2nd May, 2025
The 80th Anniversary of VE Day
We have recently been contacted by Sheila Willett, who is 90 years old – Honorary Member (Wife of Colin Willett – 10th Entry); Sheila has told us that she will be appearing on Songs of Praise – The 80th Anniversary of VE Day, on BBC1 at 1210 hrs on Sunday 4 May 2025.
Part of the show is from the Living History Museum at Basingstoke, which is where Shelia appears. She also said that a Nobby Clarke (104 years old) was also appearing on the programme. She didn’t know Nobby’s real name but we do have Ian Clarke (53R) as a member.
Some info from the BBC website:
‘One of the presenters (Pam Rhodes) gets her glad rags on to join a VE Day party at a living history museum. Those gathered share first-hand accounts of the war and of VE Day, and Pam hears how prayer played a crucial part’.
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Ian Clarke was the chief clerk at Bassingbourn in 1964 when I was a flying officer. He put up very graciously with a much younger and less experienced boss – he must then have been about 43 or 44. OC PSF and OCSSF – Bassingbourn was a small station with flights rather than squadrons – were also ex-(Ruislip) apprentices and at least two NCO clerks were ex-(post war) apprentices. And this was just at one small station with few RAF personnel, the engineering services having been privatised.
When 60 years on you look back at the contribution ex-apprentice clerks were making to the administration of the RAF by the 1950s and 1960s, it was huge.
Bryan Clark
27th Entry