Hello again. I can say that our society Xmas knees-up went well with no 'wilting violets' in sight and the results of our latest appeals was particularly successful.    

In the case of the Willenhall soldier Fred Fisher I am pleased to say that our archivist Jackie 'Digger' Read traced Fred's grandson who kindly provided photo's of Fred and his grave at the Venray Cemetery. It seems that Fred was a stretcher bearer in the 10th Battalion Highland Light Infantry and on the 13th.March,45 was shot by a sniper as he posted a letter, quite possible to his family to say he was safe and well. What irony. 

The photo's are now with Tracey von Ooffelen and we have copies in our archive.     Secondly, our inquiry about the Willenhall Silver Band photo has been sorted and we can say that it was taken in the Isle of Man in 1905. We don't have any names as yet so perhaps some of these may be forthcoming. Brass bands were popular back then and there was another competing band in Willenhall  known as the Willenhall Temperence Band though I think the Silver Band where the bigger prize winners.    

Our next meeting that you need to know about is on the 8th.Feb.22 when our speaker will be Kieth Robinson who will be giving a talk entitled 'The Victorian History of Darlaston told through the people of one street'. Sounds interesting and probably involved a lot of research. Hope to see you there.    

Our A G M  is due on the 8th. I'll try and find something to make it a little more interesting.    

Now, having run a bit short of historical matters to round off things I have just turned in desperation to the Willenhall Life  issue of Oct/Nov'21 and the artical devoted to Laura Andrews and Donna Shepherd's charity parachute jump which catapulted me back over half a century. To the 14th February 1970 to be exact. A cold day when I too stood on a rather deserted Halfpenny Green Airfield along with 7 other shivering first time hopefuls waiting to board a very old pre-war, twin engined bi-plane called a DeHaviland Rapide the 'jump-ship' of the then South Staffs Skydiving club.    

Canvas covered and with only a seat for the pilot and of course side door removed to give easy access and egress, we all struggled to get seated on the floor, four pairs all facing backwards with two heavy parachutes each.(nice to have a spare if the first one fails to open !!!) With the engines by now warmed up we rumbled slowly down the runway until we eventually reached take-off speed and left 'tera firma'.   

A slow series of turns over the countryside gave me a chance to see the ground below and catch a glimpse of the instructors altimeter. 1500 feet. My God I thought that's high enough for me thank you. Clearly this was a pipe dream becoming a nightmare and the words 'Never again' kept ringing through my 24 year old brain. My only previous experience of flight was from model aircraft and a trip around Blackpool tower with my mother as a 13year old.- in exactly the same model type of aircraft incidentally but with seats and a door and I did not have to jump out of that one.   

Facing the fact that  we still had another 1000 feet to climb I spent this looking at other jumpers and they all looked as apprehensive as I was. However there was no 'chickening out' and I reached the firm conclusion- NEVER AGAIN.   

Soon the instructor was in the doorway looking down at the airfield below and beckoning me to my feet at which point he took hold of my static line and hooked it to the steel wire inside the aircraft. The umbilical line that would open my 'chute. Having called to the pilot to cut back the engines he invited me by hand gesture to step out onto the trailing edge of the plane aided by the spar that is secured to the engine pod. Then the blast of cold air hit me full in the face and I looked in at the instructor who the hit my leg which meant GO. and a simple matter of hurling myself backwards from the wing to meet my maker. It was all over in seconds.   

A mighty tug and suddenly there I was floating slowly earthwards and the Rapide had moved on and so had I. I could not wait to do it again. What a thrill. I've looked out my old parachutists logbook and find I did another 52 jumps but on looking at some of the remarks put in by the instructor I can understand the reasons I stopped. Comments like "rolled into lines" and "missed pull and turned over" are signs of a lack of co-ordination so to be on the safe side I took up hang-gliding but that's another story.   

So, if you fancy a go at something exciting like Donna and Laura just go ahead a do it  but make it worthwhile and get sponsored for a charity  My daughter Helene raised quite a lot for M.S when she jumped a few years ago because my late wife and my son both have this debilitating illness. So well done Laura and Donna.    

Best regards, Bob.