Garden Thieves

 

It's that time of year again, the time of year when green fingered gardeners who have been persuaded to volunteer their gardens in support of some good cause or other start to welcome the interested and the nosey through their gates.

 

I have always thought that this is a brave thing to do. There is the very definite risk that some snotty nosed and bored child will decide to pick a bunch of, "pretty flowers," (aka the owners pride and joy from the foothills of the Himalayas), or that a geriatric plant thief will dig up some small alpine or similar to improve his or her more modest plot.

 

Some of the plant burglars are rather more subtle. These are the ones who perhaps have a modicum of gardening ability and are willing to put a bit of effort into their venture. Rather than stealing whole plants they will purloin cuttings for themselves. The best prepared will even have small plastic bags and a supply of green ties hidden about their person for use during the heist. All of that said I didn't see any nefarious goings on at the garden I visited on Sunday afternoon. Maybe the owner was just lucky or maybe the fact that the gate money was in aid of a Church roof provided a protective benediction to the day.

 

 

 

55th Anniversary of No 204 Squadron

March 1970 marked the fifty fifth aniversary of the formation of No 204 Squadron RAF. To mark this occasion the Philatelic Club of RAF Ballykelly issued a souvenir cover which is apropriately stamped and certified as having been flown on a routine maritime patrol. The date stamp includes the silhouette   of an MK 2 Shackleton.

The planes flown by the Squadron in its early years included many of those flown by the hero of  the Capt. W. J. Johns' books. The montage picture on the Cover includes these old Great War planes such as the Sopworth Pup and the Sopworth Camel as well as the Dakotas and Shackletons flown by the Squadron in more recent years.

After leaving RAF Ballykelly was reformed and was involved in the maintaining of sanctions against Southern Rhodesia from an airfield at Majunga in Madagascar. Thus was its last hoorah. The  Squadron was disbanded on 28th April 1972.

Closure of RAF Ballykelly

RAF Ballykelly opened as a Coastal Command Base on 1st June 1941 and a Coastal Command Development Unit was based there from December 1941 until June 1942. For the balance of the War various squadrons served at Ballykelly as well as Fleet Air Arm Units flying their Swordfish. With the end of the war the Base became the home of the RN/RAF Anti Submarine School for some six to seven months before lapsing from operational standard.

Operational standard was regained by February 1952 when No 269 Squadron, (later renumbered 210 Sqn) and its Shackleton MK1's flew in. That squadron would remain at RAF Ballykelly until October 1970 when it was redeployed. By that time the base had been absorbed into Strike Command. No. 240 Squadron (subsequently 203 Squadron) was stationed at Ballykelly from the middle of 1952 until redeployment in January 1969.  The honour of being the last operational Squadron at RAF Ballykelly went to No 204 which had been reformed in January 1954 and which remained at Ballykelly until its redeployment to Honnington in March 1971. An Air Sea Warfare Development Unit was also based at RAF Ballykelly from September 1958 until April 1970.

The final closure of RAF Ballykelly occurred on 1st June 1971 when the Base was transferred to the Army and renamed Shackleton Barracks. The Philatelic Club, RAF Ballykelly, marked this occasion by the issue of commemorative covers which were carried by train from Limavady Junction to Londonderry on that date. The rear of the covers are date stamped NIR Limavady Junction and NIR Londonderry as well as carrying a "Northern Ireland Railways per Passenger Train," stamp.

Ballykelly Philatelic Exhibition

I watched last night's episode of, " Lesser Spotted Ulster," which was looking at the area surrounding Ballykelly and in particular the slob lands. I enjoy this series. The reference to Ballykelly and indeed RAF Ballykelly reminded me that I had some philatelic memorabilia relating to the village filed away carefully in a brown box. A two hour rummage this morning was all it took to locate the correct brown envelope in the correct box. I knew my system would not fail me.

In September 1970  RAF Ballykelly Philatelic Club and the Londonderry Philatelic Society put on a joint stamp exhibition and fair under the rather grand title of,  "Norwest Ulsterex."  This took place in Ballykelly Primary School. A friend of my father took me along. I cannot remember why my father was unable to take me, but he delegated the responsibility to one of his friends. 

Whilst the event was billed as a joint venture I had the feeling that the airforce chaps were the prime movers, in particular one Squadron Leader T. J. Hanbury. I can't pretend that I have very vivid memories of the day, but I do remember that the school seemed very crowed with people, so it was presumably a reasonably successful event. The organisers produced a set of four commemorative covers (2,000 sets) and a pair of commemorative postcards (500 sets). This does seem a large number, but I do recollect being told by Sqn. Ldr. Hanbury that there was a large demand from other squadrons and ex RAF personnel. All the covers have a certification stamp stating that they were delivered by mail drop from a Shackleton of No 204 Squadron and they are signed by Flt. Lt. Gordon  T. Smyth.