Reunion March 2015

The dates for our next reunion have now been confirmed as follows:

Friday 20th March, Saturday 21st March and Sunday 22nd March 2015

Venue is at our Ship Memorial in the "Close Garden" Saffron Walden, Essex.

Our main base will be the "Saffron Hotel", High Street, Saffron Walden

Two other hotels namely, "The Old Cross Keys" and the "Crown House" have been contacted about our visit.

The town Mayor (Cllr Sandra Eden) and the council have assured us of a very warm welcome  and our local press officer (Malcolm White) will ensure everyone in the area also knows of our impending visit.

Basically, our final itinerary is still yet to be confirmed but will follow these lines;

Friday 20th.  most of us will arrive today and we will meet in the lounge of the "Saffron Hotel from 20.00hrs for drinks and chat with all our friends and local residents.

Saturday 21st. the morning is free, we will meet up in the Saffron Hotel at 13.30 -13.45hrs prior to leaving for our memorial service in the "Close Garden" which commences at 14.30hrs. Members will depart the hotel at 14.10hrs to the Close Garden.  The service at our memorial should last approximately 30 - 40 minutes.
Our evening reunion dinner commences at 19.30hrs in the function room at the Saffron Hotel and we look forward to seeing you join us.

Sunday 22nd   We normally as an association attend the morning service at the local church, but this is entirely your own choice.  You will be made very welcome.  And then of course the sad time of our reunion visit is when we say "bon voyage" to our members, as they depart on their homeward journey.

Final details regarding our itinerary, including the choice of  your menu for the reunion dinner, will be sent to all members well in advance.
However if you are not a member as yet and would like more information about our association and/or our forthcoming reunion,  please do contact me at lesedwardsjersey@gmail.com or by telephoning 01534 744041.

Reunion confirmation to follow

Regards to you all
Les

August 17th 2014. May I first apologise to you all for the delay in this posting.. The reason being is that we have endured problems since we as a Association changed our Email address. PLEASE now note our New Email Address as follows:lesedwardsjersey@gmail.com but that our telephone number remain as 01534 744041. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any information or specific details about HMS Lapwing and/or her crew, that is why we exist. CAN YOU HELP US? We do need help in obtaining personal crew information for our files and quarterly newsletters, so if you had a family member that served on Lapwing please do contact us and share your information with our shipmates and all our crew relatives . Maybe we also have some information that you do not have and would be delighted to share with you! REUNION 2015 Date Friday 20th, Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd March 2015. Venue Saffron Walden, Essex For more information please contact Les Edwards on 01534 744041 or Email: lesedwardsjersey@gmail.com

Reuinon March 2014.

Another fantastic weekend reunion of HMS Lapwing Association, lovely weather and excellent support of  so many people. This was the 69th anniversary since the loss of our ship and so many of our fellow shipmates and another special moment in the history of HMS Lapwing.

I must thank the following for all their help and support in ensuring the success of our weekend visit to our memorial in the Close Gardens, Saffron Walden:

Mayor Cllr Keith Eden and all the town council,  town clerk Simon Lloyd MBE, all the town hall staff, Wo/1 Herbie Ketch of the Royal Marines (ret) our parade officer, Bob Curran of the Royal British Legion, The officers and cadets of Saffron Walden Army cadet unit, officers and cadets of 1824 Squadron Air force cadet unit, officers and cadets of HMS Ganges Sea cadet unit Cambridge,  veterans of the North Russian Convoy Club, veterans of the Royal Navy Association, the residents of Saffron Walden and finally to our members and families that us, a very big thank you to everyone for your support.

I will be posting a few pictures of our weekend in the next few days to be followed by the dates for our 2015 reunion which will be the 70th anniversary since our loss.

Reunion Programme

Everything is organised for our forthcoming weekend reunion at Saffron Walden over the weekend of Friday 21st, Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd March 2014. The itinerary for the visit is as follows:

H.M.S. Lapwing Reunion 2014

 

VENUE                                  SAFFRON WALDEN, ESSEX.

 

DATE                                     FRIDAY 21^st, SATURDAY 22^nd   and   SUNDAY 23^rd March 2014.

 

ITINERARY        

 

The majority of us will be staying at the Saffron Hotel for the weekend and will be our main base for the weekend.  This is where our Reunion Meal on the evening of Saturday 22^nd March will be held

Friday 21^st March     

For those who wish to arrive early, an opportunity to explore the town and relax.  At 8pm (20.00hrs) meet in lounge of the Saffron Hotel for a chat to other members and catch up with all our old friends from Saffron Walden.

Saturday 22^nd March
                                                During the morning, there is plenty of time to explore the town
                                                and  a visit to the town market which is well worth a visit’

1 pm (1300hrs)                       Meet in reception at the Saffron Hotel  prior to our remembrance
                                                  service.

 2.10 pm (14.10hrs)                 Depart to the “Close Garden” ready for start of Service

                                      

2.30pm (14.30hrs)                  Our remembrance service at the Lapwing Memorial during which  we will lay three Poppy wreaths, one for all our lost crew members, the second on behalf of the widows and the third on behalf of the relatives of lost crew members. A wreath will also be laid by the Mayor Cllr Eden on behalf of the Council and residents of Saffron Walden

 

8 for 8.30pm                          Saturday evening - Reunion Dinner at the Saffron Hotel

(20.00 -20.30hrs)                    meet in the lounge                        

 

Sunday 23^rd March

                                                Most will depart this morning but  for those that wish to attend the morning service at the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, please feel free to do so.

 

We are delighted once again to welcome the younger generation to our remembrance service

where we will be joined by the Saffron Walden Army and Air force cadet units and for the first

time  a unit from Cambridge Sea Cadets from TS Ganges.

 

We will include in our next posting a write up of the weekend along with photographs. 

If you would like any more information about our weekend please do either call me (01534 744041) 

or Email: lesedwards@jerseymail.co.uk

 

 

Reunion 2014

The Association has just set its next reunion return to Saffron Walden in 2014, these being Saturday 22nd March and Sunday 23rd March, with the main remembrance service at our ships memorial on Saturday the 22nd March commencing around 14.30hrs at the "Close Gardens", High Street, Saffron Walden.  Within the next few months, I will post on this site, more details of our itinerary for the weekend, order of service for our remembrance service and parade and any other information relevant to our visit.

If you would like any more information about HMS Lapwing, our Crew, association or the forthcoming reunion weekend in 2014, please do contact me on 01534 744041 or by Email: lesedwards@jerseymail.co.uk   We would be delighted to hear from you. 
Thank you for your time in viewing our blog and your comments are very welcome. 

Reunion March 2012

The Association once again returned to Saffron Walden - the Town that adopted Lapwing and her crew in 1942 - for our reunion to remember the 158 Officers and men lost on the 20th March 1945 during Convoy JW 165 to Murmansk, Northern Russia.

Again we had a wonderful turn out of our members although sadly only one of our survivors, Able Seaman Tommy Jess, could manage the journey this year, but it was our privilege to be with him on this special occasion .  

Our very good friends from the area again supported us at our ceremony on the Saturday afternoon and our special thanks to the following for making the memorial service a very special occasion for all us relatives of crew members:

Cllr Clifford  and Valerie Treadwell -Mayor & Mayoress of Saffron Walden, all the Town Council, Simon Lloyd M.B.E. Town Clerk,  Rev: Swindlehurst for conducting our short service and W.O1. Herbie Ketch, R.M.R. who was the officer i/c of the parade (and takes so much pressure off me during the afternoon). We extend our thanks to the Officers and cadets of 1824 Squadron Airforce Unit and the Officers and cadets of the Army Cadet Unit, Saffron Walden for assisting and participating in our ceremony.  To the Royal British Legion Standard Bearers, Royal Navy Veterans and the Russian Convoy Veterans and the residents of Saffron Walden,  on behalf of us all, I thank you for joining us. 

Our reunion dinner on the Saturday evening saw many of our local friends also joining us for a splended meal and our thanks to all the staff at the Saffron Hotel for making the evening the sucess it was.Our quarterly Newsletter is now out which contains information about Lapwing herself, profiles of our individual crew members and other details of life in service during those far off days.

A few photographs below of our weekend reunion to Saffron Walden and please remember, please do contact me at lesedwards@jerseymail.co.uk  and ensure that you give me your email address to come back to you should you require any further information about Lapwing, our crew or association.

Contacting H.M.S. Lapwing Association

The Best way to obtain more information about our ship and crew and perhaps your own relative is to contact Les Edwards by Email: lesedwards@jerseymail.co.uk 
Could Stephen Rose and Lynn do this as I have had trouble in replying to their requests for details.

Our next reunion will be at Saffron Walden, Essex on Saturday 24th March 2012. Members will be staying at the Saffron Hotel from Friday 23rd until Sunday 25th March. Our memorial service will be held on Saturday pm 24th at our memorial in the Close Gardens and our official dinner on the evening of the 24th. Normally a good turnout from the local residents, Royal Navy Assoc. Russian Convoy Veterans,Royal British Legion, Army and Air force cadets and all their Standard bearers. Wonderful support. For more information please do contact me as above.

The above photograph of our crew taken on board Lapwing after a Church parade late May 1944 in Greenoch, prior to preparations for participating in the D-day landings.

+Survivors from the Sinking of Lapwing at our reunion of 2010. 

We do hope that you will contact us if you require and more information.  Thank you for your time in reading our blog.
Yours in Lapwing

Les Edwards