VETERAN broadcaster and former Spitfire pilot Raymond Baxter has been invited to Ely to watch the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the University Boat Race rowed on the Adelaide stretch of the Great Ouse in 1944.The invitation was made by Cllr Jack Waterfall, a member of Diamond44, a group of enthusiasts who a planning a major event on the anniversary of the race at the end of February.
With him in Mr Baxter's home town of Henley on Thursday were the Mayor of Ely, Cllr Shirley Overall, her husband Terry, who launched Diamond44, and Ely Standard editor John Ison. They were guests at the opening of the Thames At War exhibition in the splendid River & Rowing Museum just above Henley bridge. It includes references to the Ouse race and personal memorabilia from Ben Cochrane, the Cambridge No 2.
Mr Baxter, 80, who performed the opening ceremony, told them that he had spent a fortnight in the RAF Hospital in Ely during 1944 as he recovered from two and a half gruelling tours as a fighter pilot in the skies around North Africa and the Mediterranean.
He said: "I was shattered and needed rest and recuperation. They looked after me very well at the hospital and I was prescribed Guinness." Suitably refreshed, he went back to another tour of duty and after the war became well known to TV viewers as the presenter of Tomorrow's World.
Mr Baxter, made an OBE in the last New Year Honours, is the Honorary Admiral of the Association of Dunkirk Little Ships. Among the guests at Thursday's ceremony was 102-year-old William Stone, who made five trips to the beaches in 1940 to rescue Allied troops. He also served on the Russian convoys and made the Imperial Tour with King George V on HMS Hood during 27 years in the Royal Navy.
The Ely party had been welcomed by the Mayor and Mayoress of Henley, Mike and Jill Owen, and museum curator Chris Dodd. They also renewed their acquaintance with another of the 1944 Boat Race crews, Dr Michael Brooks, who rowed at No 3 for Oxford.
Published in the Ely Standard week beginning 7th April
|
