learn, laugh, live

This photo of the military history group was taken on 7^th January, 2025. It includes Ken Fowler, standing third from right, who celebrated his hundredth birthday a week earlier. Ken was a radio operator on Lancaster bombers during the war, and during the lockdown he gave a two hour zoom presentation about his wartime experiences. On one of his wartime missions, he participated in a raid on Kiel harbour in the Baltic when the German pocket battleship, the Von Scheer, was sunk. Perhaps his proudest wartime achievement was when his crew dropped food supplies to the starving people of Holland during the final weeks of the war. Despite his age, Ken shows no signs of slowing down physically or mentally.

This long-established group currently has one vacancy. We meet every other Tuesday morning between October and March at the organiser's house in Sundridge where there is good parking. Members take it in turns to lead a session on a topic of their choice relating to aspects of warfare from the earliest of times.

These are the topics that we are covering in the current programme: Concentration Camps, the Siege of Torres Vedras, the Ottoman Empire, Jersey in WW2, Medicine in Warfare, Sicily and Naples in WW2, Mahdist Sudan and the Road to Omdurman, Experiences of a Doctor in WW2, Arctic Convoys, and the Scuttling of the French Fleet.

Last updated 11 May 2025