Article for April 2011 Newsletter

At the end of January, for our first meeting of the New Year, we were very pleased to welcome Tony Eaton, who gave a brilliant talk with the title of ‘The Curious Disappearance of Major Glenn Miller’. In 1942 and to the surprise of the American people, Glenn left his World-famous ‘Big Band’ and volunteered for military service. With the rank of captain and subsequently of Major, he came to England and formed an all-service orchestra in 1944. It soon became a phenomenal success touring the U.S. bases and his music was even broadcast directly to Germany.

On December 14^th 1944, from an airbase in Bedfordshire, he was supposed to have flown to Paris. There were so-called ‘witnesses, who saw him take off in a single-engined aircraft but after nine days there was no news of him. Since that time his disappearance has become a complete enigma and has never been explained. Tony expertly gave us all of the possible theories of what might have happened to him. Did the aircraft have problems? Become iced up and crash into the Channel? Was it true that Glenn did in fact fly to Paris the previous day from Bovington? Was he involved in the black market, kidnapped or murdered? Was he part of the secret service organisation OSS and was reporting directly to Eisenhower? It seems that the true explanation of Glenn’s vanishing act was the subject of a huge cover-up operation by the US. Government and that the appropriate war records may never be made public.

Tony’s excellent illustrated talk ended with the playing of an original recording of ‘Moonlight Serenade’ – a fitting tribute to a fascinating man.

In February, our guest speaker was Mark Davis whose talk was on the subject ‘From Medicine Spoons to Love Spoons’. Mark went through the history of medicine spoons from the early types in decorated enamel, high quality silver ones made by Gibson between 1820 and 1835 to models made in Brittania metal.

Love spoons, most popular in Wales, evolved three hundred years ago and were heavily carved with different designs depicting the aspects of love, courtship and marriage. Each of the spoons, made from an enormous range of woods was unique and highly valued by the recipient. Mark’s interest of this subject had now become a part-time hobby and he showed us a range of coloured slides of spoons he has carved for friends, work colleagues and family members.

We meet at 8pm on the last Tuesday of each month in the Village Hall. All visitors are very welcome.

Next meetings:

March 29^th ‘One in the Eye for Harold – The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry’

April 26^th AGM and Members Evening

May 31^st ‘The History of the Panto’

June 28^th ‘Tottenhoe Quarries’