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THE ROYAL AIR FORCE - RAF
LAARBRUCH REUNION
NEW REUNIONS
COMING IN 2012 - SEE HERE
The RAFP Laarbruch reunion site is mainly based around
personnel serving at Laarbruch between the years of 1970 and
1979. However we do offer our support to anyone who served
before or after these dates.
Here is a resume of the reunion by Neil Gardiner..
The first reunion of the RAF Police of
the 70’s was actually in Frankie and Benny's in Sheffield in
December 2002 attended by four members of D shift Steve
Silver, Graham Fawley , Trevor Stevens and John Phillips
accompanied by their respective partners, Sue, ?, Sue and
Liz.
Whilst this reunion actually took place, B shift guys, Jim
Clark, Tony Chapman, Bob Flude, Bunny Duberry, Neil
Gardiner, John Strange and John Turpin and dog handler Stu
Topley were all in touch but spread across the UK and Europe
and hadn’t yet managed to get together. Through the RAF
Police Association, a few others’ locations were known and
in January 2003 Steve phoned me to ask if I minded if he
organised a reunion for all shifts.
I offered my assistance and encouraged Steve to continue.
After a few months of relentless searching the internet and
calling a few people as well as writing several letters,
Steve, with really only support from Sue, got over 130 ex
Laarbruch RAF Police together for a sandbag and lamp
swinging event in the Marriott hotel near Rotherham.
Many old friendships were re kindled and from that night
Steve went on to organise the annual reunion.
Most of those attending this do had served as RAF Policemen
at Laarbruch between 1971 and 1977, so whilst a lot knew
each other, there were new friends made and Graham Fawley
took so many photos that night for everyone to take home as a
reminder of an event they would never forget.
In 2004 assisted by Kev Betts and Tony Chapman, Steve had
the reunion in Germany where 80 plus folks visited
Dusseldorf/Niederrhein/Weeze airport, better known to us all
as RAF Laarbruch for a visit to the old SSA and a typical
evening party in the old Sgt’s Mess.
The following day Kev Betts provided us all with a superb
Barbeque at lunchtime in Weeze.
In 2005 we went back to the Rotherham hotel where although
a few less than in 2003 another good reunion was held and
several new faces who had not made the first reunion turned
up.
In 2006 interest waned a little and only a few attended the
Rotherham event again.
In 2007 it was back to Germany where Kev and Tony had made
arrangements with the local Burgermeister to take part in
the parade.
In 2008 Steve yet again got a few members back to Rotherham,
but support was dropping off and only about 5 or 6 people
had attended who were new.
In 2009 the flights and boats took a few guys back to the
Weeze Fest for a weekend of parades, fun etc .
In 2010 Steve tried to get more people involved again and
over 70 said they would turn up in Rotherham again. Sadly
the numbers dwindled and only 50 people turned up on Oct 2
to say a final goodbye to Steve as he had passed away only 5
days before the reunion.
At the reunion Graham Cassell spoke highly of Steve and we
all drank a toast to his life and his efforts for us all.
Several of us sat around to discuss the future of the
Laarbruch reunion and whether or not it would continue.
The general feeling was that it should continue and Graham
Cassell asked a few of us, Trev Stevens (TC), Tony Chapman,
Roy Dodd, Mel Jones, Russ Jones and myself to consider
forming a small interim committee to see if the interest
from members was still there and whether we should continue
to hold the reunion.
One week later, Trev Stevens has set up this website for us
all to use.
I have offered to maintain the database of members and link
with Tony and Kev out in Germany.
We now need your views.
Trev, Tony and myself will shortly be sending out a
questionnaire either via email or actually live on the
website asking several questions. Please answer them
honestly and with thought.
A few of us want the reunion to continue, not least because
Steve did so much to bring us together it would be a real
shame if it all meant nothing.
I know that a few ex Laarbruchians are members of RAFPA but
not all and whilst I would encourage you to join RAFPA, I
would at this time like you all to respond to our
questionnaire to see how we go forward. |
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