Thursday 14th March 2024 6.30 – 9.30

Tony Aston is a freelance author living in Devon. He was born in the Midlands in 1953, just 8 years after the end of World War II at a time when Winston Churchill had returned to the House of Commons as Prime Minister and the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II had just taken place. He is a Fellow of The Security Institute and a member of the Society of Authors and the Historical Writers Association.

Inspired by his father’s wartime service with the Fleet Air Arm, Tony developed a keen interest in the 1939-1945 conflict. This led him to write “The Bomber and the Weathervane”, a true story of two friends, Helen and John, who had purchased, in 2009, an old, beaten-up weathervane, fashioned into a Lancaster bomber, the discovery, 12 years later, of a Lancaster serial number etched into the fuselage, the identification, from this, of a Lancaster JB453 OL-F, from 83 (Pathfinder) Squadron downed on the  night of 2/3 January 1944 with all crew killed, the tracking down of the crews’ descendants, and the dedication, recommended and supported by the International Bomber Command Centre, of the weathervane as a permanent war memorial.

Tony was, for 27 years, a career police detective who was seconded for several years to New Scotland Yard. A second career followed which saw him become a counter-espionage specialist within the UK Defence Industry.

His first book, “Redditch – From the Chip Shop to the Batchley”, a childhood memoir, was published in 2022, and tells stories of life growing up in the Midlands during the 1950s and 60s at a time when towns and cities throughout Britain were striving to repair, rebuild and re-invent themselves after the war.

The evening starts with a delicious hot buffet supper in The Hub Café at 18.30.

To book your tickets please click here.

The IBCC Events programme raises money to support our charity’s work with Learning and Outreach. To find out more about the range of events please click here.