Suffolk, England

Based at Honington 1964 - 1966, lived in the Manor house, first property on the left as you approach Thurston village coming in from Ixeworth, got married mid 1965, moved in to the annexe of the house, owned by a retired Major & his wife, big gardens to the rear with tennis courts & vegetable garden, stables (no horses used as garages & workshops) at the side, visited the pub in the village, remember had old newspapers on the walls behind glass , never did get all the way round reading them !, think next door (or close ) was the village garage, let us use his workshop to sort the cars & motocycles out (did an engine change on my Jowett Javelin there with help & using the facilities, hoist, oil, water etc), good railway service into Bury & to Ipswich (had relations there, Aunt & Uncle - Tom Tarling, Chief Constable of Suffolk, ex Beaufighter pilot WW2 in the Med), remember being evacuated from the house summer 66 when the stubble in the fields was being burnt, got out of control & swept across towards the house, went out with the firemen to beat down the embers, guess was quite scary at the time, was a good way of life then , sun always shone, life was leisurely, no pressures, cycled into Honington & back most days (about 11 miles if I remember correctly) used car or train to shop in Bury at weekends, seemed life was a more gentle affair those days, we lived there until late 1966 when got posted to Marham with the Victor tanker fleet.

John, apologies for delay in replying, but yes he was I/C that case (no pun intended !) he was quite a character, was a good common sense policeman before PC took over, he was a well decorated pilot as well, ended up flying Beaufighters in the Med & Balkans with distinction, but was very modest regarding his wartime exploits. I am still trying to track down his logbooks through his children & Margaret his surviving wife. I hope to be able to post some more info soon but will be on the Ipswich site where they lived. B Rgds, Paul H.