Surreal!

To my friends who may wonder where I have been for the past 12 or so days!

The last couple of weeks seem almost surreal! It was on Wednesday 17th September when I thought I would head down to Frimley but with so much to do I ended up driving down very early on Thursday morning. After touching base with Ian he drove me to Farnborough, then train to London and ACFA where I met Melanie (Head of Marketing and Communications) and we set off to meet our members who were to be invested. Oliver Shepard told us to go to the Hat and Feathers in Clerkenwell for lunch so we met Les Edwards and wife, and Fred Owen and Hayley - I always wondered what kind of a woman it must be to keep him in check! The Hat and Feathers was no ordinary pub! The amazing service and leather seats gave the game away but I was not ready for the prices on the wine list - £250 for a bottle of champagne! However, Keith Davies the owner turned up, asked for me, said his old pal Oliver had told him to look me up and then asked if we would accept a bottle of champagne to toast our guests - too right we did! We were joined for the Investiture by Wendy, our other Investee, with daughter Kirsty and as ever it was an inspiring occasion. The last time for a long time we would have as many as three to be invested, as well as Dave and Wendy Human being upgraded to Officer of the Order. Les and wife then departed, but we joined forces with Dave and party for the evening, 14 of us for Dinner at the Park Hotel.

Friday morning saw an early start back to Frimley with much to do to prepare for a weeks courses. Then to the Chinese buffett in Camberley with those staff who had arrived, accompanied by the sound of fireworks and music from the event at the Royal Military Academy across the road. Then the usual 18 hour Frimley days, but a break on Tuesday to attend the ISG meeting in London. That kept me away from our guest from Focus on First Aid - the incredible Deborah who works harder than I do and doesn't miss a trick. Our training had to be good to withstand her perception but the fact that she took 458 photos and said her feature would have to run to 2 pages instead of 1 seemed a good verdict! We'll see on 1 November. Deborah also offered everyone at Frimley £75 tickets to her Festival of First Aid Conference - entirely free! On Wednesday we entertained Paul Budden for the day - my Sea Cadet counterpart who is working with us to introduce comparable training. On Thursday Len and I went first to Sandhurst to recce the National Comps on 11 Oct, then on to Guildford University where Kim, Corporate Events, showed us around to help plan the competition day for Gather 09 when 600 cadet from all over the world will come together for the week. Steve Hall from Birtish Forces Overseas SJA arrived to help the tail end of Advanced FA and then to chair the trainer assessment panel on Friday. He crossed over with Dave Human, with us since Monday also to help with the Advanced Course. Then I had to prepare for the National Panel Meeting on Saturday as students departed and Panel Members arrived.

On Saturday afternoon I had the usual sweepup to do, 7 portfolios to verify - and a Masters level thesis to write (but in effect gathering together of the owrk of the past 4 years!!)! L said at the start of the week that if I got it finished I'd be at the Graduation - also at Sandhurst - the day before my own event! Not really believing even L could achieve that miracle, I set to work in the Portacabin I had used as our course office. Could I really write a 5,000 word Thesis before I left Frimley? I worked through the night - and through Sunday. I saw the night come and go, watched a beautiful red sunrise with a huge white cross across the pink sky where two very wide vapour trails crossed. I heard, but did not see, the students arrive for KGVI, worked on as they would have had afternoon tean and then their evening meal, then heard the obligatory new course fire drill. I felt like H G Wells time traveller as events passed me by, hidden away from everything in my time travelling Portacabin! Finally the thesis was finished. If it is not rubbish and if L does achieve the miracle then 10 days from scratch to graduation will have to be an all time record!

Arrived home 10pm Sun night. A mammoth trip, even for Frimley, of some 12 days. Wrote the Panel minutes, rewrote our new level 3 award in Direct Training & Support for our trainer course students and for relaxation turned to this blog! Now I just have the National Competitions to prepare... Fortunately, I think I have got out of the habit of sleeping!!

Bernard Silver

The Recollections of Bernard Silver

My last post referred to the possible link between Cardinal David Beaton and the Beeton family. The link with my family is from the marriage of Annie Beeton to Bernard Silver, my daughters grandparents. Whilst in New Zealand with my daughter and her family I managed to publish a small book recording the recollections of Bernard Silver of his experiences in India throughout two World Wars. I or Louise will send the book to any family member who might like a copy, perhaps in return for a contribution to the printing and postage costs. Here is the preface from the book:

Preface
I did not know my father in law as he had died long before I met and married his daughter Janet. But I often heard of him and was fascinated by the notebook in which he recorded his thoughts and observations about his service in India in two world wars. Janet transcribed the entire notebook and this book is the result of scanning her transcribed version. The following title page and introduction are as written by Janet. This version does not include the detailed page numbering and referencing but we have carefully preserved Janet’s original work.

Janet passed away in September 2007 and her daughter Louise was assisted greatly in all that needed to be done by her cousin Graham Caulfield, also a grandchild of Bernard Silver. The photographs and other information used to produce this book were amongst Janet’s possessions that Louise took back to New Zealand where she lives with husband Mark and her two daughters Abigail and Frances, Bernard’s great grandchildren. Bernard Silver’s legacy is in the many lives he has touched and particularly his 3 children, 6 grandchildren and at last count10 great grandchildren. This book is written for them and their families.

Bernard Silver completed his service with the Reading University College Contingent of the Officer Training Corps in May 1912 when he was awarded the Senior Division ‘Certificate B’ (shown aside) entitling him to “the privileges conferred on the holders of this certificate as set forth in the regulations concerned”. The photograph reproduced later shows that on the onset of the Great War those privileges may have included the granting of Senior NCO status whilst awaiting commissioning into the regular army. Bernard Silver was commissioned into the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers as a Lieutenant and embarked for France with the British Expeditionary Force in 1914. He commanded an infantry platoon of the 2nd Battalion in the most horrific campaign of the start of the war at Mons. He was very soon promoted to Captain and transferred to the 4th Battalion. The Reading Chronicle recorded his promotion. Bernard’s Journal begins with the massively understated comment “After a spot of bother in France in 1914 I spent a considerable amount of time in hospital and eventually found myself shunted out to India…”

Bernard Silver served in India throughout the remainder of the Great War and, by then commissioned into the India Army, throughout World War 2. In July 1945 he was granted home leave. He began his journey by air to the UK on Saturday 14th July 1945 and arrived in the UK at Hurn Airport, Bournemouth, 6 days later on Friday 20th July after a journey of seven legs! It seems to be on this journey that Bernard used a Field Service Notebook to record his thoughts, as well as to make lists of people to see, things to do and shopping he needed. Most of his recollections relate to the World War One years, but some observations are of a more general nature and others relate to the period immediately before his journey home. The notebook includes Bernard’s itinerary for his return to India by sea which began on Tuesday 2nd October 1945. arriving in Bombay on Tuesday 6th November. The notebook also includes a letter he drafted throughout the journey to the UK to his wife Anne, written en-route variously to Cairo, Malta and Marseilles. If he intended to take the pages from the notebook then the letter was never posted. By 1948 Bernard was once more back in the UK and with his second wife Phyllis. Their son Andrew was born in April 1949 and Janet in February 1952.

This book was put together with Louise whilst visiting my family in New Zealand in August 2008. It is a first stab, to fulfil my promise to present the journal in some form. Bernard’s own family history is fascinating, not only through his father’s background but also through his mother and the Beeton family who can trace their roots back to the 11th century and in more modern times to Isabella Mary Mayson (‘Mrs Beeton’) who married Samuel Orchart Beeton. I hope to rewrite this book and correct the mistakes I am sure I have made, add more information about the family background and to access service records and other available information. I am sure that there is far more to say and that more material will come to light, so this first offering is just a beginning, and I’d be delighted to receive comments, corrections, and above all new material from all those who come to read it. In Bernard Silver’s own words, we have a long way to go yet.

Alan J Sharkey

THE RECOLLECTIONS OF BERNARD SILVER
ISBN 978-1-905729-10-4 £6.99