Midland Regional Group Meeting - 1st May 2011 - Cannock Chase, StaffordshireL-R Standing Richard Barnes,Margaret Pearson,Alison Hine(Badge 36), John Cotterill (Badge 10), Bob Darby (Badge 29)
L-R Sitting. Martin Middlebrook (Honorary Mem),Chris John (Badge 32),Bob Brunsdon (Badge 49)
The Midland Regional Group held its third meeting since its inception, on Cannock Chase. Organised superbly well by John Cotterill and Chris John it included visits to the site of the formery RAF Hednesford now part of the Cannock Chase Park. It was hard to believe that this beautiful moorland was once the home of over 80,000 young men who completed their National Service in the 1950s. Little remains of the hundreds of accommodation blocks and service roads except for the occassional concrete surface that supported the roadway system. Also visited was the site of Brocton Camp built during the First World War and at one time the home for up to 40,000 troops from New Zealand who came through here before moving on to the Western Front. Again very little remains as a witness to the significance of such a place.
Our group also visited the CWGC cemetery at Cannock with its Portland stone CWGC headstones carrying the names of both German and British dead of both World Wars. This cemetery was as evocative as any seen on the Western Front. We visited the German Military Cemetery close by with its distinctive and forboding look similar to those of us who have visited the Soldatenfriedenhofs in France and Belgium.
As all good tours should end, lunch was taken in a nearby hostelry. It was a great way to spend a Sunday morning. Fantastic weather, good companionship, great stories and a great debrief with lunch and ale. Congratulations to both Chris John and John Cotterill for organising a grand day and we all look forward to the next meeting of the Midland Regional Group. Finally we drank a toast to remember our President Richard Holmes who had died the previous day. He will be sorely missed.
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