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

Who are we and what is our association for

H.M.S. Lapwing was a Royal Navy Sloop that was built during the Second World War, laid down at the Scotts yard on the Clyde in 1942 and launched on 19th March 1944. Built as a Uboat hunter and after completeing her sea trials she was armed and stored out to first participate in the D-day landing (operation Overlord) June until September 1944 protecting the outer areas of the British and Canadian landing zones.

From September 1944 until 20th March 1945 she was part of the escort group for 9 convoys to Northern Russia, sadly on her 9th escort passage with JW65, she was torpedoed by U968 just 6 miles from their destination of Murmansk. Hit amidships, she broke in half and sank within 12 minutes with the loss of 158 Officers and men out of a total crew compliment of 219.

Our "Friends of H.M.S. Lapwing Association" was set up in 2005, whilst I was researching a particular crew member and managed to trace several survivors, widows and relatives of lost crew members and in March 2006 we had our first reunion in Saffron Walden, the town that adopted Lapwing during "War Week 1941".

We now have our own ships memorial in a beautiful garden in the centre of Saffron Walden at which we hold a special reunion every two years. The next being March 2012.

During our research we have to date established contacts and friendship with

9 survivors
7 widows
75 relatives of crew members

We have also created a fairly accurate profile of Lapwing and her short life, a complete crew list of those who sailed on that last fatal voyage and to their status after the sinking, individual crew member profiles along with their memories and photographs. Several photographs of Lapwing herself and in particular one of the crew taken on board just after commissioning with many of the lads identified. We have information of all of the individual 9 convoys Lapwing took part in and many photographs of our reunions held - 2006 -2008 -2010 at Saffron Walden.
We do have sadly, many of our crew that we have not been able to trace or their families and this is what we really do need help with. So did your father, grandfather, brother or uncle serve in the Royal Navy during the last world war, do you know anything about him?

Do contact us if you feel you may have a connection with our ship and crew, we would be delighted to hear from you.