BRENTWOOD'S FIRST MEMORY CLUB CIRCA 1995

 

 


Back: Jim Reddell, Joe Ellis, , Norman Gunby  Geoff Perrior, Cyril Giachardi, Edward Clack
 Front Row Jack Bartlett  and Terry Parsons

Now that memory groups and a multitude of books on the past are currently so popular, it is lovely to look back to the time I started my own Memory Club in Brentwood in the mid-1990s. Word soon got around and old soldiers, sailors and Royal Air Force veterans turned up for lunch and a good natter to share their stories of World War Two. 

Some of the boys were writing their own memory books and others were happy to tell their personal stories which appeared on paper, film or were happy for me to record them for posterity.  Some of the gentlemen above actually published their reminiscences and it was lovely to attend their book signings at local and regional bookshops.  I was writing a regular newspaper column at the time and my new friends certainly enjoyed seeing their stories in print.

Here is a snap of just a few of our friends who enjoyed each other's company (ttere were more than twenty members) and gave me some of their personal recollections.  Oh - and eventually, we did attract some lovely ladies - Land Army Girls, WRENS and Bletchley Park veterans - but that's another story.