Today brings us to the end of week 9. Sadly this has been a rather unproductive week.
Monday started off with me waking up with terrible back pain, resulting in me calling my doctor who prescribed some painkillers. This didn’t have the desired effect and as such I had to have 2 days off work for a rest. I managed to get in 3 walks this week with one being particularly memorable.
Once again thank you to everyone who has supported and donated, I keep saying this but without you I wouldn’t be able to do this.
This week my walks included:
When researching Michael I received a document that had acronyms from his journey throughout the RAF. On this document, you can see the following:
13th/14th May 1943 – volunteered for the RAF Reserves in Oxford
30th August 1943 – called up to Air Crew Receiving Centre at Lord’s Cricket Ground
23rd October 1943 – RAF Stormy Down (no 1 elementary gunnery school)
20th November 1943 – RAF Stormy Down (no 7 air gunnery school)
22nd February 1944 – no 14 operational training unit, where he would have joined his crew and learned how to fly together
8th August 1944 – joined up with 50 squadron
17th December 1944 – killed in action
This week, i have been lucky enough to go to Lord’s Cricket Ground. I started the day off with a journey to Oxford, to catch a bus to London Victoria. From here I walked to the Imperial War Museum, which is where my research/interest began in 1999 when my father and I emailed them for info.
Here I was welcomed (at Grace’s Gate) by Jeff Cards who is the Head of Ground Operations. I had a fantastic tour with Jeff and was able to see many historical areas of the grounds, as well as the plaque to commemorate the RAF personnel who used this area as a reception in the Second World War. A fantastic tribute to so many!
I would like to personally thank Jeff for arranging and facilitating a great afternoon, that will be remembered by me for a long time.
Michael and I share a love of cricket, so I’m sure he felt just as awed by the ground back then as I do now.
I took with me a photo of my Grampy and Michael playing cricket as young boys in Meysey Hampton in July 1930 (see below image, with Grampy batting and Michael as wicket keeper).
As of today, I have walked 205.03 miles and have raised £450 of £1071. Here is my JustGiving page for anyone interested:
I look forward to the longer evenings in just over 3 weeks but not to losing an hour in bed!
Until next time, cheerio for now. George