Wartime Heritage Completes 3rd Successful Time to Remember British Performance Tour (May 17-22, 2007)
May 25, 2007
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Astor Theatre - Deal,
England |
Eighteen members, the cast and
production crew of Tragedy and Triumph - Memories of World
War II, departed Halifax for London England on May 17th 2007. On May
18th the group travelled to Portsmouth, Hampshire where they visited the
Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, and the Royal Navy Submarine Museum.
On Saturday morning the
group visited the
Portsmouth Naval Memorial, and the D-Day Museum before traveling to HMS
Collingwood and the Warrant Officers, Senior Ratings and SNCO's Mess (Fareham)
to set up for the performance of Tragedy and Triumph as part of
the 60th Annual Memorial Weekend of the Telegraphist Air Gunners Association.
Approximately 200
TAGs, Veterans, their families and friends attended the evening performance.
On Sunday morning the group
attended TAGA Memorial Service at the LEE-ON-SOLENT MEMORIAL. Following the
Service the cast and crew joined the Telegraphist Air Gunners at the 60th Annual
TAGA Memorial Dinner held a HMS Collingwood.
It was off mid afternoon to Dover
and Deal in Kent for the group where they were guests at the Downs Branch,
Royal British legion in Deal that evening.
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Memorial Wall -
Capel-LeFerne |
On Monday morning the group
traveled to Folkestone waterfront, and a visit to the Battle of Britain Memorial
at Capel-Le-Ferne - Capel-Le-Ferne. Bernard Hyde, a RAF Veteran who trained in Canada during
WWII, met the group and provided a guided tour of the site.
After visiting the
Battle of Britain Memorial
the group visited the Hawkinge Cemetery where there are 156 casualties of
war at rest at the Cemetery.
The Cemetery, two miles north of Folkestone, was
the site of an aerodrome from which air liaison was maintained between the Royal
Air Force and the British Expeditionary Force during the fighting in France and
the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940. As long as communications remained open
targets were selected in accordance with requests from the BEF (British
Expeditionary Force) and Hawkinge was one of the advanced re-fuelling bases when
maximum range was required for operations over France. It was a fighter airfield
for squadrons of No. 11 Group, and was so severely damaged by German bombing and
machine gun attacks during the Battle of Britain that it had to be abandoned
temporarily. The Cemetery is near the site of the aerodrome and most of the 95
WWII casualties buried there were airmen. About a quarter were killed during the
Battle of Britain. Most of the war graves are in a special plot east of the
chapel, including 59 German graves, which are together in a group at the south
eastern corner.
Among the casualties at Hawkinge, were five
Canadians: Sgt (Pilot) William Lorne FRASER, Pilot Officer Charles Willard GOMM,
Pilot Officer James Norman LEWIS, Flight Sgt (Pilot) Stanley Gilbert NAPIER, and
Flight Sgt (Pilot) Walter Charles WICKER.
The group placed
small Canadian Flags and poppies at each of the five gravesites.
Returning to Dover the
group had lunch at
lunch in the NAAFI restaurant in Dover Castle. Following a brief
walk about the Dover Castle site the eighteen moved on to the Astor Theatre in
Deal to prepare for the final performance of Tragedy and Triumph that evening.
Prior to the performance the cast and crew attended a reception and buffet at
the Clarendon Hotel in Deal with Eric May, his son Peter, and Gwen Buchanan and
her daughter Lindsay.
The curtain opened to a full house for the final performance of the tour that
evening.
The cast and crew were guests at the Downs Branch RBL following the performance.
On May 23rd the group returned to London for the return flight to
Halifax.
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