Visit to Wayne’s Keep – 10th November 2015

Visit to Wayne’s Keep

10^th November 2015

By Margaret Sheard…..

When some of the British ex-servicemen visit North Cyprus for the Kyrenia Remembrance service at The Old British Cemetery, I usually organise a trip to Wayne’s Keep while they are here and this year we were joined by 2 ex-Royal Horse Guards veterans and the wife of one of them, so we were a group of 8. Our party should have been 9 but unfortunately Chris was in the process of renewing his passport and although the old one had been returned, the new one had not arrived in time. Of course, as is usually the case, the new one arrived the next day!

The group was made up of Derek Chilvers, Mick Burland and Terry Covell of the Suffolk Regiment, Harry (Henry) Wyn Jones of the Royal Corps of Signals, and Brian Worthy and Les Smith of the Royal Horse Guards, plus Les’s wife Shena, and myself.

We arrived at Ledra Palace and were warmly welcomed by the UN personnel before meeting Sgt Stephen Studders, the current Wayne’s Keep Custodian and Padre Colin Bell, who would be taking us on the tour this year. We boarded the bus and off we went to our first port of call, Wayne’s Keep Cemetery.

I always find visiting the cemetery quite an emotional experience and this visit was no exception as I had offered to lay a cross on 2 graves for people in the UK. Brian, Les and Shena also had 7 wreaths to place on the graves of their ex-comrades of the Royal Horse Guards and Derek, Mick and Terry place a cross on the grave of a fallen Suffolk Regiment soldier. So we all split up to find the final resting place of these young men who had died while in the service of their country. We were all aware of the plot and grave numbers so just needed the help of the Custodian and Padre to point us in the right direction.

I first found the grave of Airman Allen C Rye who died in Cyprus on 25^th April 1951 at the age of 19 and I placed a cross on behalf of Allen’s nephew. Bill Rye. I am currently trying to establish more information about this young man who was the twin brother of Bill’s father, William Rye, who also served in Cyprus at the time of his brother Allen’s death.

Next I visited the grave of Ian Reginald Collins of the Royal Berkshire Regiment who died on 23^rd May 1957 aged 21 years. This cross was placed on behalf of Bob Scott, who also served with the Royal Berkshire Regiment and was a very close friend of Ian from the days they were in the Cubs and Scouts together, and he has told us he helped carry the coffin of his friend who was initially buried in the south, however, after the 1974 intervention it was necessary for him to be moved from his resting place and he was transferred to Wayne’s Keep Cemetery. Although this was very upsetting for Bob at the time, he said at least Ian is now with his own.

After everyone had paid their respects, we gathered together and the Padre gave a short but very poignant service which I think everyone appreciated.

We then boarded the bus again and went to the old Nicosia International Airport, where we saw the remains of the Trident aircraft which still sits there and we had a slow drive along the front of the airport building.

We next went to St Columba Church, which is in the Buffer Zone, where there is a lovely chapel and an area with memorabilia which was of great interest to our group members. While the others were in the church, I had a chat with our driver, Lance Corporal James Kamau who told me he is originally from Kenya, he moved to London in the UK, and has been in the army for 5 years.

We then returned to Ledra Palace and, as we neared, the Custodian pointed out Wolseley Barracks which was of great interest to one of our group, Harry, who had spent some time there during his service in Cyprus, so he and the Custodian got off the bus to spend a little time there. Harry said he was quite overcome when he was at the Barracks and was thrilled at the opportunity to recall some of his memories.

We met up again with Chris who was waiting for us at the checkpoint and made our way back to Kyrenia to drop everyone off at the Pia Bella Hotel, after a very nice few hours for the ex-servicemen to enjoy reminiscing about their various military service time in Cyprus all those years ago.

Cyprus Emergency Veterans and the National Memorial Arboretum

Cyprus Emergency Veterans and the

National Memorial Arboretum

By Chris Elliott……..

It seems hardly a week goes by now when we receive messages and information from readers who have stories to share or are looking to make contact with past friends and increasingly we are finding we are able to help them publish their memories of the past often after further research and also help unite people after almost a lifetime apart..

A fine example of this is the following message from David Littlemore that will be of interest to all cyprusscene.com readers who would like to understand those very difficult years when many men and women lost their lives trying to keep the peace or just live a normal life in Cyprus.

“From David Littlemore

I read with interest your article on the Suffolk Regiment. and was pleased that some veterans of the Cyprus Emergency are keeping contact with each other. I attended the unveiling of the Memorial at Kyrenia in 2009 and visit it regularly as I have a holiday home in the TRNC.

I visited the National Memorial Arboretum in the UK and was told that they do not have a dedicated memorial to the 371 servicemen who lost their lives in the Cyprus Emergency. I am delighted to tell you that I am now organising the erection of one and hope to have it in place within the next 12 months.

Should anyone be interested then do please contact me on email; david.littlemore1@btinternet.com.”

Click here to read the article David was referring to.

Memorial to British Servicemen on active service who died during the Cyprus Emergency in 1955 to 1959

Suffolk Regiment “Old Boys” Christmas Reunion

The Suffolk Regiment “Old

Boys” Christmas Reunion

By Margaret Sheard….

I have written quite a lot about some of the Suffolk Regiment lads who spent most of their national service days in Cyprus in 1958/59 and over the last 2 years I have had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with a few of them when they have come to Cyprus to attend the Remembrance service in Kyrenia.

I keep in regular contact with Derek Chilvers, who is the subject of a very long article about his army memories in Cyprus which can be seen by clicking here and he keeps me up to date with news of the growing group of lads who have made contact with each other over the years and get together for the annual Minden Day event in Bury St Edmunds in the UK and other social reunions.

This year a Christmas “Old Boys” Reunion was arranged on 7^th December and this was held at The Rushbrooke Arms in the village of Sicklesmere, which is near Bury St Edmunds and around 14 of the lads attended, some with their wives, to enjoy a nice meal from a choice of a full roast dinner, steak and chips and fish and chips plus more from the varied menu, and a chance to talk over old times as well as how they are all coping with present day life. One lady, who had seen a local newspaper article about the event, arrived with her son to represent her husband who had sadly passed on and she was thrilled to be a part of the reunion.

As a result of the newspaper advert, Derek had the task of phoning people who responded and so the numbers of the Suffolk Regiment “old boys” are growing.

I have recently been successful in bringing two of the lads together after a gap of 55 years, Chris Veness and Russell Hamlet, they both played guitar in the small band formed by Chris at Kykko Camp but unfortunately after their national service was over they lost touch. It was very satisfying to be successful in bring them together again and Chris hoped that Russell would be able to join the others at their Christmas Reunion but unfortunately Russell was unable to attend this time. To see the Friends Reunited article click here.

Chris has sent me some pictures of the event and I am pleased to be able to show them here. It seems they all thoroughly enjoyed getting together again for a Christmas reunion and are looking forward to many more.

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Visit to Wayne’s Keep – November 2014

By Margaret Sheard….

Although I had arranged a visit to Wayne’s Keep for 4 of our ex-servicemen friends from the UK, we eventually joined together with the Royal British Legion, Kyrenia Branch, party which was attending on the same day.

We met up at the Pia Bella Hotel in Girne and the 2 coaches arrived to collect the remainder of the group from this pick-up point. Our access to the buffer zone was through Metehan Crossing and from there we were escorted by the UN to Wayne’s Keep which was our first port of call. The Custodian, John Whitmore, who had arranged the visit for both myself and RBL, gave a short talk to the group about the cemetery before we passed through to wander around looking at the gravestones which I always find very distressing when you see the ages of these young men and women who lost their lives, 18, 19, 20 years old, such a waste.

Having visited the cemetery on quite a few occasions, we still have a feeling of sadness and this time with a large party of people it was even more poignant as many of them had a particular grave to visit. One lady had a bouquet of flowers which she placed on her fiancee’s grave, such a sad moment. 3 of our friends from the Suffolk Regiment placed a cross on a grave of a fallen soldier of the Suffolk’s, as they did when we visited last year.

The UN Padre joined us and the Union Flag and Branch Standard was marched into the area by the RBL Branch Standard Bearer Mr. Kim Tyler, then there was a short Remembrance service and a wreath was laid by one of the group. Two UN buglers played the last post at the end of the service. It was a very emotional experience as I had found before when attending a Remembrance Sunday service at Wayne’s Keep.

We spent quite a bit of time at Wayne’s Keep before boarding the coaches again and travelling through the buffer zone to St Columba Church, where the UN had laid on some refreshments. As we were travelling it was interesting to hear the comments of the members of our party, Derek, Mick, Terry and Harry, as they recognised certain landmarks, it must be very nostalgic for them to be in the area where they spent most of their national service days in Cyprus way back in the 1950’s, many still being in their late teens. The church is still in use and as you enter there is a room full of memorabilia and many photographs and then entering the church itself there is a feeling of peace and calm. Another nostalgic visit for many.

It was time to board the coaches for our return journey back to Kyrenia and I think everyone enjoyed their visit to the buffer zone and to pay their respects at Wayne’s Keep.

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North Cyprus – Fingers the Goat – 1958/59 C Company Mascot, Suffolk Regiment

Fingers the Goat – on parade in

North Cyprus

By Margaret Sheard

Last year I wrote a lengthy article, in conjunction with Derek Chilvers, a British ex-serviceman, about his memories of the time he spent in Cyprus in 1958/59 which included many photographs and many anecdotes. This has proved to be a very popular article and is still being read, to see this click here, but before you do I would like to ask you to read the following lovely account of Fingers the Goat.

On one of the photographs I received from Derek, there was a serviceman feeding a goat from a bottle and I got quite intrigued with this so asked more questions and was put in touch with Graham Spinks (Spike) who has now kindly given me a short story about Fingers together with some lovely photos of the goat’s days with C Company of the Suffolk Regiment in Cyprus.

These are Spike’s memories:-

During operations searching for EOKA personnel in the Pentydactylos (Greek for 5 fingers) area of Cyprus in November of

9. Snake skin of Levantine Viper on side of tent — Snake skin of Levantine Viper on side of tent

1958, my section in a forested area found a snake (levantine viper) the skin of which is on a tent in one of the photo’s of our base camp in which Fingers appears. One other section which was searching nearby found the baby goat which we decided to call Fingers. It was found, looked after and brought back to our base camp by Private King (a great bloke and soldier).

In the British Army, especially on active service, it is against Queen’s regulations to have pets etc. so we had a major problem on our hands when we returned to our main camp, so we bought a dog collar (or nicked one) and took it in turns to hide Fingers away behind our individual tents, and we got away with it for ages but then it blew up big time.

I was a Lance Corporal and with my mate, and future brother in law, we were called for by our Sergeant Major and asked (not too politely) if we knew anything about a ******* goat that was eating the Colonel’s roses? (Fingers had slipped its collar). The game was up, I confessed and he marched us to the offices where the Colonel and all his staff were looking at Fingers munching his roses (including the Provo Sergeant – the camp policeman).

By the way when Fingers was chewing the Colonel’s roses, quite a few of the office staff were watching and giggling. Of course I was not laughing, for the reasons that I have explained.

One of the National Servicemen who was serving at this office then was “Martin Bell”, who later became a respected BBC Journalist / reporter, although I can’t say for sure if he was one of the onlookers to the potential of a hanging or firing squad for me!

6. Fingers - Winner of the war of the roses — Fingers – Winner of the war of the roses

I was presented to the Colonel like a lamb (or a goat) to the slaughter as the guilty party, which of course I was, being the section’s Lance Corporal. He asked, where did you get it – I told him. How long have you had it – I told him a few weeks (it had started to grow horns). He had a strange executioner type expression on his face and then he asked – is it tame? and will it obey you? My reply to both his questions was yes!! (I was only a national service soldier for the two years and it looked like being longer!).

He then ordered the Provo Sergeant to hold the goat and took me with him 30 feet away and called out “here fingers,

4. C Company Mascot with collar courtesy of the Colonel — C Company Mascot with collar courtesy of the Colonel

come here!” in a very cultured well educated voice which Fingers totally ignored. He repeated this with the same result. He then ordered me to call Fingers with the same instruction. I obeyed and so did Fingers. What a relief!

Fingers then stopped being my Section’s pet and orders were given, which my Sergeant Major never quite forgave me for, and Fingers then became C Company’s mascot and it was official. Fingers actually had a smart collar to seal his new role as mascot of C Company, Suffolk Regiment.

The photo of Fingers marching was not staged or set up in any way, I know because I took it. It was taken at Dhekelia on the shooting

2. Fingers on the March — **Fingers on the March**

range there and Fingers marched with us from the 200 and then 400 and onward etc. etc.

I think this is a lovely story and shows the camaraderie which existed with these young men who were far from home and doing their National Service in a potentially dangerous place, which in this case was Cyprus in the late 50’s. They have wonderful memories and even now some of the lads still keep in touch with each other. This is how the story came to me which was via Derek Chilvers when I had remarked on one of his photos showing the goat.

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Our goat [Fingers] before he ate the Colonel’s roses

Private Noel King feeding Fingers

Declared winner of the war of the Colonel’s roses

Charley Company mascot. The collar was courtesy of the Colonel

Bill Aylesbury feeding Fingers 1958

Best trained goat in the British army (Corporal Wally Sherwood leading the men)

At base camp where we raised the tiny goat that we found on the mountain range called Pentedactylos [FiVE FINGERS in Greek]

Visit to Wayne’s Keep by British ex-servicemen – November 2013

Visit to Wayne’s Keep – November 2013

By Margaret Sheard

Following last year’s Remembrance Service in Kyrenia, I was contacted by one of the ex-servicemen, Derek Chilvers, who had attended during his first visit back to Cyprus in 53 years and this subsequently resulted in my writing an article about his experiences in Cyprus during his time here in 1958/59. To see the article and many photographs click here.

So I was pleased this year, at the time of the Remembrance Service, to be able to meet Derek personally and 2 of his friends, John and Mick, who also served in Cyprus at the same time with the Suffolk Regiment. I wanted to make this visit a special one for them all so I organised a trip to Wayne’s Keep to be made the day after the Remembrance Service.

We met up with Derek, John and Mick at the Pia Bella Hotel where a lot of the veterans were staying, and also accompanying us was a Turkish Cypriot friend from London, Ismail Veli, who was on a separate visit to his homeland and we invited him as a guest to the Remembrance Service and Lunch and also to come with us for the Wayne’s Keep visit.

We travelled into Lefkoşa in 2 cars and our first port of call was the Museum of Barbarism in the Kumsal area of Lefkoşa. Chris had suggested including this as it would show our ex-servicemen friends why British servicemen were sent to Cyprus to try and keep the peace and prevent bloodshed between the two communities of the island. I was a little apprehensive as, having visited the museum previously, I was not sure of what their feelings would be, but they were very interested and very pleased to have the opportunity to visit this scene of the atrocities which took place on 24th December 1963. For myself, although I find the pictures and many bullet holes you can see throughout the building very disturbing, it is important for people to know just how bad the situation was in Cyprus at that time.

We then made our way to the Ledra Palace crossing and sat at a little cafe for a coffee and a toasted sandwich before making our way across the green line into the South and then we walked as far as the Old Post Office at the top of Ledra Street and adjacent to Luna Park. This was where Derek, John and Mick were billeted during some of their time in Cyprus. It was lovely to hear them talking of their memories of the place. As time was getting on we had to retrace our steps and return to Ledra Palace to meet up with Sergeant Mark White, the Wayne’s Keep Custodian, who had been so helpful with the arrangements for this visit.

We all boarded the UN mini-bus and off we went to the first place on our itinerary, Wayne’s Keep Cemetery. Chris and I have visited the cemetery before and every time find it a very peaceful and yet humbling place to see. There we met Captain Andy Oliver, a Padre, who was to accompany us during our tour of the cemetery. Mark had given us a wreath to lay wherever we chose and we decided to lay this at the main memorial at the end of the tour. One of the other ex-servicemen who had visited Cyprus for the Remembrance Service had asked the lads if they would place a small wooden cross on behalf of relatives on the grave of Kenneth Henry Spragg who lost his life on 4th November 1956 at the age of 20 years, we found the grave and the cross was laid. Derek, John and Mike had also brought another cross with them as their token on behalf of the Suffolk Regiment, and this was laid on the grave of Lance Corporal R D Fermor of the Suffolk Regiment, who lost his life at the age of 20 on the 19th November 1957.

We made our way to the main memorial and John was elected to lay the wreath, with which we had included a small inscription from our group, and then the Padre gave a short Service of Remembrance, which I think we all found very emotional and, as a small group, we were touched by the effort which had been made to make this a memorable occasion for us all.

We eventually said our goodbyes to the Padre and then continued on our journey. This was to have been a visit to a small chapel but as time was moving on and the lads desperately wanted to visit the site of their old camp, Kykko East Camp, this is where we made for and Mick, who had visited a few years ago, remembered exactly where it was. We arrived at a desolate area of land and with that the lads were off running and getting very excited that here they were at the site where they had spent so much time during their National Service in Cyprus. Mark made a comment as John sprinted off waving his arms around that he was a young serviceman again. Derek located what he thought was the base where his tent was pitched. It was all very nostalgic and wonderful to see the expressions on their faces and hear them talking of the old times, re-enacting staggering back to the tent down a small path with a torch. What a lovely experience for them and for us as well.

There was even more to come. even though it was getting late and the light would soon be going, Mark took us to the old Nicosia International Airport, this was an added bonus and we are all so grateful to him. Ismail, our Turkish Cypriot friend, was suddenly as excited as the lads were as he never thought he would ever set foot on the airport again and here he was suddenly remembering the last time, when he was 16 years of age, using this airport in July/August 1972. We looked through the broken windows and Ismail could recall seeing a young girl who was waving to someone and he looked at her and thought how beautiful she was, in later years he wondered how she had fared. We then saw an aircraft still sitting on the tarmac which didn’t get to take off in 1974. 3 aircraft were allowed to take off but the remaining one was grounded and there it still sits, although it has since been moved from its original location, which was probably near the runway. The aircraft is now just a shell but it is a reminder of the sad times of Cyprus and the unnecessary waste of life.

What a wonderful experience this was for all of us and we cannot thank Mark enough for making this such a memorable visit. He has been the Wayne’s Keep Custodian since he arrived at the Ledra Palace base some 6-7 weeks ago and he has obviously researched his knowledge of the area and was able to make this such an interesting and informative visit. So from all of us, thank you Mark, the visit could not have been better and our ex-servicemen and Turkish Cypriot friend will go away with some wonderful memories.

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Suffolk Regiment

Visit to Wayne’s Keep – 10th November 2015

Visit to Wayne’s Keep

10^th November 2015

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Cyprus Emergency Veterans and the National Memorial Arboretum

Cyprus Emergency Veterans and the

National Memorial Arboretum

By Chris Elliott……..

Memorial to British Servicemen on active service who died during the Cyprus Emergency in 1955 to 1959

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Suffolk Regiment “Old Boys” Christmas Reunion

The Suffolk Regiment “Old

Boys” Christmas Reunion

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Visit to Wayne’s Keep – November 2014

Visit to Wayne’s Keep – November 2014

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North Cyprus – Fingers the Goat – 1958/59 C Company Mascot, Suffolk Regiment

Fingers the Goat – on parade in

North Cyprus

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Visit to Wayne’s Keep by British ex-servicemen – November 2013

Visit to Wayne’s Keep – November 2013

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Suffolk Regiment

Visit to Wayne’s Keep

10th November 2015

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Cyprus Emergency Veterans and the

National Memorial Arboretum

By Chris Elliott……..

Memorial to British Servicemen on active service who died during the Cyprus Emergency in 1955 to 1959

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The Suffolk Regiment “Old

Boys” Christmas Reunion

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Visit to Wayne’s Keep – November 2014

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Fingers the Goat – on parade in

North Cyprus

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Visit to Wayne’s Keep – November 2013

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10^th November 2015