Lanfranc School Air Disaster August 9th 1961

[Tab]

You may be interested to know that the BBC have apologised for pulling the documentary from the One Show on Tuesday but plan to show it tonight.

The One Show starts at 7:00pm on BBC1.

Kind regards

[Tim]

Thanks for the info Tab.
Regards
Tim

[Rick50]

On a lighter note, Croydon in the sixties/early seventies...The Greyhound on Sundays, with Free, Juicy Lucy, Edgar Broughton, Rory Gallagher, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Stray, Genesis, Yes, Barclay James Harvest...The Star on Fridays, with Jimi Hendrix...the earlier days when every church hall had 3 or 4 bands on, Glenn Athens and the Trojans... Fairfield Halls with MARVIN WELCH & FARRAR......many others, all the colleges seemed to have groups on, Kingston Poly...the Coal 'ole in Addiscombe, the Gun in Church Street (The Small Faces...)
long hair - on top as well, purple trousers, orange shirts...loads of really nice friends...Purley Way Outdoor Swimming Pool, the bowling alley in Tamworth Road...playing in a band at 14 years old at the YMCA...the Curry House in Derby Road...
Croydon Music Studios near the bus station, Potters Music, Cloakes Record Shop....
You've started me rambling, doesn't take much.
Good times then, and there are good times now - music plays a big part in that..
Rick

[Tab]

Takes me back to me back to my childhood Rick. I bought my Hofner Colorama in West Croydon Music Studios.

I shall be attending the civic service on Sunday to represent the family. One of the boys was our close neighbour and friend. We started school together - a mixed infant and junior school attendee in the same year.

Nice to hear from all of you with connections to Croydon and this sad event.

A further twist to the ongoing story - we moved house just before Christmas last year and just last week went next door for drinks and nibbles - in conversation the commemeration came up and it turns out that the brother of the lady of the house was in the party from Chesterfield Grammar School waiting for the return leg on the plane that went down.

Thanks for your interest in this story, everybody. There but for the grace etc. go we all.

Kind regards,

Terry

[abstamaria]

I have never been to Croydon but in 1973 bought a lovely 10-speed bicycle frame by Geoffrey Butler. The frame said "Croydon" beneath Butler's logo.

Andy

[RayL]

Picking up on Rick Courtney's 'nostalgia' message, there was a book published in 1998 called 'Rock, Folk, Blues & Jazz in and around the Croydon area 1960 - 1980'. Written by Chris Groom, it listed just about any musical event of any size that happened in the Croydon area. As this is a Shadows website, here's a snippet from the 1978 section:
Sixties favourites The Shadows played two consecutive nights at the Fairfield hall towards the beginning of September . Their old lead singer turned up to see them on Monday 4th - Cliff Richard was seen sneaking into his seat after the lights had gone down and slipping out just before the end with a handkerchief covering his face to try and retain his anonymity. Some hope! Cliff was back at the end of November for his regular brace of concerts - the Shadows were seen sneaking into their seats

Several of Croydon's music pubs were close (very close) to the arson that happened earlier in the week The Spread Eagle ar the bottom of Church Street was just across the road from Reeves Furniture Store, whose fire was seen all round the world. The Star at Broad Green and The Gun in Church Street were also across the road from major fires and destruction.

It was at The Gun in 1968 that the band I was playing in at the time had its van stolen - later recovered from the council estate at New Addington, about 5 miles away. It was the only time we got into the local newspaper - the headline said 'Beat boys lose van'.

The Burns Artist that you see as my avatar was bought from Potters Music Shop in 1963 - and I've still got it, of course.

Ray

[Tim]

My copy of the book by Rosalind Jones about ther disaster arrived today. A very sad, but fascinatingly researched, read. It emerges that one of the first reporters to cover the tragedy was Michael Parkinson.
Tim

[Tab]

Hi Tim,

Yes, a fascinating and sad read - the author writes in the third person and detaches herself from the young girl who lost a brother along with other young people who lost siblings.

I attended the memorial service in Croydon last Sunday and spoke to several of the relatives who travelled to Holtaheia (the mountain in Norway) They were incredibly well looked after by the people of Stavanger and a close bond remains between the people of the two towns intimately involved, indeed, between the two nations.

Thankyou for buying the book. As you know, the proceeds go to the Norwegian rescue services. Below is a link to the original Norwegian news coverage back in '61 where you can see that many of the Red Cross recovery workers were little more than children themselves.

Kind regards,

Terry

www.lanfranc-holtaheia.co.uk then click on to ‘News Reports from the Holtaheia

[Tim]

Hi Tab
Many thanks for the information. I am so glad that the memorial service went ahead in spite of the problems that Croydon had faced in the days before. It must have been a very moving occasion. As well as vividly describing the tragic events surrounding the crash and its aftermath, the book is an excellent social record of a time gone by on which I look back with some nostalgia.
Thanks again for posting this topic.
Kind regards
Tim