- International Bomber Command Centre

My name is Chris Laycock. I am 57 this year and spent 35 years working for Hampshire Constabulary. I now live in Lincolnshire, as we needed a bungalow and I use a wheelchair to get about. My wife Jo and our 2 Spaniels accompany me on my travels.

My Father spent 30 years with the RAF and worked within Bomber Command on 15 Squadron on Victors, 44 squadron on Vulcans and was Station Commander at RAF Waddington at the time of The Falklands War. When Dad retired he worked for 7 AEF giving cadets experience flights. Most recently he helped crew XM655, an Avro Vulcan, doing fast taxis at the wings and wheels at Wellesborne, Mountford.

In 1997 I was diagnosed with MS and I have been raising money for MS Society on a number of occasions

In 2020 I set myself a double challenge. Due to lock down. Use our local tracks and paths and travel the equivalent distance from Land’s End to John O’Groats. Also lose weight from 115 kilos to 100 kilos. I used an App called Map my tracks to check my daily mileage and a calorie controlled diet to help with the weight loss.
Having completed the mileage I reset the journey to go from John O’Groats to the summit of Ben Nevis a further 186 miles. I also reached 100 kg and reset to 95 kg. I hit 95 kg and I am close to 90 kg. In all I have lost 7 stones, a third of my body weight.

We completed both these tasks and raised £1133.04 for the MS Society.

We then decided we would do a challenge for 2021/2022. A friend put me in touch with Veterans in Action, a charity that helps veterans suffering from PTSD. I worked out a 12 leg route starting at the Commando’s Memorial at Spean Bridge, Scotland and finishing at the Royal Navy Memorial in Portsmouth, a distance of 1036 miles, again hoping to raise £1000. Each of the legs is to another Memorial or museum. There are so many it was difficult to choose. We have tried to include all services, including the Police, in the challenge.

We have just finished the 1st Leg of 136 miles to the Scottish National war memorial and are now travelling the 2nd Leg to the IBCC 285 miles.

If you can support John in his fundraising, please click here

Little Staughton – 582 and 109 Pathfinders – Airfield Simulation

Little Staughton – 582 and 109 Pathfinders – Airfield Simulation Tommy Turner was my father and Sgt Pilot with 582 Pathfinders. He passed 30 years ago but instilled in me a deep love for flight and I’ve recently retired from 40 years in defence aerospace. Like many RAF siblings, all we have is a few […]