102 (Ceylon) Squadron
Tentate et perficite (Attempt and Achieve)
Remembrance Day 2011
At Barmby Moor & Pocklington Airfield (Wolds Gliding Cub)
Written by Chris Harper (Don't forget you can hit the photo's to make them enlarge)
A month before Remembrance Day I contacted a group of people offering to lay flowers on the graves of loved ones who were buried at St. Catherines Church, Barmby Moor.
One relative asked if he could get back to me, which he subsequently did, and the short story is that it was decided that instead of laying flowers on just one grave, a 'pot' would begin where anyone could contribute towards us doing something for every single one of the fifty five graves.
I won't list the people who contributed, you know who you all are - Thank you for doing so, I believe we all did the lads proud.
My family arrived at Barmby Moor church very early on Sunday morning in order to lay out the roses I had bought to go on each of the fifty five Service graves. My family group consisted of both my parents, Ken and Shirley Harper, my daughter Kerenza and my cousin Sophia.
The idea was to be there in time to meet up with Bill Leyland and his brother, because Bill had spent all week purchasing and making up small bunches or artificial flowers and adding a card to each bunch.
Around 9.45 am we started to put out our roses as there was no sign of the Leyland brothers, who had unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, been delayed.
To be honest I was some what worried just what a single rose would look like on each grave, but thanks to my mum's idea of actually pushing them into the ground I now believe they actually look rather good.
The photo above shows me talking to my parents. We are standing in front of the graves of Squadron Leader Sydney Bruce Bintley DSO - AFC and Flying Officer Arthur James Graham.
I will be working on S/L Bintley's page this week because we now have a photo of DT512 - DY-Q after it was hit by another 102 aircraft, having landed in foggy conditions at Holme on Spalding Moor. This tragic accident was a huge blow to moral at the time as S/L Bintley was a very well liked man.
For those of you who have spent time looking at the memories section of the web site you will have come the page that commemorates Sgt Micheal Norman Reilly.
His cousin Sandy sent us lots of info on the fateful crash on the 16th February 1943. Sadly I did not have time to photograph all six graves, but I intend to do so next time I go to the church.
(If you look closely you can see the flowers and the cards laid by Bill Leyland who I will speak about shortly.)
Around 10am people began arriving at the church. (I didn't actually meet everyone as they arrived).
The Mayor and Mayoress or Pocklington, Mr and Mrs Graham Perry.
Mr and Mrs Barry Hughes from Liverpool, (Mr Hughes is the nephew of Walter Hughes who was KIA on the 22nd Nov 1943).
Mr and Mrs Ian Moore, Ian being the son of Edwin Moore, rear gunner in Chuck Warner's crew, and soon after Mr Tom Sayer DFM, pilot at the same time as my great uncle in 1943.
Mrs Elizabeth Hampton, neice of Arthur Hilton, KIA on the 15th Feb 1944.
Mr and Mrs Mike Cummings, Mike's father James Woodward was KIA on the 29th June 1944.
Mr Bernard Ross, who has made a model of Pocklington airfield and with whom I hope to spend the whole day with very soon looking at all the memorabilia he has collected since being a child sat at the end of the runway watching aircraft take off.
Mr Jim Ainscough, author of 'Pocklington at War' and of course many, many other locals to the area.
I am sure to have missed some one out, if so I am very sorry.
Around 10.45 the church service began.
The service, conducted by the Rev Gail Dalley was very moving, and at 11am Paul Dyson played the Last Post, followed by Reveille.
At the conclusion of the service we moved outside to the memorial to the fallen servicemen buried at St. Catherines.
The majority of the church congregation stood around the outside of the hedge that surrouns the CWGC war graves.
I was asked if I could usher inside in all those connected to 102 squadron so that they felt more a part of the proceedings, which I tried to do.
I don't have too many photo's of this happening because it was around this time that I began to really feel the emotion of the day.
Again the Last Post was played quite superbly by Mr Dyson and there were many people present who felt deeply touched by the two minutes of silence.
Then came the laying of the three wreaths - I am not sure who laid the first two, but I do know that last person was Mike Cumming.
When the vicar moved away from the church war memorial people began speaking to each other and it was then that I met firstly with Jim Aincough, followed by Mike Cummings and then with a few of the local's from the church.
Following the service and the wreath laying, Bill Leyland started to lay out the flowers and cards he had brought with him, which turned out to be fine in the end, sadly though they were just a little late getting to the airfield for the third, two minutes silence of the morning.
I think a number of us really struggled emotionally with the Last Post, played yet again by Paul Dyson - the airfield was shrouded in mist, it was for once very, very quiet and all you could hear was the sound of the horn breaking through the silence.
Two minutes later the Reveille sounded, and the Mayor of Pocklington, Graham Perry laid a wreath at the airfield's memorial, followed by Mr. Tom Sayer DFM.
We then all proceeded into the Wolds Gliding club for refreshments and to exchange our stories of why we were there.
A huge thanks has to go out to the wife of the Wolds Gliding Club Chairman, Aveline for providing the tea's and cake, and indeed to Mr George Morris from the Gliding Club for being on hand to over see things.
The two hours or so we spent chatting to each other and exchanging details were quite wonderful and I know many people found the whole thing very moving.
From a member of the Gliding Club we have learnt that this was the most well attended Remembrance Day service for many a year, something I hope we can keep up with in coming years.
It should be noted that the wreaths placed at both the memorials on behalf of the 102 Squadron Association were provided by Mr Mike Cummings, well done Michael, an excellent job you did the Squadron proud.
Further Thanks:
On behalf of everyone at 102 Squadron Association, and indeed everyone connected to the squadron could I please thank the following people.
- Rev Gail Dalley - Gail did a most excellent job of making everyone at the church feel very welcome. We understand it has been quite some time since so many 102 squadron relatives decended on the church, but we were all made to feel very much at home, and we would ask that she extend our thanks to all the congregation of St Catherine's, especially those whose seats we sat in :)
- The Wolds Gliding Club - Yet again this club has gone out of it's way to make us all feel welcome. This is a privately owned club, there is no requirement that they allow us access to their facilities, but again they agreed to do so. No words on this page could ever describe how much it meant to those present, to have those few short hours.
Mr Colin Stevens arranged a lot of what happened at the gliding club and we can only say, thank you Colin, thank you! - Mr Bill Leyland - Bill spent hours and hours putting together the posies of flowers and the cards that you can see on each of the fifty five graves. He's a man that likes to be in the background and so I shall keep this short - well done Bill, you achieved what you set out to do, and you deserve credit for doing so.