THE NEXT TWO MEETINGS TAKE PLACE AS INDICATED BELOW, IN THE DU TOIT ROOM OF THE ATHENAEUM, 154 CAMPGROUND ROAD,NEWLANDS, COMMENCING AT 8 P.M.
THURSDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER: VIDEO DOCUMENTARY FEATURE ON THE SHACKLETON AIRCRAFT: An era came to an end on November 23rd 1984 when, at Cape Town's D.F. Malan Airport, the world's last 3 airworthy Shackleton MR Mk3s made a low fly-past in line abreast formation at a special parade to mark the withdrawal of the Shackletons from the S.A. Air Force after 27 years of sterling service. The wheel had finally come full circle, for it was in Cape Town that the world's first Mk 3 Shackleton went operational in August 1957. To mark the 30th anniversary of that historic occasion in the annals of the S.A. Air Force, we examine the events resulting in the design of the Shackleton in Britain, and follow its subsequent service career. (Video by kind courtesy of Mr. Bob Symons).
THURSDAY 8TH OCTOBER: The war declared by the Boers on 11th October 1899, 4 days short of 88 years ago, gave the British, in Kipling's famous phrase, "no end of a lesson". The British public expected it to be over by Christmas but it turned out to be the longest (two and three-quarter years), the costliest (over two million pounds), the bloodiest (at least twenty two thousand British, twenty five thousand Boer and twelve thousand African lives) and the most humiliating war for Britain between l815 and 1914. Amongst the Regular officers of the British Army sent to South Africa was E.I.D. Gordon, who came from a family with a long military tradition. He mEticulously jotted down day to day events in a diary which still survives, and which forms the basis of a talk which his Son[sic], MAJOR ANTONY GORDON, himself a former Regular British Army officer, is to give on his father's experiences at the time, with particular emphasis on the Battle of Frederickstad which took place in October 1900, 87 years ago. By 1914 he was the British Garrison Adjutant at the Castle in Cape Town, but later served as commanding officer of a battalion in the trenches of France when, ironically, his second-in-command was a former Boer War opponent, Deneys Reitz, later to achieve fame with his autobiography, "On Commando". After retiring from the Army, Lt. Colonel Gordon, O.B.E. returned to the Cape and settled in Elgin. Upon the outbreak of World War Two he found himself once more in uniform and spent the early years of the war with the S.A. Staff Corps at the Castle until retiring for the second, and final, time.
ADVANCE DETAILS: 9th November: "The Congo Crisis of 1960", a talk by Professor Peter Beighton on his experiences as an Army Medical Officer with the United Nations Forces during this period. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- PAUL LANGE CHAIRMAN n Southdown Court First Avenue KENILWORTH 7700 Telephone 61-nnnn after hours. VICE-CHAIRMAN: Major Antony Gordon: telephone 61-mmmm after hours. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE NEXT TWO MEETINGS TAKE PLACE AS.INDICATED BELOW, IN THE DU ToIT ROOM Of THE ATHENAEUM, 154 CAMPGROUND RoAD,NEWLANDS, COMMENCING AT 8 P.M. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- THURSDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER:VIDEO DOCUMENTARY FEATURE ON THE SHACKLETON AIRCRAFT: An era came to an end on November 23rd 1984 when, at Cape Town's D.F. Malan Airport, the world's last 3 airworthy Shackleton MR Mk 3s made a low fly-past in line abreast formation at a special parade to mark the withdrawal of the Shackletons from the S.A. Air Force after 27 years of sterling service. The wheel had finally come full circle, for it was in Cape Town that the world's first Mk 3 Shackleton went operational in August 1957. To mark the 30th anniversary of that historic occasion in the annals of the S.A. Air Force, we examine the events resulting in the design of the Shackleton in Britain, and follow its subsequent service career. (Video by kind courtesy of Mr. Bob Symons). THURSDAY BTH OCTOBER: The war declared by the Boers on 11th October 1899, 4 days short of 88 years ago, gave the British, in Kipling's famous phrase, "no end of a lesson". The British public expected it to be over by ChristmaS but it turned out to be the longest (two and three-quarter years), the costliest (over two million pounds), the bloodiest (at least twenty two thousand British, twenty five thousand Boer and twelve thousand African lives) and the most humiliating war for Britain between l815 and 1914. Amongst the Regular officers of the British Army sent to South Africa was E.I.D. Gordon, who came from a family with a long military tradition. He mEticulously jotted down day to day events in a diary which still survives, and which forms the basis of a talk which his Son[sic], MAJOR ANTONY GORDON, himself a former Regular British Army officer, is to give on his father's experiences at the time, with particular emphasis on the Battle of Frederickstad which took place in October 1900, 87 years ago. By 1914 he was the British Garrison Adjutant at the Castle in Cape Town, but later served as commanding officer of a battalion in the trenches of France when, ironically, his second-in-command was a former Boer War opponent, Deneys Reitz, later to achieve fame with his autobiography, "On Commando". After retiring from the Army, Lt. Colonel Gordon, O.B.E. returned to the Cape and settled in Elgin. Upon the outbreak of World War Two he found himself once more in uniform and spent the early years of the war with the S.A. Staff Corps at the Castle until retiring for the second, and final, time.
ADVANCE DETAILS: 9th November: "The Congo Crisis of 1960", a talk by Professor Peter Beighton on his experiences as an Army Medical Officer with the United Nations Forces during this period.
PAUL LANGE, CHAIRMAN
n Southdown Court
1st Avenue, KENILWORTH 7700
Tel.: 61-nnnn After Hours
Vice-Chairman: Major Antony Gordon - telephone 61-mmmm.