Sunday 24 February 2013

The Wonderyears belated Christmas Dinner at The Wheetsheaf



Alan, John C, Vera with Fiona in the background relaxing before going into dinner.
Two wives, Fiona and Barbara catching up after their last meet at The Laleham Golf Club concert.


Christine & Barbara enjoying their chat and before dinner.

Bob, Mary, Val, Christine and Barbara enjoying their get together before dinner.
The Wonderyears Christmas Dinner was late this year due to our first date being cancelled due to bad weather.
We usually have two social gatherings a year, one in the summer and a winter one.  We enjoy any get togethers but these socials are special as we can involve our wives and partners.  Having a drink and chat before our meal is served enables us to mix more before being seated.  As you can see by the photos full advantage is taken of this precious time.
Add caption

Table 1
Table 2

Maggie, Keith's wife, Keith and Pam.

Joan and Dave T having a serious chat.

Table 3

Table 4

The meal, as usual, was delicious, all enjoyed their personal selection and wines.

Colin, singing 'Roll Over Beethoven' accompanied by Keith on guitar

Dave T singing 'End of the Line' accompanied by Keith

We just can't help ourselves, even on a relaxing night out we entertain ourselves, there were others who graced the floor but I got carried away with everything so only managed to capture Dave and Colin who were both ably accompanied by Keith, who had earlier sang a lovely song called 'Flowers for Kitty Jay'; which he'd composed himself.

All went home feeling very content and happy, looking forward to our next rehearsal.


  


Friday 1 February 2013

Did Glen Miller Die in Ohio?


Tony Eaton giving his talk at our local library




Our local library was recently given a very interesting talk given by Tony Eaton, whose mentor was Wilbur Smith.  It followed a trial started by Helen Miller when, along with a lot of Glenn’s fans,  she questioned the story of her husband’s disappearance when  the plane he was flying in supposedly went down in the  English Channel with the false reason that it was lost due to fog.

What started the trail was a document showing that the plane had been lost at sea showing that it and had two passengers on board, plus the pilot, but after careful examination it was proved that Glenn’s name had been typed in with a different typewriter, also the 15th December, the day the plane supposedly went down, was a fine day.  It was his friend and manager Don Haynes who gave out the story that he was on that particular plane, though it was purported he had a diary that gave a different story but this is missing.  This was the ending given to the film ‘The Glenn Miller Story’ from information gleaned from official sources.

When Glenn first joined the AAF he formed a band of servicemen.  Their performances, in America, were exceedingly successful raising a substantial amount of money for war bonds.  But Glenn wasn’t satisfied, he wanted to play to American servicemen who were stationed abroad, it was decided to send him to England.  Tony pointed out that where he was sent drew suspicion. High Wycombe was very near to Bletchley Park Code Breakers and also two major officers, one of which was in charge of daytime raids the other night time.  David Niven who was, according to Tony, in the Secret Service, was his ‘boss’; I haven’t been able to find anything at all on the internet giving any information on the role David Niven played during the war.  The story went that the then Lieutenant Colonel Eisenhower, along with other major military who decided not to accept a warning from the code breakers and had gone ahead with a plan which they reckoned would end the war.  Glenn Miller was to be part of the propaganda, chosen mainly as he was so well known.  Glenn’s band was to perform a concert in Paris, they had gone ahead of him.   Glenn, had flown to Paris via a different route to that reported using his rightful first name, Alton, which he hated.  He then met Eisenhower at a place Eisenhower owned.  According to Tony the Germans raided this and, although it was believed the main target was Eisenhower, it was Glenn who was shot.  Tony has photos, letters and documents go towards substantiating some of this story.

Helen Miller, had completed a lot of detective work, but strangely suddenly stopped, it was thought that she was bribed with being able to have Glenn’s body to bury to stop her informing the public of more of her findings and discovering more.  There is a family plot where, it is thought, Glenn is buried alongside his wife.

I have posted a photograph of a document taken from the internet, which Tony also has a copy of, showing that Alton G Miller died in a hospital in Ohio.  My copy comes from a site which claims that Glenn, Alton, died from gunshot wounds administered by a jealous husband when he was in Paris.

Herb Miller claimed his brother died of cancer, through smoking.  Certainly when you look at some of the photos Glenn looks as though he’s lost a lot of weight.  He reckoned that Glenn hadn’t wanted this fact known.

Another person claims that a bomb jettisoned from a plane returning home after a raid sent shock waves which bought the plane down.

The exact truth will only be known in 2044, when legal documents concerning this mystery are released.



http://www.facebook.com/#!/maureen.grogan.5http://www.facebook.com/#!/maureen.grogan.5