Goosebumps

Firstly, I recalled the day at Hartburn School, in Stockton, when we were taken into the school field to see the planes of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) fly over Stockton to say goodbye, as they were returning to Canada at the end of the war.

We watched them circle around letting off flares as they did so.

They then flew directly over the school in the direction of Goosepool airfield.

My second memory happened in November 1962 while serving as an engineer in the Merchant Navy. I was third engineer on the MV Port Alfred and the ship’s crew was paying a courtesy visit to the small port facility on the Saguenay river, in Canada, from which our ship had taken its name. Port Alfred was the port facility, the town itself was Chicoutimi.

During our visit we were wined and dined and generally given a good time. On the second night there was a dinner and dance in our honour. We attended in full uniform, of course.

I was lucky enough to have several dances with a lovely lady, who turned out to be the wife of the Station Commander of RCAF Chicoutimi.

During one dance I told her I was from Stockton. When she told me she knew it well and had been there in the 1950s, I was amazed.

Her visit was to see RAF Middleton St George as her father had served there during the war.

Ian Butler, Crakehall.