Aug 2020
Alan recalls his RAF career for National Aviation Week
Whitefriars resident Alan Swalwell has been sharing photographs and memories with staff during National Aviation Week.
Whitefriars resident Alan Swalwell has been sharing photographs and memories with staff at the Stamford care home run by the OSJCT during National Aviation Week.
National Aviation Week, along with the recent VJ Day celebrations, has been marked at the care home with activities for residents such as making paper planes and a matching planes memory game.
Care home resident Alan took the opportunity to look through his photographs and talk about his war time memories and recollections of a career in the RAF.
Alan, who was born in Blyth, Northumberland, was just 14 when the war ended. He said: “During the war there was great camaraderie among friends and families in the town.”
Being a young child during the war and seeing planes fly overhead made Alan determined to join the RAF. He also wanted to a different job from his dad, who worked in the mines.
Alan said: “I’d wanted to be in the RAF from a young age, not a miner like my dad, or a teacher, even though at school they said I could train as a teacher. I have great memories of my time in the RAF, I enjoyed it very much. I travelled all over the world with the RAF, working overseas in many countries including Spain, Gibraltar, Cyprus and Japan.”
Alan met his wife when he was about 20 and she was able to visit him abroad at the different locations where he was stationed.
Alan has been at OSJCT Whitefriars for two years. He enjoys looking through his photographs and remembering his younger days. He recalls friends, the planes he travelled on, time with his wife and his passion for motorbikes.
OSJCT Activities Coordinator, Donna Moses, said: “Alan has a fantastic collection of pictures and stories to share. And his passion for the RAF and motorbikes is as strong as ever!”
For more information about OSJCT Whitefriars visit www.osjct.co.uk/care-home/whitefriars