The Trip So Far

November 19 - We are a tad tired! There were a few delays etc. with flights yesterday for me but we got to Manchester in good time - around 8 this morning. A really nice young man, Chris Jordan (from Chris Caunce's office) was there to meet us and drove us to Chester in his BMW! Sports car type thing! You should have seen Louise getting in and out of the back seat and me standing on the driver's side going to get in but reminded that... My in and out did not go any smoother. So the two of us are a bit gibbled up from sitting on the plane and getting old.

Enough of that.

Chester is quite lovely. We are in a townhouse with an entrance out to the front garden along the River Dee, a main floor with kitchen/dining area, living room and a half bathroom downstairs and 3 bedrooms upstairs and a full bathroom. The whole place has been beautifully renovated. This is the house that Belle and Fanny Grey lived in - two great friends of Mom's when we were here. I do remember looking down from the upstairs window in #13 Deva Terrace down into this house and seeing Mom having tea with Belle and Fannie.

Louise went out with Chris J. and bought a few items for lunch.

And then we went next door where I lived from 1940 to 1945. I really don't have much memory of the inside but it has been nicely redone. I do remember looking at the river and swans and rowers (we've seen some already) and the garden.

So we have now contacted the cab company which is taking us to the airport tomorrow morning and we are going on a cab ride around the city with a few strategic stops for photos.

Itinerary

November 16 - Two more sleeps!

I have now been in touch with the nice people in Chester and that part is as good as it's going to get. I should have booked one more day but it's OK. Louise and I are going to try to go to Blossoms Hotel for supper. This is where (I may have mentioned this elsewhere but it bears repeating) Mom and Dad and company had their wedding supper.

Watch this space for photos and updates. I may also be putting photos on Facebook for those of you who are followers.

And now here is the itinerary as I know it!

November Trip Itinerary

Tuesday, November 18 – 4:12 pm – United Airlines – Halifax to Newark, NJ – arrive 5:39 pm
Tuesday, November 18 – 7:35 pm – United Airlines – Newark to Manchester – arrive 7:30 am Wednesday (Louise on same flight)

Wednesday, November 19 – Chris Caunce picking us up and driving us to Chester to stay at Deva Terrace – touring Chester – hope to have dinner at Blossoms Hotel

Thursday, November 20 – 10:40 am – Brussels Airlines – Manchester to Brussels – arrive 1:00 pm
Thursday, November 20 – touring Brussels – staying at Hotel Metropole

Friday, November 21 – Opglabbeek folks picking us up from Brussels and taking us to Hasselt where we will be interviewed on TVL about Dad; then we will go on to As where we will be staying at the Hotel Mardaga

Saturday, November 22 – Opglabbeek for the big exhibition at the Community Hall of WWII memorabilia and the launch of the Y32 Ophoven Airfield book – staying at Hotel Mardaga

Sunday, November 23 – Opglabbeek friends will drive us to Genk
Sunday, November 23 – Genk to Brussels to Luxembourg – we have open tickets so we can leave on a late morning train and arrive in Luxembourg in late afternoon
Sunday, November 23 – taxi to Findel Airport to pick up car
Sunday, November 23 – drive to Hotel Cravat where we will be staying until Thursday morning

Monday, November 24 through Wednesday, November 26 we will be driving around and seeing friends and visiting Echternach and so on

Thursday, November 27 – EARLY – drive to airport to return car
Thursday, November 27 – 6:45 am – Luxair to Frankfurt – arrive 7:35 am (Louise on same flight)
Thursday, November 27 – 10:30 am – Air Canada to Montreal – arrive 12:35 pm (Louise on same flight)

Thursday, November 27 – 1:50 pm – Air Canada to Halifax – arrive 4:20 pm

Remembrance Day, 2014

I watched the Remembrance Day ceremonies from Ottawa on TV today. It took me back to the late 40's when my Dad and I went to the War Memorial for the ceremonies then. I remember the walking, holding his hand.

And today brother Don sent out an MP3 file of his musical arrangement for John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields. I hope I can embed it here so you can hear it. [It may have to wait until I'm back from our trip.] Here are some comments from family and friends -

From our friend Allan Hillman, England -

Hello Don

Thanks - much better with the music!!

A very timely e-mail – I have just been watching the ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres, and then the BBC switched over to the Tower of London where the last of the special ceramic poppies were put in place, and the final 150 names were read out.

Now we await 11.00

If you all haven’t seen the 800,000 plus special ceramic poppies at the Tower of London, visited by over 5 million people,  covered by your media I recommend you look here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28658498

Kind regards

Allan

From brother Gordon Tripe, North Bay, Canada

Wow. I am very glad to have heard this at the start of this very, very important day. Well done big brother. Well done. Gord

From Me

Thanks Don, it is a wonderful arrangement and the choir has done a masterful job.

Thank you.

Anne

From Allan again

Hi Anne

I totally agree – the a capella was lovely, and although I cannot read music the actual arrangement completed things, Don and the choir have done a wonderful job, and the dedication to your parent’s shows the love you all have for them.

Kind regards

Allan

From Cousin David Hall, Ottawa, Canada

Wonderful, Don.

Here in a bright sky Ottawa the Remembrance Day gods heightened the drama for me. They delayed the beginning of my day until just before 11 and by the time I unlocked the secrets of the zip file the a capella ended just at the hour. Then the cannon boomed from Parliament Hill and at 11:11 the flypast roared by followed by the quieter drone from the rotary engine of the yellow biplane that flies out of Gatineau, Quebec.
Today, I honour in particular the memory of Major Harry John Hall, MC, 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), wounded at Ypres, killed in the Battle of The Somme October 1916, veteran of the Boer War, Lieutenant Seaforth Highlanders, wounded at Magersfontein, again at the battle of Jagersfontein, father of my father Kevin. 
A dram or two will be raised at the going down of the sun for all who served and all who suffered whether in the field or at home.
David

From our friend Karel Baetan, Belgium

Hello Don,

I love your version of "in Flanders Fields", my compliments to your church choir, what a beautiful performance.

It certainly brought me up to speed, next week we present our book on Y-32 Ophoven, your father is appearing in it as you know. In fact he and his comrades are more or less the reason why I wrote the book. We still have a lot to do, there will be an exhibition of WWII memorabilia , we've invited the primary schools from nearby villages so they can keep the remembrance alive, we will be interviewed on local television,I will meet Anne and her sister Louise, etc….

Kind Regards

Karel

From brother Rob Tripe, India

Don

Nice arrangement - a fitting "in memorium" tribute to Mum and Dad. How big is your choir? Pass along my congrats on a job well done to them. 

Thanks for sending it along.

Rob

P.S. - OK if I pass this along to my chorus director?

October Update

October 18, 2014 - The big trip is now only one month away. Various things have happened since I last put information on this blog. I thought I'd better get things updated.

The Chester part of the trip stays the same and while I know the time is rather short, I do hope Louise and I will be able to drive around to see some things during that day. I'm sure we'll be a little tired but one can always sleep at the end of the day.

The Brussels leg is changing a bit. I still have to find a hotel near the city centre and, hopefully, on one of those Hop-On, Hop-Off bus tour routes. Neither Louise nor I are great walkers. Louise probably is better than I am these days but then, she is 7 years younger then me. Unfortunately, my friends Jemp and Lony won't be able to pick us up and take us to As. So we are either going to be picked up by someone from As or we'll take the train from Brussels to Genk which is close to As.

We are booked in to the Hotel Mardaga in As. This is the hotel that rates highly now in our family. You can see the story about that in the previous blog - Phil Tripe Blog. 

Here is a quick note from our great friend Karel Baetan in As - "In the meantime, we received an invitation from our regional TV station (a human interest talk show called StudioTVL) to visit them on Friday, November 21. So we would like to invite you to come with us to tell something about your Dad."

Louise says the following - "I’m getting verklempt just thinking of what’s in store. Naturally, I’ll let you do all the talking for the TV interview - I might do a photobomb, though. You know, tears streaming down my face. sobbing uncontrollably. I know, I’ll be a mess! But loving it!" That's my sister!

Email from my brother Rob - "This is really something! Of course Dad would be publicly mortified (but privately, absolutely delighted) with all this "fuss". And, while I think of it, you deserve kudos for being the catalyst on Dad's behalf - this wouldn't be happening without you. (Yes, I know you're getting back a lot of pleasure as well!)"

Then on the Sunday, Weese (her other name) and I will get on a train and go from Genk back to Brussels and then to Luxembourg. I think we'll be renting a car there and travelling around to see old friends and old places. That part is still a bit vague. There is a fabulous looking Luxembourg Christmas Market in Luxembourg City while we are there so I imagine we'll be checking that out.

And the pièce de résistance today? Check this out. This is the promotional piece for The Book which includes the front cover design. The photo in the top right corner is of Dad and was put together by my dear cousin John Hall when we were getting ready for the first big trip to As back in 2010. What a great job Karel and William have done!

More 1940 Chester Photos and Documents

Here are a couple of wedding photos of Mom and Dad in 1940. My grandfather J. L. (Les) Rannie was able to get passage for Mom and himself for England.

 Left to right - The Chaplain at RAF Station Ternhill, Pilot Officer Philip Valentine King Tripe, Elizabeth Ann (Rannie) Tripe, Hilda Pickmere, John Leslie Rannie.

I can't read the signature of the Chaplain on this copy of their Marriage Certificate.

The happy couple in front of 13 Deva Terrace.

And then Mom and I went to Canada in June 1945. Here are a couple of pages from her passport with me in it. We left from Liverpool on the Scythia and landed at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We then took the train to Ottawa and met Dad after about 4 months. He had been shipped back in February 1945.

Photos for Part One of The Trip

I have two lovely albums put together by Mom for me. The first one was given to me many years ago about my first five years in Chester. And the second one came as a result of a trip she made in 1986 when she was 66 years old. Most of these photos are self-explanatory as she put little handwritten notes with them. They are great keepsakes and will show my family where I came from all those years ago. I have copied the whole album pages as it gives a better sense of the story.

Here are ones from the first one. My goodness, I was a cute little kid!

Mom told the story about her learning to cook at 13 Deva Terrace - she was cooking a splendid meal for Dad when he came home on leave once. It was a roast of beef! She dropped it on the floor, scooped it up, took it to the dining room and she said no one knew any different. Cooking was not Mom's strong suit. It was never awful but it wasn't fancy either.

This is one of my favourite photos of Mom and me.

And this is my Dad and me - love this one too.

More Photos

Here are some photos from the second album.

I am hoping that Louise and I can have either lunch or supper at Blossoms. Here is the website for the Macdonald New Blossoms Hotel - Macdonald New Blossoms Hotel. We could have a glass of wine and toast our parents, our grandfather, and our English "aunt, uncle and cousin".

This was Deva Terrace in the 1940s.

And this was Deva Terrace in 2012.