mates but it will depend on the response I get over the next 12 months. I can make a reasonable site quite cheaply or even use one of the free sites but it has to be worth the effort.

All the best

Beef

As usual there's not much to report for the month. I have not had any new photos or anything else to add to the site. I have got some slides to copy up that were loaned to me by John Collins who used to be in 45 Sqn at Nienburgh. I don't know yet what pictures there are that may be of interest to 4 Sqn members but as there are loads from the 70s there is bound to be something worth looking at.

There are a few sites out there that support our Lads serving in Afghanistan but a lot of them seem to use four letter words and are full of racist stuff. I do not think that that sort of language and rubbish helps the cause of the blokes at the sharp end. To be effective it should be a reasoned argument stating the facts and giving our full support to the blokes doing a fantastic job as soldiers.

Heres my own opinions for you to agree with or disagree with as you will.

The blokes over there are doing a great job and should be given the praise they deserve. They should be given all the help and equipment that they need to protect Themselves. When they return they should be treated as the hero's that they undoubtedly are. Where they are returning wounded they should be given the best treatment available and should be looked after in military Hospitals not on public wards.

The nuts that parade the streets to make threats to soldiers and pour scorn on brave men and women should be jailed. Where these people are foreign nationals, asylum seekers and illegal immigrants they should immediately be sent back to where they come from with no recourse to the British law system that they hate so much. Any so called British Citizens amongst them should have their Citizenship taken away and moves made to return them to their ancestral countries. British Citizenship means that you support the county you are a citizen of. If you don't like what the Government of the day are doing you attempt to change it by the Ballot box the same as every one else. And while we are on the subject we should also support the Police instead of slagging them off after every Demonstration they have to police.

Well thats off my chest. Any comments ?

Sorry folks but theres nothing much happening worth writing about. I am only writing this blog to show a bit of activityon the site.

I have noticed one or two of the pics from this site are finding their way on to Face book via a few old 4 Squadron Faces. Well I am not too worried about that but it would be nice if the face-book entries gave credit to the site. That way we might get a few more people check it out and send us a few new pics and give the site a bit more interest.

There must be thousands of ex 4 Squaron out there and it would be nice to get a few more on to our contacts list.

How about some of you sending a few stories in by email. I can always edit them to make them into anecdotes.

All the best for now lads.

Beef

Sorry there has not been a lot of activity on the site over the last few weeks but no one has sent me photos or anything worth writing about.

I have just finished reading Mike Ruston's Books "Ricky the early years" and "Our Lad Ricky". I must admit that I brought the books initally to show a bit of support for an old Engineer but let me tell you lads Mike writes a good story and I am now hooked and a fan of "Ricky". If you don't know what I am on about just go to http://sites.google.com/site/ourladricky/ 

Still looking for anything new for the site so come on Lads look up in the attic for all those photos and mementos and any thing that may be of interest.

Nothing seems to be coming from the suggestions for a reunion so it may never happen. This of course may be that many of you attend other reunions like the 21 engineer regt reunions etc.  Also I think that all the face book stuff probably comes over as better than this site for connecting up with people. Ah well I will still keep it going for those of you that want something a bit more concentrated on the Sqn.

Any one know what happened to Sgt Major Alan Davies. Last I saw of him he was RSM at Waterbeach and due for retirement/ That was 1977.

That's about it for now

Beef

Still not getting much in the way of pictures and stories for the site. However I live in hope that some one will come across the site and decide to send something.

There is now an excellent group on Face Book for 4 Squadron so it  is worth checking that out.

The RE reunited site is run on Geocites by Yahoo and I have just had an email from Geocities saying that they will be closing down their facilities. This could be that the site will have to move elsewhere. If this is the case Vickie the web mistress may require a bit of cash assistance to transfer the site. It is an excellent site and it would be a pity if it had to finish.

I have not heard anything further from any one regarding a reunion so I cant report any progress on that.

The newspapers and TV are going on about the lack of equipment etc. (There's nothing new there then.) Its about time the Government honoured their part in the contract for the forces.

Is it just me or dothe news people only paint things at their blackest. They never seem to temper  any reporting with anything positive. I think they were mainly responsible for the latest down slide of the economy with their eagerness to "Paint it Black"

Well thats all my moans and groans for now.

Beef