Neil Pudney
@neilpuds.bsky.social
Amateur Historian/Gt War researcher/battlefield visitor. Writing about 133 FdAmb in WW2. CPFC. Music nut. Takes photos. Carer. Used to cut grass. Great War Group & WFA member.
https://stjohnsleatherheadatwar.co.uk/
https://stjohnsleatherheadatwar.co.uk/
The Red Arrows were based at Brize over the weekend. In and out several times so plenty of photo ops. Spot the one taken from our house in Witney, around 4 miles from the base!
June 3, 2025 at 9:42 PM
The Red Arrows were based at Brize over the weekend. In and out several times so plenty of photo ops. Spot the one taken from our house in Witney, around 4 miles from the base!
I was cutting a bit shorter 😉
April 22, 2025 at 7:08 PM
I was cutting a bit shorter 😉
Ages ago, in that other place we've all abandoned, some one recommended the Mark Hollis album, possibly @uppertiersteve.bsky.social (apologies if wrong). Not what I expected at all, it's astonishing! Stripped back, emotion laden angst but incredibly powerful stuff from the main man in Talk Talk.
April 17, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Ages ago, in that other place we've all abandoned, some one recommended the Mark Hollis album, possibly @uppertiersteve.bsky.social (apologies if wrong). Not what I expected at all, it's astonishing! Stripped back, emotion laden angst but incredibly powerful stuff from the main man in Talk Talk.
Struggled recently to find the time to listen to albums, recently but, 2 got a spin today. I'm quite familiar with the Alan Parsons Project 'Tales...' and, while it was good to hear it again perhaps it's not aged that well? 1/2
April 17, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Struggled recently to find the time to listen to albums, recently but, 2 got a spin today. I'm quite familiar with the Alan Parsons Project 'Tales...' and, while it was good to hear it again perhaps it's not aged that well? 1/2
An elusive Water Vole, an unexpected sighting in the scrub by the River Windrush in Oxfordshire 🙂
March 27, 2025 at 11:02 PM
An elusive Water Vole, an unexpected sighting in the scrub by the River Windrush in Oxfordshire 🙂
They flew over Brize not long after where I just happened to be 😉
March 27, 2025 at 10:49 PM
They flew over Brize not long after where I just happened to be 😉
It's been a tough winter for the old girl but, finally, she's starting to pick up. 5 weeks to first game, no pressure 😬
March 18, 2025 at 8:20 PM
It's been a tough winter for the old girl but, finally, she's starting to pick up. 5 weeks to first game, no pressure 😬
A couple of interesting visitors to RAF Brize Norton today. Fast then slow flypast from a Typhoon, then the same from a F-35.
March 12, 2025 at 9:05 PM
A couple of interesting visitors to RAF Brize Norton today. Fast then slow flypast from a Typhoon, then the same from a F-35.
Arrived today! The latest edition of @thegreatwargroup.bsky.social quarterly journal, Salient Points. 100 plus pages of fascinating content, with a specific focus, in this issue, on the Battle of Loos. Looking forward to settling down with this over the weekend 🙂
March 7, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Arrived today! The latest edition of @thegreatwargroup.bsky.social quarterly journal, Salient Points. 100 plus pages of fascinating content, with a specific focus, in this issue, on the Battle of Loos. Looking forward to settling down with this over the weekend 🙂
Good to see the Manadarin Duck of Ducklington Village back today :) Made the 'get away from all the rubbish going on in the world' walk well worth it!
March 2, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Good to see the Manadarin Duck of Ducklington Village back today :) Made the 'get away from all the rubbish going on in the world' walk well worth it!
MARB11 B52H (60-0044) heading into the setting sun about 3 miles out from RAF Fairford, this afternoon. Taken from the Thames Path just south of Lechlade.
February 24, 2025 at 8:36 PM
MARB11 B52H (60-0044) heading into the setting sun about 3 miles out from RAF Fairford, this afternoon. Taken from the Thames Path just south of Lechlade.
The Ring Necked Parakeets are now a common sight around Oxford and, the Redwings are a regular winter visitor.
February 18, 2025 at 8:19 PM
The Ring Necked Parakeets are now a common sight around Oxford and, the Redwings are a regular winter visitor.
Remembering Lt. Col. John Wilfred Stokes RAMC, former pupil of St. John’s School Leatherhead, who died on 10 February 1916. A pre war Territorial, the outbreak of hostilities saw John promoted to Lt. Col. & given command of 3rd West Riding Field Ambulance. 1 @thegreatwargroup.bsky.social #WW1 #FWW
February 10, 2025 at 4:05 PM
Remembering Lt. Col. John Wilfred Stokes RAMC, former pupil of St. John’s School Leatherhead, who died on 10 February 1916. A pre war Territorial, the outbreak of hostilities saw John promoted to Lt. Col. & given command of 3rd West Riding Field Ambulance. 1 @thegreatwargroup.bsky.social #WW1 #FWW
‘The wood seemed to shut us in all by ourselves. There were only a few of us there; his Company Commander, the Doctor, some 10 men and myself & the boy who had given all he had to give. At any rate it is a most perfect resting place, among the men of our brigade. He is a great loss to us…’ 12
February 6, 2025 at 10:46 AM
‘The wood seemed to shut us in all by ourselves. There were only a few of us there; his Company Commander, the Doctor, some 10 men and myself & the boy who had given all he had to give. At any rate it is a most perfect resting place, among the men of our brigade. He is a great loss to us…’ 12
2nd Lt. Edmund Gray, 15th DLI, had captained Richard’s brother, Frank, in the school’s 1st XI cricket team & the 3 boys were good friends. Edmund, aged 19 and after just 6 weeks at the front, was also killed by a sniper, on 22 October 1915. This time it was the Chaplain that wrote home. 9
February 6, 2025 at 10:44 AM
2nd Lt. Edmund Gray, 15th DLI, had captained Richard’s brother, Frank, in the school’s 1st XI cricket team & the 3 boys were good friends. Edmund, aged 19 and after just 6 weeks at the front, was also killed by a sniper, on 22 October 1915. This time it was the Chaplain that wrote home. 9
Richard lies in what is now Ploegsteert Wood Military Cemetery, deep within the wood. On summer days shafts of light pass through the trees & create a beautiful, peaceful garden of remembrance. Remarkably, among the 164 men buried here is another Old Johnian, a friend & contemporary of Richard’s. 8
February 6, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Richard lies in what is now Ploegsteert Wood Military Cemetery, deep within the wood. On summer days shafts of light pass through the trees & create a beautiful, peaceful garden of remembrance. Remarkably, among the 164 men buried here is another Old Johnian, a friend & contemporary of Richard’s. 8
I…had known your boy long enough to be very proud of him. We buried him this afternoon, and all the officers I could take from the line were present. It was a simple, quiet and very sad funeral, within 350 yards of the front line. From what I knew of him it was as he would have liked.’ 6
February 6, 2025 at 10:41 AM
I…had known your boy long enough to be very proud of him. We buried him this afternoon, and all the officers I could take from the line were present. It was a simple, quiet and very sad funeral, within 350 yards of the front line. From what I knew of him it was as he would have liked.’ 6
A thread remembering former pupil of St Johns School Leatherhead, 2nd Lt. Richard Edward Elco Skyrme, 1st Battalion (The Duke of Edinburgh’s) Wiltshire Regiment. Richard was killed in action this day, the 6th February, in 1917 at Ploegsteert Wood, Belgium. 2 @thegreatwargroup.bsky.social. #WW1#FWW
February 6, 2025 at 10:37 AM
A thread remembering former pupil of St Johns School Leatherhead, 2nd Lt. Richard Edward Elco Skyrme, 1st Battalion (The Duke of Edinburgh’s) Wiltshire Regiment. Richard was killed in action this day, the 6th February, in 1917 at Ploegsteert Wood, Belgium. 2 @thegreatwargroup.bsky.social. #WW1#FWW
Only 162 days until RIAT 2025, which is slightly worrying as I am still dipping back into the 2024 photo files and editing! Results for a rank amateur like me were pretty good to be honest but, still much to learn! Anyway, here's a few Eurofighter/Typhoon shots :)
February 5, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Only 162 days until RIAT 2025, which is slightly worrying as I am still dipping back into the 2024 photo files and editing! Results for a rank amateur like me were pretty good to be honest but, still much to learn! Anyway, here's a few Eurofighter/Typhoon shots :)
Sometimes, when the world weighs heavy on your shouldets, only a slice of lush 'Progressive Rock' will do. That the 5.1 mix takes this album into the stratosphere is glorious extra:
Big Big Train-The Likes Of Us
Big Big Train-The Likes Of Us
February 4, 2025 at 4:38 PM
Sometimes, when the world weighs heavy on your shouldets, only a slice of lush 'Progressive Rock' will do. That the 5.1 mix takes this album into the stratosphere is glorious extra:
Big Big Train-The Likes Of Us
Big Big Train-The Likes Of Us
At the end of the war, Oliver’s name was added to the village memorial, which is situated just outside the church and, also, to a brass plaque close to the altar. Three boys, then, from a distant Surrey school, all now remembered in a quiet corner of Wiltshire. 7
February 4, 2025 at 5:56 AM
At the end of the war, Oliver’s name was added to the village memorial, which is situated just outside the church and, also, to a brass plaque close to the altar. Three boys, then, from a distant Surrey school, all now remembered in a quiet corner of Wiltshire. 7
A remarkable coincidence? But, there is one further link to the Surrey school at St. Michaels and All Angels. The vicar when both men were buried there was the Revd. John Calley. His son Oliver had been killed in action on 12 March 1915 and Oliver was yet another St. John's Leatherhead old boy. 6
February 4, 2025 at 5:52 AM
A remarkable coincidence? But, there is one further link to the Surrey school at St. Michaels and All Angels. The vicar when both men were buried there was the Revd. John Calley. His son Oliver had been killed in action on 12 March 1915 and Oliver was yet another St. John's Leatherhead old boy. 6
Relatively inexperienced as he was, the inquiry into his death concluded that the crash was, ‘due to misjudgement on part of pilot in allowing machine to stall on a turn’. By a strange twist of fate Thomas was also an ex pupil of St. John’s, his time at the school overlapping with that of Morgan. 5
February 4, 2025 at 5:49 AM
Relatively inexperienced as he was, the inquiry into his death concluded that the crash was, ‘due to misjudgement on part of pilot in allowing machine to stall on a turn’. By a strange twist of fate Thomas was also an ex pupil of St. John’s, his time at the school overlapping with that of Morgan. 5
The official enquiry concluded, ‘being weakened by excessive exposure to rain during the night of the 3rd & the 4th inst. the wings folded back in the air. The machine became uncontrollable and crashed to earth…’ Both men are buried in the CWGC plot at St. Michaels & All Angels church, Figheldean. 2
February 4, 2025 at 5:44 AM
The official enquiry concluded, ‘being weakened by excessive exposure to rain during the night of the 3rd & the 4th inst. the wings folded back in the air. The machine became uncontrollable and crashed to earth…’ Both men are buried in the CWGC plot at St. Michaels & All Angels church, Figheldean. 2
A short thread remembering Lt. Ashton Morgan RFC who died this day, 4 February 1918, along with his Observer Flt. Sgt. Lester Rowan, after their F.E.8 aircraft crashed when returning to their base at Netheravon, Wiltshire following a two day training sortie away from the airfield. 1
February 4, 2025 at 5:42 AM
A short thread remembering Lt. Ashton Morgan RFC who died this day, 4 February 1918, along with his Observer Flt. Sgt. Lester Rowan, after their F.E.8 aircraft crashed when returning to their base at Netheravon, Wiltshire following a two day training sortie away from the airfield. 1