Bntva campaign magazine 09 15 issu

IN REMEMBRANCE OF THOSE WHO DID NOT MAKE IT THIS FAR AND IN SUPPORT OF THOSE WHO HAVE

CAMPAIGN The Journal of the BNTVA Registered Charity Number 1131134 TM

Beside the Seaside beside the sea Remembrance Sunday For tickets for this years Remembrance Sunday March, turn to page 35 ÂŁ2.99 where sold

Conference Report 2015

Summer 2015

2

| CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

BNTVA AGM

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 |

3

The Chaplain writes

‘With your whole heart…’

An aunt of mine, now long-departed, had a very busy life as a teacher of young children – an occupation she did not take up until middle age, having cared for dependent parents. In addition, to supplement very modest earnings, she taught English to foreign students two or three evenings a week, and gave her weekends to running a Brownie pack in what was then a poor parish in South Wimbledon.

Looking back on Aunt Dora’s life, I can see that she gave almost every waking moment to other people, though she would have been astonished if anyone had pointed this out to her: it was just the way she was.

Many members of our Association and their families are engaged in good works of one kind or another, often giving support to one another in sickness, bereavement or anxiety; some are active in promoting the BNTVA and keeping alive the story of Britain’s atomic tests in Australia and the Pacific, ‘lest we forget’.

My current work as Dean of the Priory of St John and St John Ambulance, brings me into contact with people of all ages who give their time and first-aid skills to others, regardless of race, religion or any other distinction.

As I think of all these good people, I call to mind some wise words of Meister Eckhart, a German spiritual writer of the 14th century. Perhaps they will be an encouragement to you, as they have been to me: ‘Wisdom consists in doing the next thing you have to do, doing it with your whole heart, and finding delight in doing it.’

With my good wishes and prayers for all our members and their families.

On 3rd October Dean Nicholas joined veterans in Portsmouth for their annual Remembrance Ceremony at the BNTVA Memorial in the garden of Portsmouth Cathedral.

4

| CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

BNTVA & Fallout Joint Conference Report 2015 Between the 15th and 17th of May 2015 the BNTVA & Fallout Conference was held at the Carrington House Hotel Bournemouth.

A wide range of speakers and topics, the full inclusion of descendents and friends generated a huge feeling of solidarity making this the best event we have ever hosted.

When guests arrived on the Friday they were welcomed and booked in for the following day.

On the Friday evening we screened a film by Larbie Benchiha which told the story of the French Tests in the Sahara Desert. The film was watched with great

interest and during the following Q&A session it was remarked “they were just like us�. We are all really one family.

On Saturday the new booking system ensured everyone was able to get straight in to the venue, only local visitors needed to sign in on the day.

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 |

5

BNTVA AGM The meeting was opened at 1100 hours by Secretary Bob Ireland who detailed the apologies received. Bob explained this was the first conference he had organised and he hoped everyone had a good time.

It was also noted that attendance had increased again over the previous years.

1. Chairman’s Opening Remarks The Chair told the meeting this year had been a very busy one with lots of negotiations taking place to secure our campaign, he was pleased to report that we have achieved almost all the points we set out to address with the campaign.

2. Service of Remembrance A short service was held remembering all those members who has passed since our last meeting.

3. Message from our Chaplain – The Very Reverend Nicholas Frayling Nicholas delivered a message to the AGM expressing unity and the hope that our campaign seemed to be working.

4. Message from our Patron - John Baron MP As you may be aware, the treatment of our nuclear veterans and the work of the British Nuclear Test Veterans’ Association were first brought to my attention by a constituent. It has been a privilege to serve as the group’s Patron, and I was particularly honoured to have recently been approached to act as the

Chairman of the Charitable Fund’s Investment Committee.

The last year has seen very good news for our recognition campaign, and my thanks go out to all who have taken part – whether by writing in to their MP, marching on Parliament or completing the BNTVA health surveys. These have all made a real difference and have been very helpful in advancing our cause.

Last June we had a well-attended Parliamentary screening of Charles Stewart’s excellent film ‘Nobody told us anything’, which was covered by BBC Radio 4. I am glad to hear the film is enjoying a wide roll-out at cinemas across the country – it is well worth seeing.

6

| CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

The details of how this Fund will operate still need to be hammered out, and we are keeping in close contact with No 10 to shape and influence this process. At our meeting at No 10 shortly after the Budget we did however agree that:

It was fitting to hear the Prime Minister’s words at the House of Commons Despatch Box last July, in response to my question, in which he, on behalf of the British Government, for the first time officially recognised and paid tribute to the service of nuclear test veterans. His words are worth repeating: “I am happy to tell the House that the Government recognise and are extremely grateful to all the service personnel who participated in the nuclear testing programme. We should be in no doubt that their selfless contribution helped to equip the UK with the deterrent that it needs”.

After a number of discussions with the Chancellor and Treasury officials, it was also extremely good news to hear in the Budget that the £25m Charitable Fund we had campaigned for will also be established, from which test veterans and their descendants will benefit.

1. The BNTVA will be involved in developing the terms and reference for the fund.

2. The BNTVA will have representation on the advisory panel.

3. The BNTVA will be the conduit for developing and managing block applications on behalf of beneficiaries.

Finally, I believe we should all pay tribute and thank both Jeff and Nige for their work as Vice-Chairman and Chairman respectively. We all owe them a debt of gratitude.

With best wishes for a successful conference.

The Chair recorded the gratitude of the Association form all the hard work done on our behalf not just by John but by his staff; Benjamin Yates and Claire Chipp.

5. Vice-Chairman’s Report – Jeff Liddiatt Jeff told conference that the Chancellor had announced a £25m provision from the Libor Fines to help Aged Veterans.

This money is principally intended to fund projects targeted at British Nuclear Test Veterans and their offspring.

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 |

He advised it was very early days and negotiations were continuing between the BNTVA and No10, but it was very clear that the Prime Minister and Chancellor were personally committed to doing something to help our people.

6. Organisation Manager’s Report – Bob Ireland Bob explained that the BNTVA are members of The Economic and Social Council, ECOSOC, and this is the main entry point into the UN system for Non Governmental Organisations. Being an NGO means that we can contribute by applying our own experiences to activities such as; education; research; technical expertise; spread information and awareness.

Before we can participate fully we have to submit an application for consultative status of the organisation. Once achieved, we will be kept informed of events from other parties that share our aims. In addition we will be able to attend and make written and oral statements at international conferences and events and have opportunities to network and lobby. Last but not least BNTVA will be able to enter United nations premises.

AVEN have already managed to achieve full consultative status but it will be next April at the earliest before we learn whether we have also been accepted.

7

On a sad note Bob reported he and his partner Barbara, attended the funeral of George Harrison, a member from the Preston area, they presented a wreath on behalf of the BNTVA. An obituary and report appeared in the last edition of Campaign Magazine The nationwide raffle proposed at the last AGM, unfortunately has not happened. This is a big disappointment; simply we could not attract the interest of any commercial backers to give us publicity and to sponsor major prizes.

Bob told the meeting he had contacted ninety major companies without success. However a suggestion had been put forward that by using the membership list we could draw a winner or winners each time the magazine is issued. This could be discussed in the afternoon’s Open Forum.

Bob then took the opportunity to thank Christine James and Marie-Pierre Hazera for all their splendid work in providing translations for documents and conversations between the BNTVA and AVEN. He also thanked Sonia Thomas for her work in the finance department and to all the Trustees who freely give of their time.

8

| CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

7. Financial Controller’s Report - Ian Greenhalgh Firstly may I apologise for the fact that I cannot be with you today to present this report in person. Unfortunately, as was the case a couple of years ago, I have been away for the whole of the previous week and weekend. I am Grateful to Bob Ireland for agreeing to put my report to the AGM on my behalf.

This report is prepared for the benefit of the members of the charity in respect of the financial year 2013 to 2014. Members should be aware that the financial year with which these accounts are concerned ended on 31 March, 2014. Under charity legislation the accounts of the charity must be submitted to the Charities Commission within ten months of the year end. The deadline for submitting the charity’s accounts to the Charities Commission is 31 January in the year following the relevant accounting period. Only at the point that the accounts are approved, finalised and submitted is it possible to provide information to the members.

There is therefore an inevitable delay in the members receiving any information concerning the accounts.

The Charities Commission make charities accounts available for inspection on the Charities Commission website only where the income for the charity exceeds £25,000. Given that the income in 2013/2014 was £24,855 the Charities Commission have not published the accounts.

In response to an enquiry from a member following the last AGM the trustees have agreed that regardless of the level of income, the accounts of the charity will be published on the BNTVA website once they have been submitted to the Charities Commission. This will enable members to be able to read the accounts at their leisure well in advance of the AGM, and hopefully in the future this will mean that members are better placed to raise any matters that they wish to discuss at the AGM concerning the accounts. In the future it would be helpful if members could examine the accounts and submit any comments or questions about them for discussion at the AGM in advance. This would enable proper answers to be given and make for a more meaningful and open discussion at the AGM. It will also mean that if, as is the case this year, I am unable to be with you in person, then at least those questions can be answered for you, albeit in the report that I prepare for the AGM. The 2013/2014 accounts , as well as all of the previous accounts, are available on the website under the Legal, Governance section.

Before I deal with the accounts themselves there is one matter that I wish to raise with the members of the charity, and that concerns the raising of queries by members in relation to the accounts. Hopefully the publication of the accounts that I spoke about earlier

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 |

will go some way to making things better and easier for everyone in the future. In the meantime I would ask everyone to be aware that all of the trustees carry out their roles on a purely voluntary basis, without any form of payment or recompense.

Many of the trustees, myself included, get frequent queries or requests for information from members. And what appear to members to be simple queries, do take up a significant amount of time to deal with. In fact, for the past few years, by far the bulk of the time spent by the whole of the BNTVA board of trustees has been spent dealing with correspondence and communication querying one aspect or another of the running of the charity. And I should also say that generally these queries come from a very small group of individuals.

Some of the queries are well meaning and genuine, but some, unfortunately, are not. It is for that reason that I personally (and I don’t speak for the other trustees here, although some of them may have similar views) have chosen to personally adopt a simple and perhaps blunt approach to dealing with queries. I do not deal with them if I do not believe that the investigation and the expense of my own personal time will either benefit the charity in some way or will somehow further the objects or aims of the BNTVA.

9

In short, I do not deal with queries from members of the charity that I consider to be either malicious or which are made simply out of curiosity. If I did then quite simply I would spend many, many hours over the course of a year providing a free service to a small number of members who, for their own reasons, want answers to questions that I do not consider benefit that charity in any way. Please understand that I do not wish to appear rude or unhelpful, I simply need you to understand the position that I and indeed many other of the trustees find ourselves in. We are not paid employees. We have duties and responsibilities to the charity and not to individual members.

My role as financial controller is to ensure that the financial aspects of the charity are properly looked after, recorded and reported to the Charities Commission. I am responsible for approving expenditure (along with the other members of the board of trustees), running the bank accounts, reporting to the board on financial matters and the preparation of the annual accounts. But however much we may all wish it were different, my role does not extend to providing individual members with information or answers to questions.

10 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

So far as the work involved in keeping the books of the charity and day to day dealings with the trustees and the external auditors is concerned I must express my thanks, on my own behalf and on behalf of the board of trustees, to Sonia Thomas, the accounts manager in my office who, despite having no connection with the BNTVA, freely gives her time and expertise to deal with the day to day book keeping, purchase ledger control, expenses management and cashflow management of the charity. Sonia’s help has resulted in a much more efficiently managed charity, and saved us a great deal of money too.

Turning now to the accounts themselves it will be clear that in 2013/14 the charity’s income increased by quite a significant amount on the previous year, although in reality, one significant donation during that financial year accounted for a large proportion of this increase. Encouragingly, during 2013/14 the income that the charity recieved from memberships rose slightly. We need this increase to continue and we all need to encourage as many new members as possible to join the BNTVA in order that we can increase the membership, the income and more importantly the awareness of the BNTVA, what it stands for and what the veteran members of the BNTVA sacrificed for the good of our nation.

I would repeat again my call to arms that I set out in detail in the last copy of the BNTVA magazine: Let’s all please focus on getting new members for the

BNTVA. Members who can bring new ideas, new insight and new energy to our organisation.

I am pleased to be able to advise the members of the charity that this year, as I assured members last year would be the case, that the overall expenditure of the charity has decreased, although that is largely due to the fact that all of the expenditure for the new memorial stone was taken into the previous years accounts. In fact, despite every effort of the board of trustees, the overall costs of running the charity have once again increased on those incurred in the previous year. The board of trustees maintained the number of face to face meetings in 2013/14 at only one (and we have continued this in the 2014/15 financial year) yet the expenditure increased by slightly less than £1,500. a. Comments on the Expenditure During this accounting period the board of trustees decided that in order to make the accounts of the charity more transparent to members that we would try to break down expenditure into actual events or campaigns, rather that simply lump it all together. What will be clear from the accounts this year is that this approach has made expenditure much clearer. For example, in the 2013/14 accounts there are a number of items of expenditure for the art exhibition which was not run in the previous year (hence one reason for an increase in outgoings). This allows the members to see what each of the

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 11

activities of the charity cost and it also enables the board to see the overall cost of each particular initiative. That information can be used by the board to calculate whether or not the return on that (or any) particular activity was worthwhile and should be continued in the next financial year.

Without the expenditure of the art exhibition is appears that the expenditure would have been lower than the previous year, although members must bear in mind that the lack of a breakdown in the previous year’s accounts will mask similar expenditure in that year. b. Printing, reproduction and postage Despite everything that has been said in previous years (and this has been a bug-bear of mine, as well as other trusteess over several years now) the cost of printing, reproduction and postage – which is simply the cost of producing the magazine - has increased once again. This is due to the rise in postage costs alone (printing costs having come down). I would again urge members to sign up for electronic copies of the magazine and if possible abandon their reliance on a printed copy of the magazine in order to reduce expenditure. c. AGM expenses Within 2011/12 there was an item of expenditure of £1,500 which was the deposit for the AGM in May 2012. This was an item of unusual expenditure,

the saving for which appeared in the 2012/13 accounts. That is the reason for the apparent increase in expenditure on the AGM in this years accounts. It is not that this years expenditure on the AGM has been drastically higher, it is that last years was significantly reduced. d. The 2014/2015 accounts The accounts that you are looking at today are the most recent published accounts. As I said at the start of this report, that relates to a period which ended 14 months ago. At the most recent trustee meeting it was agreed that I would attempt at this AGM to give the members an indication of the way in which the financial aspects of the charity are going. I cannot give details of the accounts as they have not been prepared, audited and published with the Charities Commission. But I am able to give the members a broad brush indication of where the BNTVA stood financially at the end of March this year. I should however make clear that the information that I am about to give you should not be taken as anything other than a guide. Many aspects of the accounts can change as they go through the auditing process and so nothing that I say from this point should in any way be quoted or relied on by members.

Without giving numbers it appears that income is slightly increased on 2013/14 levels, although as with the previous year there was one large donation which skews the figures. Membership fees again appear to have increased slightly.

12 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

I am also pleased to be able to tell the members that in the last year the expenditure of the BNTVA decreased, such that for the first time in several years it appears that we have spent less than our income. The surplus is not large, but it appears that there has nonetheless been a surplus. e. Summary In 2013/14 the BNTVA continued to operate at a loss, albeit one that was significantly smaller than preceding years. Increased expenditure on the magazine was responsible for almost £1,500 of the £2,800 overspend. It remains the case, however, that cost cutting alone will not drastically help the charity. What must happen is that the overall income must be increased. And this must come from increasing both the membership base and finding new sources of income. Members need to be persuaded to become more involved with the charity, encouraging others to join and encouraging people to support the charity by sponsorship or by doing things which and could raise money for the charity.

In my article in the most recent Campaign magazine I urged all members to try to try to persuade someone that they knew to join the BNTVA and to become a new member of the charity. That was partly with a view of increasing the income of the charity, but also increasing the longevity of the BNTVA. Those two objectives go hand in hand. Without new members

the numbers will inevitably decrease and it will mean that the legacy of the veterans who took part in the nuclear tests will be at risk of being forgotten.

Please use the extra membership form and standing order mandate that was sent out with the last magazine to try and recruit just one new member, perhaps a member of your family or one of your friends are interested in what you did during your service life and perhaps they would be prepared to help to support the BNTVA by becoming a member? The future of the BNTVA is in new members, not in standing by and watching the existing membership dwindle.

I am sorry to end this report on such a sobering note, but it is a massively important one. Once again I am sorry that I cannot be with you in person to answer any questions that you may have in relation to the accounts of the charity.

May I send everyone my best wishes and I hope that you all have an interesting, informative and successful AGM. 8. Membership and Merchandising Report – Ian Hall & Sandie Hern Sandie Hern joined Ian during 2014 to assist with the Association Marketing activities. Ian was unable to attend the AGM but reported through Sandie.

We have had a busy year with the shop. Now fully working in it’s on-line format we have seen sales double over last year with takings easily exceeding £1000.

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 13

The best sellers have been both the Crest Pin and the Forget-me-not pin.

We have also received a major revenue boost from sales of the two books published by our members: An Uncertain Future by David Hemsley and The Long Road to Maralinga by Reg Simpson these are two superb insights into the experiences of our veterans, both authors have kindly donated sales proceeds to the Association.

Sandie and Ian also advised they were researching the feasibility of a number of new product lines: Shirts, Coins, Fridge Magnets and Car Stickers to name some. These are all items suggested by our members and during the conference weekend the ideas were on show to members and guests to gain their feedback on each. We used this information to decide which new lines to invest in. Please Note: Although the on-line shop is the best way to get your BNTVA products you can still order by post, a list of products and prices are printed in every magazine so if you are not on-line simply send Ian a letter detailing your order with cheque payment to our central address.

Membership levels continue to increase despite the all too frequent notification of the passing of members.

We experienced a major problem in 2014 when the mailbox company inadvertently closed our account right in the middle of the renewal season.

This lead to most of the postal renewals going missing.

During June a good portion of this mail was recovered allowing Ian to process the renewals. By the back end of 2014 it appeared that we were missing some 300 members however we undertook an exercise to identify and contact these people with a result that we were able to obtain the bulk of renewals. In addition to this every time the BNTVA campaign featured in the news we noted an increase in membership applications, most of these use our on-line service in the BNTVA shop.

Throughout the screenings of “Nobody Told Us Anything� an information sheet incorporating a membership application form has been handed out. This has lead to a further rise in members.

A new database system has been developed which will ensure easier updating of your records including options for selecting how your receive the magazine and gift aid claim tracking.

We also have the facility to store email and telephone contact details. If we have your email or telephone we can contact you rapidly should a BNTVA event be happening in your area. Please notify your email and or phone details to I.hall@bntva.com and he will update your record.

During the last year Ian has managed over 700 letters with a further 400 during March April alone.

14 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

The Chairman noted that in taking on the shop, mail, membership and telephone line during 2014/15 Ian had been the hardest working Trustee in the organisation. “The essential services he has provided on an entirely voluntary basis during a very testing year in his personal and work life have ensured the Association was able to fully function and we should certainly record our appreciation of Ian’s work” The meeting passed this resolution of recognition unanimously.

9. Editors Report – Steve Bexon I have to apologise for not being able to attend this years conference and AGM. Three weeks ago I suffered an injury to my back and currently can barely sit in a car for much more than an hour or so at a time. This obviously is a little bit of a problem when travelling from the Midlands down to Bournemouth.

It really couldn’t have happened at a worse time and for which I am sorry I can’t attend. I dare not risk injuring myself further but I am hoping to get back to normal health in the next few weeks.

It seems to be a continual theme whenever I have to write the Editors report to mention the take up of the electronic edition of the magazine.

In 2014 we began the year with 60 subscribers and this has gone up to 70 over the course of year. It isn’t a great increase in numbers but we will still try to encourage our members to take this option were possible. We are in

the process of updating our database members details. It would be great to send the magazine automatically to the members via email and then have them opt out of the print version if its found that the electronic version is as easy to read. I will publish a few methods of being able to view the magazine in the next Campaign magazine.

When putting the magazine together we try to publish our members stories and pictures in the hope that it will reunite long lost pals, jog memories and to show non service personel what it was like at the tests. These stories always seem to be well received in the magazine and so It got me thinking, we could make use of the photo sharing website Flickr were we can extend picture sharing further. I put a small piece in the last magazine to say I had set up a dedicated Flickr group for the BNTVA. If you have pictures you would like to share and wish to join the group you just need to use Flickr and search for the BNTVA group and join it. The site allows members to start discussions and we would be able to publish these in the magazine to allow non computer users to see what is happening. Even if you don’t use Flickr you can still have a look at the pictures in the group.

Again I will try and publish some more information in the next magazine.

The first magazine I worked on was back in the winter of 2011 and since then I have produced 10 magazines.

I have had some feedback about the

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 15

magazine, is it too glossy, could we produce it in a less expensive way etc.

I don’t really get much feedback from the members bout anything you think may be missing or things you would like to see included in the magazine.

If you have any suggestions at all please contact me or submit what it is you would like to see. We do have to have space in the magazine to communicate with the members but it is also your chance to communicate with your fellow members too.

10. Local Fundraising and Archives – Doug Hern The last year has been a very busy time, through my association with the Merchant Navy I have started researching the merchant ships and RFA vessels that serviced the nuclear tests from the time in Australia to the final detonations on Christmas Island.

So far there is a list of 21 merchant vessels who have serviced the nuclear test operation from approximately 19521962. If anyone would like a copy of the names of these vessels please come and see me.

I received from the London area an influx of archive, material and VHS tapes. The tapes alone numbered 94.

I have commenced transferring these to DVD, some of the material is very interesting and it deals with all aspects of nuclear ventures and industry.

I have had contact with Laurence Devrill who now resides in Canada, and is sending over all his material for the archives, which includes relevant American documents and information on his Canadian court case win.

I have organised veterans to sit on the question and answer panel after each screening of Nobody Told Us Anything in Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.

This has also resulted in a number of media opportunities where I have been able to tell our story and highlight our campaign.

I have had an email from Peter Neale Ex RAF 1946 to 1969 from Australia who said he was a member of the Returned Services League of Australia (RSL) they are 1260 members strong and Peter is quite sure that many of these members could have been involved in the Maralinga tests. I have sent Peter our addresses and the BNTVA website details; he now plans to talk about the Association at his next meeting.

Having had correspondence with Michelle Leach (BBC Scientific Research Department) I was then contact by Charles Coleville, a producer for the BBC who is attempting to produce a story of the British Bomb for BBC 2. Charles very kindly came to my home to meet and talk with me and I am now awaiting farther contact regarding the programme.

16 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

Because I am now feeling older I have been looking around and putting out feelers to Colleges and Universities to secure our archive material for future generations. The colleges are only in the Lincolnshire area and I am now awaiting return correspondence.

Over the last few years Sandie and I have collected funds for the BNTVA from the major superstores in our area, they have been very successful ventures and with the help and good will of the superstore staff we managed to raise quite a large amount. Unfortunately due to age and health this will be our last year at collections.

Finally I have been asked to conduct a research survey of venues around the Lincolnshire coast for AGM’s Having spoken to Butlin’s of Skegness, and being offered a quote with the possibility of future AGM’s being conducted at various Butlin’s sites around the country it may be a feasible proposition. The Best Western Hotel’s cannot offer enough accommodation for our veterans. There is also a conference centre by Grantham at Stoke Rochford.

The details of these venues will be presented to conference this afternoon and a decision on the 2016 venue can be made.

11. Fallout Group – Shelly Grigg and Steve Clifford Shelly and Steve talked about the formation of the Fallout Group for the descendents of British Nuclear Veterans.

During the year both Shelly and Steve became Trustees of the BNTVA to help bring the voice of our offspring right to the heart of our organisation. This has lead to a closer working between the organisations allowing the Fallout Group to continue its unique sharing forum whilst engaging the BNTVA to inform future activities especially under the budgetary provision.

The meeting learned of the daily struggle faced by many of the offspring of our veterans with ill health from obscure conditions leaving them no option but to become dependent on benefits.

In describing the problems Shelly used the phrase “these people” at the end of the presentation the Chair reminded members that “These People are Our People, our Son’s, Daughter’s and Grandchildren; Our fallen veterans Son’s, Daughter’s and Grandchildren.

Our responsibility to care, represent and protect.”

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 17

12. Trustee Appointments The Chair reported that following the application and selection process three new trustee’s had been appointed by the board. These were Sandie Hern, Shelly Grigg and Steve Clifford.

13. Motions No motions had been received and the Chair invited all to contribute to the Open Forum session in the afternoon.

14. The AGM session was then closed

The meeting was asked to confirm these appointments. All confirmed unanimously.

Help needed finding information on James Mailer I’m in need of some help: my grandad served on christmas island during the testing: he was sent out on March 11th 1958 for the RAF I am wanting to know how I go about finding out what section etc he served with. I have a few photos of his time there, and if at all in anyway possible I’d like to find out who they are and I’d like to share with the people in the photos and find out if anyone had any photos which my include my grandad, he was James Mailer, I’m Not certain on the trade. My grandad is the second from the right at the back. Kirsty Marie If anyone has any information on James please email editor@bntva.co.uk and we will pass Kirsty your details.

James Mailer, 2nd from right back row

18 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

BNTVA Contact Details

Registered Charity Number 1131134

This is the only correspondence address and telephone number for the Association.

BNTVA, BM 5657, LONDON, WC1N 3XX 24 Hour Call Back Service 0208 144 3080 www.bntva.com

Chairperson Nigel Heaps Email: chairman@bntva.com (preferred method of contact) Skype: nigel.heaps twitter: @nkheaps Tel: 0780 7268016

Vice Chairperson Jeff Liddiatt

Organisation Manager Robert Ireland

Email: vice-chairman@bntva.com

Email: secretary@bntva.com b.ireland@bntva.com Tel: 0780 7268041

Financial Manager Ian Greenhalgh LLB

Membership Services Ian Hall

Email i.greenhalgh@bntva.com

Email: membership@bntva.com i.hall@bntva.com

Merchandising Ian Hall & Sandie Hern

Campaign Editor Steve Bexon

Email: shop@bnva.com i.hall@bntva.com s.hern@bntva.com

Email: editor@bntva.com

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 19

Supporters Group & Branch Communications Doug Hern

Remembrance Co-ordinator Don James Email: d.james@bntva.com

Email d.hern@bntva.com

Maralinga Veterans Coordinator Fred Stellard

Reunion Organisation Liaison Sandie Hern

Email: f.stallard@bntva.com

Email: s.hern@bntva.com

Legal Advisor to the Board Stephen Evans

Association Chaplain The Very Revd Nicholas Frayling BA, LLD

Email: s.evans@bntva.com

Email: n.frayling@bntva.com

Fallout Descendents Group Shelly Grigg

Fallout Descendents Group Steve Clifford

Email: s.grigg@bntva.com

Email: s.clifford@bntva.com

Parliamentary Patron John Baron Member of Parliament Email: baronj@parliament.uk

Media Representative Katie Hill Email: media@bntva.com

20 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

National Defence Medal Campaign Prior to lunch the assembly was given a very powerful, informative and entertaining presentation on the National Defence Medal by guest speakers Tony Morland and Terry Scriven.

They detailed the campaign progress highlighting the ridiculous levels of secrecy surrounding the Medals and Awards Committee and the small number of bodies that oppose the introduction of the NDM for some very strange reasons.

As many of you know the NDM and the BNTVA cases for a medal or award were part of the Medals and Awards review. Here is what the NDM campaign has to say on the matter: “Imagine being asked to lay your life on the line for your Country, now imagine being given no option to do otherwise, this was the case for many of our National Servicemen. Imagine further being forced to stand and watch Nuclear explosions, without the knowledge it would cause you and your families serious medical issues and often death. Imagine you and your family running the risk of being shot or blown up every day, not in a war zone but here in the UK by PIRA just for wanting to defend our fellow countrymen. I’ll not ask you to imagine dozens of other scenarios our armed forces were asked to perform as part of their ‘normal

duties’. You haven’t been asked to because others before us have done so for generations. They have previously asked for nothing in return, but we think they deserve an official symbol of this country’s gratitude.

This sounds like something any government would want to do doesn’t it? After all Her Majesty has already authorised similar recognition for our Kin in Australia and New Zealand.

But Hang on, this governments says absolutely not!!

This doesn’t sound like something that could possibly happen in Britain in 2015. But for our Veterans reaching the twilight of their life see a Country that has forgotten these selfless acts of loyalty and duty in maintaining the freedoms we enjoy today.

The scandal of a recent medal review has been swept under a carpet and kept out of the public domain with Freedom of Information acts being rejected in order to protect a Government which openly sneers at our brave Veterans. Official documents will not be released, why?

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 21

Wherever you stand on our Armed Forces, treating our veterans in such a shabby and disrespectful way is not the decency mark of a civilised society. “ The BNTVA is one of the main groups of service personnel who are cited in the NDM Campaign and as an organisation we support the NMD, it would address our original call for medallic recognition of our Veterans.

for our veterans to have their service recognised and awarded, the ability for not just them but their offspring to obtain that recognition.

The campaign has now launched a petition using the 38 Degrees website and we ask all our members to please visit and sign this http://tinyurl.com/bntvandm

We appreciate some of our members do not want a medal, that is fine but what is at stake is the denial of ability

BNTVA Open Conference The afternoon session of the Conference was delayed until 14:30 due to problems with the speed of lunch service.

1. Chairman’s Speech to Conference The Chair welcomed all to the afternoon session of the Conference.

Since the last time we met great advances have been made with the Recognition Campaign. On the 2nd July 2014 the Prime Minister, David Cameron formally recognised our Veterans when he told the house:

I’m happy to tell the House that this Government absolutely recognises and is extremely grateful to all the service personnel who participated in the nuclear testing programme.

We should be in no doubt that their selfless contribution actually helped to make sure the UK is equipped with the deterrent that we need. Following our meeting I have asked my officials to look again at the specific points and arguments you have made and I’ll come back to you as soon as possible.

22 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

This was a watershed moment, despite the setbacks in gaining medallic recognition that we heard about during the National Defence Medal campaign presentation we actually achieved our goal with the PM. This was not just a watershed in campaign terms but in the history of our organisation; for the very first time the BNTVA had gained not just recognition but also approval from government. This drastically increased our credibility and we have found doors that were closed to us in the past are now accessible.

We conducted a “Snapshot Survey” [published within this issue of campaign] of the health levels in veterans family groups. We did not need great science just a few simple questions that could relate a picture of the overall health of our nuclear survivor community to the person in the street.

The survey looked at 1472 offspring within 207 Nuclear Veterans families and found: • 15% of conceptions resulting in Miscarriage or Still Birth • 44.59% of Descendents suffer health issues • 26.38% of Descendents suffer Serious Health or Congenital Deformities These figures are astounding compared to general population expectations and graphically illustrate that the fallout of nuclear testing does not end with the veteran. Thank you to all who took part.

The survey also evidenced the reality that our descendents are as much in need as our veterans, this revelation and the structure of the Aged Veterans Fund clearly showed that we needed to engage more closely with descendents and try to bring them into the BNTVA. At the beginning of 2015 The Board of Trustees comprised: 5 Veterans, 2 Veterans Descendents 5 Supporters covering the following disciplines: Chaplain Finance Director Legal Advisor Editor & Graphic Design Membership Secretary Whist this was a balanced board in terms of Veteran to Specialist the descendents were under-represented and spouses completely unrepresented.

“You don’t need to be the author to experience the story” but it was felt more should be done to balance representation.

Sandie Hern was the only applicant following the 2014 call for Trustee members, her appointment meant that Spouses would be directly represented.

Lisa Bainbridge had to resign as a Trustee due the the workload of her new appointment as Head of Campaigns with the Coeliac UK Charity. We formally thank her for all the hard work she undertook for the BNTVA and wish her well in the new role.

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 23

The Chair was still concerned that more descendents should be engaged and that the organisation must provide a vehicle for their wants and needs to be addressed, especially given that they are included in our Statement of Beneficiaries.

Nigel also explained he was worried that the Fallout Group would ‘re-invent the wheel’ by creating a charity to do exactly what the BNTVA would be doing for them. This would be a gross waste of their limited finances and time (it took us two years just to sort charitable status) when it was all available to them in the BNTVA. “I worked hard to show that the BNTVA really is their organisation, Their parents wanted to leave it to them so the heritage would not be lost, That they will become the BNTVA. The executive of the Fallout Group nominated two members to become BNTVA Trustees.

“In January along with Sandie we also appointed Steve Clifford and Shelly Grigg, they will ensure the views and needs of descendents are aired at board level, helping shape and inform the future work of the charity.

“I am really pleased to have achieved this, as time progresses and our Veteran members are no longer able to be active, having two trustees from the Fallout Group provides a vital conduit for new blood to flow on the Board.

“My vision is that as veterans leave the board Fallout representatives will take their place until we truly are one family.”

By conference the Board of Trustees comprised a more balanced: 5 Veterans, 4 Veterans Descendents 4 Supporters covering the following disciplines: Chaplain Finance Director Legal Advisor Editor & Graphic Design It had been a difficult year trying to get the film “Nobody Told Us” into the cinema. The costs encountered were way above the projected budget.

Despite Charles covering most of the costs of filming. The agreed budget of £5000 for the work from 2014 was decimated when additional costs, especially for the producing the sound track in Dolby 5.1, were presented to us.

The most frustrating aspect was the time delay in getting the film to our distributors “Filmbuyer”. They were responsible for gaining the BBFC Certification, Creating the Digital Cinema Packages, Producing the Posters, Organising screenings and getting it all to the various venues. Once Filmbuyer had received the master they pulled out all the stops to get the film out. The delay took the general release of the film, which should have been October 2014, right back until March 2015. In terms of campaign impact this

24 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

delay was completely unacceptable and we seriously considered terminating the agreement to fund the production and distribution. We decided to continue given the considerable amount of money both the BNTVA and AlphaVille had injected into the project, we believed that it could be justified in terms of telling the story and establishing the film as a record.

Given the specialist nature of the film it has been shown on the ‘arthouse’ cinema circuit and has attracted average to above average audiences so far. The Q&A sessions after screenings have been successful and very interactive. Overall the film is being well received but we feel that a 20-30 minute edit combined with a presentation kit of poster, handouts and speakers notes may be of more use in the future as this would enable ‘after dinner’ screenings and talks as given by the growing number of our members both Veteran and Descendent who get out there and tell our story. We are also looking to use a special screening on the Isle of Man to again involve their Government and Royal British Legion celebrating the launch of the Poppy Appeal. This ‘Thank you for your support and leading the way’ event will also make good press for the work we need to continue.

Many of you will have listened to George Osborne, The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s pre-election budget announcement of a provision for ‘Aged Veterans’ and in particular our Nuclear Test Veterans.

“In each Budget we have used the LIBOR fines paid by those who demonstrated the very worst values to support those who represent the very best of British values. Today I can announce a further £75 million of help.

Last week’s service of commemoration reminded us all of the debt we owe to those brave British servicemen and women who served in Afghanistan. We will provide funds to the regimental charities of every regiment that fought in that conflict, and we will contribute funding to the permanent memorial to those who died there and in Iraq. In the 75th anniversary year of the battle of Britain, we will help to renovate the RAF museum at Hendon, the Stow Maries airfield and the Biggin Hill chapel memorial so that future generations can be reminded of the sacrifice of our airmen in all conflicts. We will provide £25 million to help our eldest veterans.

That will include nuclear test veterans, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Basildon and Billericay (Mr Baron) on his campaign on their behalf.”

Early last December John Baron and myself had an hour long private meeting with Mr Osborne where we discussed the need for our benevolent fund. Citing numerous examples I illustrated not just the problems our veterans and their families face but also the real practical actions we could take to improve their wellbeing and ease suffering. We discussed how best such a fund could be managed and left the meeting with the agreement of the Chancellor that he

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 25

would look for a mechanism to address our needs.

As you can imagine both John and myself put a lot of background work into this and managed to steer things to the Budget announcement of the creation of the Aged Veterans Fund. £25million for projects who’s principle beneficiaries are aged veterans. At the end of March we were welcomed to a meeting with No10 Officials by David Cameron, The Prime Minister. He personally congratulated us on our effective campaign and expressed the hope that the budgetary provision would make the difference we had campaigned for.

During the meeting we received an undertaking from No10 officials that they would work closely with the BNTVA to ensure the intentions of both the Prime Minister and the Chancellor were satisfied in the delivery of the fund.

It was agreed that the BNTVA would be a major stakeholder in the design of the fund in respect ODF the development of the Terms of Reference and in the development of projects to be delivered from the fund.

[Since Conference there have been further positive developments with the AVF, please see the separate article in this magazine] The Chair stated that although descendents were not stipulated in the budgetary provision, the issue of their problems were brought forward in all discussions. There will be

the opportunity for descendents to benefit where duality of benefit can be established in any project. Nigel advised he would elaborate further during the Fallout Group AGM on the Sunday.

In drawing to a close Nigel said he had hoped to announce his retirement as Chair at this AGM. “It was always my intention to help reorganise the association and deliver major changes to secure it’s future.

I feel this work is almost complete. Had the Government given the £25m direct to the trust fund then my work would have been done. Unfortunately the way the budgetary provision has been made means that there is still al lot of work to do.

“During 2015/16 I will work to ensure the AVF is delivering projects that benefit veterans and descendents alike, once they are in place I will look to stand down and offer my skills in service provision and communications to both the charity and the various projects under the AVF. This will ensure the operational functions of the BNTVA continue.

“I hope that by the 2016 Conference someone comes forward to take the role of Chair, ideally that someone will be another Descendent. I will continue to give my time freely to support them and help them in any way I can, so I leave this conference with a message of a bright future and a long future.

26 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

2. Presentation By David Hemsley David Hemsley presented the BNTVA with a cheque for funds raised from sales of his book “An Uncertain Future”.

In accepting the donation the Chair thanked David for creating the work which has helped many of our veterans offspring gain a sense of understanding of their parents experiences.

[In July BNTVA Author Reg Simpson also donated the proceeds of his book about his experiences in Maralinga] Both “An Uncertain Future” and Reg Simpson’s book “The Long Road to Maralinga” were on sale at the conference. You can still buy copies of these books either from our on line shop or by contacting Ian Hall.

This years event will take place over four nights between 28th September and the 2nd of October. The cost is only £89 per person.

The event which has been running for over 20 years has been organised by Jim Cooper and his wife. In 2014 the BNTVA learned of Jim’s health issues and asked Doug and Sandie to help out.

We were worried that what is one of the largest ex-services reunions was in danger of disappearing and so have undertaken to provide the administrative support for future events. The BNTVA will not be involved in anything other than organising and booking, we are determined that the traditional independence of this event, which is one of the main reasons for its success, must be maintained.

If you want any further information on the Reunion please contact Doug or Sandie through the BNTVA.

4. Report from the Association des Vétérans des Essais Nucléaires – Jean-Luc Sans (AVEN President) 3. Nuclear Tests Reunion Weekend Doug and Sandie Hern told conference about the All Tests Reunion which is held at the Pontins Sand Bay Holiday Park in Weston Super Mare every Autumn.

Dear friends, I am very pleased to meet you again and I would like to thank you for the warm welcome you give to the AVEN delegation.

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 27

For the cases we have not won, we have started appeal before the Council of State, which is France’s highest legal authority. The only higher authority then will be the European Court of Justice. This action before the Council of State should force the Compensation Committee to completely reconsider its compensation policy and failing that, it should force authorities to change the Law.

Jean-Luc Sans (AVEN President)

In France, thanks to the amendments we managed to get passed to the Morin Law in December 2013, the new Compensation Committee has been removed from the control of the Ministry of Defence and it started to work last month. Currently we don’t have enough experience to know whether it will bring about a real change in the system of compensation. However a change is bound to occur. Following the appeals made by our lawyers, the courts have increasingly settled in our favour. By December 31st 2014 we had achieved 33 court decisions in our favour, 18 of which were ordering compensation from the French State.

While the State lodged an appeal against those 18 cases, we also lodged appeals against 32 unfavourable verdicts. Out of 20 cases that have been pleaded, we have won 11 so far.

Apart from this long legal battle AVEN has also structured its Health Centre in the service of the veterans.

In September 2014 I had the OBSIVEN converted into a body that is completely independent and open to international cooperation.

Its board that gathers doctors and health specialists have set up a service for a medical follow-up that can biologically anticipate cancer risks even before a person develops the symptoms.

OBSIVEN has been set up for all nuclear test veterans, site workers both military and civilian, all persons living in the vicinity of a civilian or military nuclear facility, their children and grand-children as well as associations (like AVEN) willing to participate in this research and medical prevention process.

28 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

How does the OBSIVEN AVEN Health Centre follow-up action work?

• A first contact pre-questionnaire will be made available to the patient on his request. This questionnaire will be sent back to the Health Centre.

• A health questionnaire will then be given to the patient.

• The Health Centre will send the patient’s GP a note to inform him about his patient’s involvement in this medical network. The Centre will offer the GP assistance for the patient.

• The GP will draw up a summary of the patient’s known pathologies with the help of a doctor from OBSIVEN. • He will then be asked to supervise and advise the patient on his health path.

• Close links will be established between the Health Centre and medical facilities near the patient’s home regarding medical appointments, relationship with the GP, biological or radiological examinations as well as the pharmacist for treatment compliance.

• Depending on pathology or risk of pathology, a doctor from OBSIVEN will be able to offer prevention screenings to the patient and his GP (for example detecting anti-p53 antibody) • The patient and/or his family will be informed about the state of health via the GP.

Our commitment to the veterans: 1. Determine precisely the validity of the presumption of an illness caused by radiation after examining the patient’s and his family’s medical history.

2. Complete the karyotypes of direct victims (exposed patients), have them interpreted and in case of positive test results conduct the same karyotypes on their descendants.

3. In case of positive results in the karyotypes, a serum dosage of anti-p53 antibody will be made (routine dosage) and after discussion with OBSIVEN medical staff make a dosing by a sequencing of this protein in situ.

Of course a close collaboration will be sustained with the GP. He will make out the prescriptions for the examinations and will be able to work within the OBSIVEN network if he wishes to. If the GP refuses to write out prescriptions, the patient will be able to request some from one of the OBSIVEN doctors via the Health Centre.

I know that Jean-François Grenot who is in charge of the AVEN Health Centre and also the OBSIVEN health coordinator is in contact with the BNTVA and the Fallout Group via Internet.

He is available for any person or any association who needs information on this health protection system.

In conclusion, as the President of AVEN and OBSIVEN, I would say that my objective to prove the impact of nuclear

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 29

radiations on public health, whatever their level or origin, rather than to expose them remains a topical issue.

Before we meet again in October in Sète at AVEN’s next General Assembly, I want to encourage as many of you as possible to join us around your standard on the 2nd of July under the Arch of Triumph in Paris. I will have the honour to invite your chairman to rekindle the flame of the Unknown Soldier by my side.

Thank you for your attention.

J.L.Sans

5. Article 36 and “The Humanitarian Initiative on Nuclear Weapons and Consideration of Victims Rights” - Elizabeth Minor and Rebecca Sharkey The presentation was preceeded by a short and powerful film from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) you can view this film here http://tinyurl.com/bntvaican Elizabeth and Rebecca detailed the work in establishing an international treaty on nuclear weapons:

“ICAN is a global campaign coalition working to mobilize people in all countries to inspire, persuade and pressure their governments to initiate and support negotiations for a treaty banning nuclear weapons. We call on states, international organizations, civil society organizations and other actors to: • Acknowledge that any use of nuclear weapons would cause catastrophic humanitarian and environmental harm.

• Acknowledge that there is a universal humanitarian imperative to ban nuclear weapons, even for states that do not possess them.

• Acknowledge that the nuclear-armed states have an obligation to eliminate their nuclear weapons completely.

• Take immediate action to support a multilateral process of negotiations for a treaty banning nuclear weapons.

Our campaign brings together humanitarian, environmental, human rights, peace and development organizations in more than 90 countries to seize the historic opportunity that exists to outlaw and eliminate nuclear weapons. Prominent individuals such as anti-apartheid leader Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, Yoko Ono and Martin Sheen have lent their support to the campaign.

The presentation was well received and was followed by an active question and answer session.

30 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

The Chair noted that the establishment of an international agreement of this nature also includes terms prescribing a minimum standard of treatment for victims of nuclear weapons. These terms could be informed by our experiences and had the potential to make it on to the statute books of many nations.

[Since the Conference weekend Doug and Don have spoken at an ICANN conference in London and we have just been invited to Norway to speak at a conference in Oslo].

6. Veterans Film Project A presentation was given on behalf of the Non-Profit Company Veteran Films.

Veteran Films is a not for profit Company that offers training to veterans from across the armed services who have an interest in the creative world of film and digital media. The initial project is set to run across twelve months.

The longer term aim will be to employ veterans to run the company and project for the benefit of other veterans. a. Aim. To provide basic film production skills training for 10-15 military veterans from across the UK.

Doug and Don at the ICANN conference in London

• To build confidence, professionalism and employability for the participants.

• To open and develop the creative potential of the participants.

• To enable participants to use film as a vehicle for telling stories of their choice.

• To seed the development of an ongoing film project for veterans. b. Process.

To provide two training weekends for the group of veterans.

Training to include basic understanding and skills of scripting, production, filming and post-production.

The ICANN conference group

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 31

Training will provide sufficient skills, knowledge and information for participants to go away and make a short film (10-15mins) over the next year. c. Mentoring and Support.

The project managers (Trebuchet Films) will provide mentoring and guidance to participants over the 12 month period.

They will also will encourage participants to tap into and make the most of local resources in their home areas to assist in the development and production of their films. d. Follow up and Presentation.

At the end of the 12 months Veteran Films will hold a Veterans Short Film Festival in Aberystwyth and give awards for certain categories The project managers will develop with their connections to UK distributors a multi media platform to enable us to exploit the films and allow the project to continue.

The project managers will work with the media in Wales to make a documentary film based on the work of the project.

You can find out more about this exciting initiative by visiting their website at http://www.veteranfilms.org/

During 2015 Simon Weston OBE became the patron of Veteran Films and writes: “It is my great honour to have been asked to be patron to the Veterans Film Project and Film Festival. Its aim is to help veterans with mental or physical disabilities to re-train and give them a new creative outlet to tell their own stories through the medium of film.This wonderful project is giving veterans the chance to show some of their hidden talents and yet at the same time highlight just some of the many difficulties they have had to overcome or are still battling against. The project also brings a lot of enjoyment and fun to many of these veterans and I hope their stories can help us all learn more about the challenges they face on a day to day basis.

Please support this fantastic project – and more importantly watch some of the films and if you get the chance come to the festival next year.�

Yours Sincerely Simon Weston

32 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

7. Johns Campaign Bob Ireland delivered a presentation on the work and progress of the John’s Campaign.

Thank you for allowing us to introduce our campaign to you. It is simply for The right of carers to remain with people suffering from dementia should they be admitted to hospital.

Or putting it another way round, The Right of people suffering with dementia to be accompanied with their carers if they are in hospital.

Your Chairman, Nigel Heaps, who has supported us from the begging of our campaign, described dementia as ‘one of the greatest blights of our age’.

I am Julia Jones and my closest friend is Nicci Gerrard. Both our families have a strong friendship; Nicci’s father John who had dementia died in November 2014 after a stay in hospital where he was being treated for leg ulcers. During his hospital stay, the hospital was closed to visitors due to an outbreak of Noro-Virus. During this time, approx 5 weeks, John’s health declined alarmingly, he was not a difficult patient but he simply lay in his bed day after day forgetting to eat, drink, move or speak. When Nicci finally brought him home he was ‘Skeletal’, he could no longer walk, feed himself, speak, go to the toilet on his own or communicate with people around

him. John needed 24 hour care for the rest of his life, Nicci and her family are certain that it had been during the time when they were unable to visit John in hospital that had precipitated this catastrophic change in his health and led to his premature death.

I am the main carer for my mother June who has vascular dementia as well as Alzheimers and is a much more volatile person than John. She is 91 and is considerably less capable of managing simple things – she can’t reliably dress herself or make a cup of tea. She is still, however, able to get pleasure out of life. When she is with me (or with family and a couple of close friends who she can still recognise and trust) she will go on a boat, have a ride on a pony, sing a song or watch the clouds. She finds it hard to communicate and is dependant on other people as a young child would be. The idea of leaving her in a hospital environment without the constant support of myself (or her few remaining special people) seems

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 33

to me to be as completely wrong as it would be to leave a child alone in these circumstances. Parents won the battle to stay with their children in hospital back in the 1960s and it seems very clear to Nicci and I that the carers of people with dementia should be similarly accepted and welcomed in hospital – for as much time as the patient needs and the carer is able to give.

After her father’s death Nicci wrote an article for the Observer newspaper.

This was the headline: My father entered hospital articulate and able.

He came out a broken man There are two things that are important to make clear: • One is that this is not a campaign to blame hospitals – or, especially, nurses. There are now so many people in hospital who are suffering from confusion, dementia or the frailty of age that the current system cannot cope. It’s more than that, even with the best training and experience there is no nurse who could know my mother as well as I. There was a day that I managed to explain to mum what we were campaigning for and she struggled to write a letter which would express her own feelings. She forgot about it straight away.

• The second thing to make clear is that we would never say that carers should be expected to stay in hospital, it must always be a balance

of what the patient needs and what the carers are able to give. Looking after someone is an exhausting job: carers need respite and support and time for their own lives. However, as Nicci now says, if she and her family had realised what it would mean for their father to be unsupported by them for those five weeks, they would have moved heaven and earth to overturn the hospital visiting restrictions and be there with him.

Carers are different from ordinary social visitors, they offer something essential and unique to the people they love. Welcoming those carers who are able and willing to be there has the potential to make life on hospital wards better for everyone.

We are not asking for special facilities – simply the right of access, whenever it is needed.

Some hospitals will now do this.

Our photo shows nurses in Imperial College Healthcare trust preparing to put welcome posters on ward doors.

Some hospital run a system of carers’ passports which allow access at any time and a few have moved to open visiting for all. Norman Lamb, who was minister for care and support in the last government, wrote to the Chief Executives of all acute Hospital Trusts in England asking them to support our campaign.

34 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

The Labour Party election manifesto included a pledge to make this a right for carers, to be included in the NHS constitution. We still want this. The Chief Nursing Officer for England and The Royal College of Nursing have both offered support but it still seems, that it is up to the individual hospital and the ward sister to understand what is needed I.e. forget the visiting times and make carers welcome. This is a big task for Nicci and I to undertake. We are just two people with our own jobs and families. We need help from everyone who may be affected by this ‘scourge of our time’.

8. Conference 2016

Please make our campaign known to your local hospital, your neighbours, your family and PLEASE, if you find yourself or your family member in this situation, NEVER take no for an answer!

Two venues were put before conference: Butlins at Skegness and Stoke Rochford Hall and Conference Centre at Grantham.

If any BNTVA member or their family has had a hospital experience that is relevant please get in touch http://www.johncampaign.org.uk

The Chair advised that the 2016 Conference was due to be held in the Midlands region. The policy of having a North, South & Midlands venue on rotation has proved very effective in reaching a wider audience as attendance figures continue to rise and different members from the localities are attending on every year.

We held the last Midlands event in the West of the region so have looked for venues in the East to facilitate members from Lincolnshire and Anglia.

The Chair gave a presentation of the pro’s and con’s of each venue and opened it for discussion. Following an almost unanimous vote the conference opted for Stoke Rochford.

You can find more about the venue at http://www.stokerochfordhall.co.uk/ Booking forms will be available in the next edition of Campaign.

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 35

Gala Dinner The Gala Dinner was held at 19:30 hours and guests enjoyed the evenings social event.

Fallout Group AGM 9. Open Forum Don James reminded the meeting that he needed the names of people wishing to march on Remembrance Sunday - Please send a self addressed envelope for tickets for Remembrance Sunday to be sent to his home address: Don James, 8A Peabody Trust, Abbey Orchard Street, Westminster, London SW1P 2LJ Nigel advised that the wooden benches at the National Memorial Arboretum had deteriorated to a point where it was agreed they should be removed. He said that the brass plaques had been recovered with a view to placing them on new permanent stone benches cut to complement our memorial.

A vote of thanks to the hard work of the Trustees was made from the floor.

The forthcoming screenings of Nobody Told Us at Southampton and Poole were discussed and volunteers sought to staff the Q&A panels.

The Chair then closed the afternoon session thanking all who attended.

On Sunday morning Shelly Grigg and Steve Clifford hosted the second Annual Meeting of the Fallout Group.

The Fallout Group remains an independent initiative for Nuclear Test Veteran Descendents and their supporters, membership is not dependent on BNTVA membership however the BNTVA have taken both Steve and Shelly on board as Trustees to bring the needs and concerns of Fallout members to the heart of the BNTVA decision making body.

Lively discussion was held regarding the growth of the group since the initial meeting in Manchester last year, concern was also raised at a number of members who seemed to disappear especially after discussing emotional mental health issues.

Some reported that the Fallout Group had provided a cathartic experience enabling them to manage their problems knowing there were others out there with common bond. Shelly, in particular, aired her concerns over the levels of depression and anxiety amongst descendents.

36 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

The Big White Wall project was discussed as one avenue to encourage exploration for people with difficulties www.bigwhitewall.com Turning to the budgetary provision discussion was held regarding the extent that descendents would benefit from projects in the Aged Veterans Fund. Nigel said that although the prime focus on project beneficiaries was the veterans themselves there was a deliberate ‘looseness’ being written in to the Terms of Reference that will allow for duality of beneficiary.

“In addressing the needs and suffering of Veterans you can not ignore the impact that the needs of their offspring have on their wellbeing, indeed to many veterans the issues surrounding their children and grandchildren are of greater importance than their. This clearly means that projects must address offspring issues.”

Ideas for potential projects were discussed ranging from free Theme park entry, Assisted Holidays and carer breaks through to research to examine the extent of hereditary genetic damage inform healthcare and screening provision. Nigel also advised that plans to examine the mental effects of living with the uncertainty of genetic damage would include descendents and would be followed up with appropriate therapy sessions.

Frustration at the lack of knowledge of the many unusual conditions our descendents suffer and more importantly the difficulties accessing appropriate health and social provision to manage these problems was fully discussed with many personal examples.

It is hoped the ultimate development of a centre of excellence will address these issues, many of the veterans present were astounded at the level of problems faced by the sons and daughters of their comrades and a tangible feeling that we must all stand together as one family was most definitely reinforced.

Gordon Murray who came to the 2014 BNTVA conference with Paul Brown and Maxine Goodwin of the Nuclear Futures programme told the meeting about the continuation of his work with the descendents. He read a piece he was working on after interviewing Steve Clifford.

The work was spellbinding and emotional, it was likened to a piece of fine art made with words.

Gordon hopes to meet more descendents to chat and see if he can develop further pieces from their experiences. Both Shelly and Steve complimented Gordon on his work and told the meeting that he was such a nice person to work with and encouraged Fallout members to contact him to discuss possible participation.

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 37

Gordon is a member of the FaceBook Fallout Group and can be contacted there or through Shelly.

Discussion turned to access to both Health and Social provision, members told of their personal struggles for proper diagnosis, timely treatment and a fair hearing with the DWP. It was decided to look in to ways in which members could be supported using the BNTVA charitable access to resources. [see the articles on HelpOutNutz and Fighting for Social Provision in this magazine]

Members remarked that although the Fallout Group was predominantly and on-line gathering it was a great experience meeting people that had developed close bonds and making new friends both descendents and veterans.

Shelly closed the meeting hoping that 2015 would be a year of change and opportunity for the group.

The next AGM will be held on the Sunday of the BNTVA & Fallout Conference at Stoke Rochford Hall

Aged Veterans Fund Latest News....

As reported at the AGM: In his Pre-Election Budget, Chancellor George Osborne made provison for nuclear veterans and older veterans in general by announcing the creation of the Aged Veterans Fund.

John Baron, Jeff Liddiatt, Nigel Heaps and John Hayes MP had met with David Cameron and No10 Officials just before the AGM and a follow up meeting was arranged with the MOD to begin the work of establishing the mechanics of the fund.

We reviewed the Terms of Reference drafted by the MOD, the original ones were swathed in process and red tape with no clear path to deliver the intent of the PM and Chancellor in respect of the involvement of the BNTVA.

Chancellor George Osborne (Istock Photo - Dan Kitwood)

38 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

Our Chairman had suspicions that all was not as it should be and, after a few well placed questions, it emerged that another organisation was attempting behind the scenes negotiations with the Treasury to effectively hijack the fund.

We protested in the strongest terms to both the MOD and No10 with the result that in July the Prime Ministers office intervened and appointed a whole new board from outside the MOD to deliver the fund.

From the initial meeting with the new body it was clear that a distinct change had come over the fund and progressive practical ways to manage the disbursement of monies were discussed .

We have recently attended the fund launch event where great progress was made to realising our goal of developing projects to benefit veterans and descendents. The No10 principle that we are the conduit for all projects impacting on NTV’s is being realised as we become an AVF Portfolio Holder organisation.

The next stage will be the development and submission of bids cooperatively, with a number of service charities, which will be followed by delivery and management of the projects. The BNTVA are establishing an independent panel to manage this via a charitable fund.

It is hoped that projects will begin to receive funding by February 2016.

In the first year of the AVF the BNTVA will bid for a number of different projects in the following areas: • • • •

Genetic Research Mental Health Research Assisted Holiday Scheme Access and Living Assistance Scheme

The crucial thing is these projects WILL benefit both Veterans and their offspring.

These main projects will in turn inform the development of further projects in the 2016 and 2017 rounds of bidding with the goal that by 2017 we establish a centre of excellence for persons potentially suffering genetic damage as a result of service to the Nation.

This centre will be the focal point for gathering and sharing knowledge with affected persons and their health and social care providers.

Informing lifestyle options, health screening, accurate diagnosis, early interventions, latest treatment options, the wants and needs of those affected and their families.

In short this will raise the quality of life and ease suffering amongst NTV’s and their offspring.

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 39

Fighting for Social Provision The BNTVA are now able to provide our beneficiaries with comprehensive help packs written by professionals covering many aspects of access to social care in the UK. During our Conference weekend at the Fallout AGM we learned some of the horror stories about the difficulty of obtaining social care and support for offspring struggling with ill health.

BNTVA Chair, Nigel Heaps said “This is an utter disgrace, these people are struggling to live with the legacy of their fathers service to this Nation and they too are being subject to degrading treatment designed to weed out the con artists and malingerers in our society.

“I can tell you the children and grandchildren of our nuclear veterans already pay an unacceptably high price having to live daily with the damage wrought on their genetic heritage.

Steve Clifford

We agreed to look in to what could be done – New Trustee Steve Clifford identified a superb professional source of advice and help packs covering many social provisions including: • ESA • PIP • DLA • Incapacity Benefits • Carers Allowances Individual access to this site costs almost the same as BNTVA membership and our beneficiaries will be able to access all the guides and request additional information from our Trustees – free of charge! http://tinyurl.com/bntvabaw Another great reason to join the growing ranks of the BNTVA If you are having to claim any of these benefits and would like to receive all the relevant professional guides along with whatever help we can give you please contact any of the BNTVA Trustees below: • Steve Clifford • Shelly Grigg • Nigel Heaps

40 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

HelpOutNutZ Campaigning for the Nuclear Survivour Community.

One Family – One Voice The Problem The British Nuclear Test Veterans Association and Fallout Group conducted a ‘snapshot survey’ of their families health issues.

• 15% of all conceptions end in miscarriage or still birth • 45% of all veterans descendents have health issues • 26% of descendents suffer congenital defects or serious health issues This disproportionate number of people struggle to access healthcare and social provision.

Help Out Join and help our people fight the barriers they face trying to access • • • • • • • • • •

Health Care Informed Diagnosis Attribution Recognition Timely Treatment Social Provision Unfair Assessment Unrealistic Delays Living Aids Mobility Aids Care Support

NutZ From a dictionary of Nuclear War Terminology…..

“Nuclear Weapon Utilization Strategy (NUTS):The strategy of using a full arsenal of 12,000 or more warheads to destroy all conceivable targets in another country.”

NutZ our method of operation Supporters will bombard every line of communication to raise the plight of any Veteran or Descendent needing help.

How? Join our growing army of campaigners. Ordinary people who are not prepared to let inequity and injustice be metered out upon the children of our Nuclear Veterans.

Children who live with the genetic heritage wrought by their fathers service to this Nation For every individual needing our help we will produce an action pack containing: • • • •

Email templates Tweet templates Letter templates Facebook Post Samples

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 41

All will link back to a specially designed webpage for that individual campaign.

We will list all the people and places that can be contacted: • • • • •

Governmental Bodies Support Organisations Media & Press MP’s Councillors

When enough people shout they will have to listen.

Guido NutZ @HelpOutNutZ - Twitter

Get Involved The time for action is now Our people are increasingly suffering at the hands of a system designed to root out conartists & malingerers.

Our people’s right to unhindered access to healthcare and social provision has been more than paid for in the suffering wrought by the Nuclear Tests.

HelpOutNutZ is an online campaign forum you can join to take part in lobbying support for individuals in need.

Please visit helpoutnutz.org join and start helping today.

The site is run by Guido a character using the now iconic Guy Fawkes mask – He could be One, Any or All of us.

The scales of justice are balanced by power - Get involved and add your voice to our campaigns and balance those scales.

Do You Need Help?

If you are a Veteran or Descendent and are encountering any of the problems detailed in this article visit www.helpoutnutz.org and use the Contact Us link to send your story.

All correspondence is in the strictest confidence and HelpOutNutZ will not publish anything without your personal consent.

42 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

BNTVA Nuclear Veteran Family Tree Snapshot Survey- Final Report June 2015 On the 29th June 2014 The BNTVA launched a ‘Snapshot survey’ to capture, in layman’s terms, the general health status across British Nuclear Test Veteran’s (NTV)family trees.

The concept was to produce an overview of the levels of health problems present in each generation of NTV family groups. This information could then be used to illustrate major differences in the health and wellbeing NTV families experience contrasted to that of the general population.

Survey Operation Using a self reporting internet survey tool combined with a manual form return the survey looks at the following basic questions.

Respondents relation to a British Nuclear Test Veteran.

Email address For each generation of the family, the number of: - Children conceived - Miscarriage/Stillbirths - Congenital defects - Serious Illness - Significant Illness - Healthy The respondent had to categorise the health of their individual family members with the following guidance:

• Congenital Defect is a health condition present at birth or within the first month of life, usually caused by genetic abnormality.

• Serious Illness is an illness or condition which requires daily or continuing treatment as certified by a health care provider.

• Significant Illness is an illness or condition which does not require regular medical treatment but impacts on your ability to enjoy a full healthy lifestyle By 19st November data had been collected on 207 nuclear test veteran’s family groups representing 1472 conceived offspring. The data was collated and processed to produce the final results, individual duplications were validated and the incorrect data discounted as was duplication of family tree data by different family members.

The progression of this activity produced the following results which, where possible, have been contrasted with levels published by other bodies.

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 43

Generational Results Breakdown Number of Children Conceived by Generation Veteran 583 1st Generation 715 2nd Generation 174 Number of Miscarriage and Stillbirths per Generation (Stillbirth rate: SANDS 1:200 = 0.5% Miscarriage Rate: NHS 1:8 = 12.5% thus 13% combined is reasonable expectation)

Veteran 104 1st Generation 109 2nd Generation 12

(17.84%) (15.24%)

Number of Live Births per Generation Veteran 479 1st Generation 606 2nd Generation 162 Children with Health Problems per Generation *1 (as a % of Live Births per generation)

Veteran 301 1st Generation 208 2nd Generation 47

(62.84%) (34.32%) (29.01%)

Children with Congenital or Serious Health Problems per Generation *1

(as a % of Live Births per generation) (2011 BINOCAR Statistic – 1:46 apx 2.2% Congenital Defect Rate. EUROCAT rate = 2%)

Veteran 187 1st Generation 117 2nd Generation 25

(39.04%) (19.31%) (15.43%)

*1 The recording of health problems was not exclusive per individual as an individual may suffer a multitude of conditions. Thus one person may be classified as having Health Problems AND Congenital condition or Serious health problems.

Overall Picture Each of the 207 Veteran’s family tree’s has an average of 6 genetic descendents.

Miscarriage/Still birth 225 (15.29% of all conceptions) Health Problems 556 (44.59% of live births) Congenital Defects / Serious Illness 329 (26.38% of live births)

Considerations If we accept around 21,000 British Service personnel attended the tests and they procreated to the level experienced in the survey then there are in excess of 120,000 potential descendents. Of these some 31,000 could be suffering Serious Health or Congenital problems and over 52,000 people could be enduring some form of health issue affecting their daily lives.

Applicable Legislation This survey is not a scientific or medical experimentation, it has been conducted to provide the layman with an appreciation of the levels of health problems amongst out

44 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

Nuclear Veterans family tree. All data is managed by the BNTVA in accord with our strict data protection policy compliant with the UK DPA 88. All personal data has been deleted on completion of this final survey report.

N Heaps June 2015: “The health effects our children and grandchildren struggle with on a daily basis, is the real legacy of British Nuclear Testing.”

On behalf of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association. Regd Charity 1131134.

Nigel Heaps BNTVA Chair June 2015 ©2015 BNTVA Regd Charity 1131134 Final report of the findings of the BNTVA Snapshot Survey into NTV Family health.

Reunion following Campaign article We have just had a very nice reunion.

Two members got together due to articles in the Campaign Mag. I had my story printed in the Winter 2012 Ted Evans. Jim Manley had his story printed Summer 2014.

After reading Jims account and as a member of the MT Section I had to contact him. I am very pleased that I did as his son lives close to me and after exchange of emails and phone calls a meeting was arranged. Our stories were so much the same that we knew we were both at Maralinga.

We did not recognize each other but once we started talking a lot came back to us. We were both very excited and enjoyed an afternoon reminiscing.

Jim and Ted reunion March 2015

The first picture is of Jim and myself.

Then two pictures each of us as we were in 1956. Any one that reads the two articles will see that our trips were very similar, both of us had a great time.

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 45

We are now both 79 and I am quite good. But Jim is not so good. We can not say if any of his problems are due to the BOMBS.It is our intentions to meet up again during the Summer. I thought that others might like to see this.

Thank you for your time to look at this.

Yours sincerely, E.B.Evans.

Ted Evans (Cpl MT section Maralinga) Jim Manley (SAC.MT section Maralinga)

Those of us left behind, when a Veteran dies.

We have had to suffer with them.

30 years of watching my husband fall apart leave there mark.

His ashes still sit on my dressing table because he set off metal detectors when he was alive & he is still doing the same now he’s dead.

I would love to hear the experts take on the reason why. The only metal on his body was the hook ion his bow tie & the zip on his trousers.

Keep on running

Jim on the boat coming home 1956

Richard Lisle whose late father served on Christmas Island Operation Grapple is planing to run 10 marathons finishing with the London 2016 marathon.

The money he will raise from the marathons will be split to go towards the granite stone bench at the National Memeorial Arboretum and the mental health charity Mind If you would like to support him please visit:

Ted in uniform 1956.

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ RICHARDLISLE

46 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

BNTVA No. 3218 Mike Turner

(AKA Topper Turner during Grapple) In the 2014 spring Journal at page 22 there was a request entitled ‘Help Needed’, which invited experiences of those RAF Ground Crew involved in the process of airborne sampling collection and the subsequent decontamination of the aircraft. The following is an extract from the appropriate chapter of my draft chronicle.

As a 20 year old RAF `Junior Technician` I was at Christmas Island for GrappleYankee and then Zulu.

These comprised two hydrogen air release devices and three tethered barrage balloon atomic trigger devices; all were referred to as `shots`. I was an aero engine technician and had worked on Valiant bombers at RAF Gaydon and assumed that I would join the 49 Sqdn Valiant detachment. However I was misemployed during Grapple and assigned to the `Active Handling Flight`, (Radioactive Handling Flight). I have two group photographs of the Flight`s personnel together with some of the AWRE attached staff; one taken a few days after Yankee, in informal dress and the other taken after a Zulu shot, in decontamination working dress.

The Active Handling Flight was, uniquely, commanded by the RAF Regiment and comprised both RAF Regiment personnel and Aircraft Technicians.

In charge were two Regiment Officers, Flt Lts; Churcher and Synk, whilst the technicians were led by Flt Sgt

Seymondes. There were thirty three of us, swelled by a further three flown out from AWRE Aldermaston for shots days. The Regiment personnel were responsible for all elements of radiation monitoring be it personnel, aircraft or associated equipment entering or leaving the active area. The technicians handled the irradiated aircraft; extracted the two aircrew; off-loaded the cloud samples and later decontaminated each sampling aircraft in turn.

The site of the Active Handling Flight was `out of bounds` and referred to as `the area`, which was approximately two acres, divided into the `clean`, radiation free, area and the `active` area, which was contaminated to varying degrees.

The active area was surrounded by a low barbed wire fence. Personal entry to and exit from this area was only possible through the decontamination building, which contained all the necessary showers and monitoring equipment as well as the washing machines for protective clothing etc. The interior of this building was divided into a clean

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 47

and active half, which was denoted by a wood barrier approximately 450mm high and 300mm wide. When returning from work in the active area, one disrobed on the active side of the barrier and stepped onto the barrier and was monitored; thence directed to the showers etc until decontamination had been achieved.

The final test was to be able to clear the hand monitoring machine whose warning bell rang out until both hands were free of activity. There was also a small laboratory in the active area for the exclusive use of the AWRE staff, where they processed the bomb cloud debris samples. Moveable barriers provided entry to and exit from the site for the sampleing Canberra aircraft.

Generally, detonation of a bomb was referred to as a `shot`. Grapple Yankee`s single test shot was later followed by Zulu, which was a compression of two test series due to the USA and USSR concluding a nuclear atmospheric test ban. Zulu was four test shots; Pennant, Flagpole, Halliard and Burgee. There were only ten days between Zulu 1 and 2; eight days between Zulu 2 and 3; eleven days between 3 and 4. Upto eight Canberra Mk B6 could be used for cloud sampling but this did vary. The Flight worked quickly; professionally and harmoniously to meet the work tasked.

Dr Catheral, Wing Commander Rexford Welch and Flt Lt Linsay, from AWRE organised the selection of cloudsamples, in the active area`s laboratory. These samples would, promptly, be sent to

Aldermaston by a courier Canberra Mk PR7 of 100 Sqdn. I never found out what happened to all the samples that were not returned to the UK but assumed that they were buried in the active area.

When we worked in the active area our protective clothing consisted of white cotton style overals, short length waterproof boots, rubber gloves and a cotton peaked hat, worn backwards to protect one`s neck from the sun.

Overshoes were available for some operations. Wet overals provided little protection from contaminated materials during the decontamination process and it was inevitable that one became splashed with water spray and back splash when decontaminating Respirators were not made available to the decontamination team.

Prior to the shot day, each sampling aircraft was coated in a thin white solution, which was to entrap irradiated particles and, later, to make it easier, during the decontamination process, to see which parts of the aircraft still remained to be scrubbed.

Hydrogen bombs were air bursts and dropped from 49 Sqdn Valiant bomber aircraft. Atomic bombs, rumoured to be trigger devices for the hydrogen bombs, were suspended from barrage balloons from the RAF Balloon Unit.

48 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

On shot day each returning sampling Canberra, in turn, taxied upto the active area barrier and once there, shut down it`s engines. It was now imperative to extract the aircrew as rapidly as possible and off load all samples. The aircraft handling team, led by Noel Peers (Thud), opened up the barrier; connected the towing arm to the aircraft and a tractor towed it to the parking position.

The same team then immediately returned to the barrier to tow in the next aircraft. This continued, quickly, until all sampling aircraft were parked. The two aircrew, in their cockpit, had been bathed in a pressurised atmosphere supplied by the engines using air from the cloud and it was imperative to get them out of the aircraft immediately and to the decontamination building. I led the crew extraction team and the refuelling team. At the same time, Jim Moyle`s team commenced off-loading the sampled materials from both wing tip pods, which from a distance looked like normal wing tip fuel tanks; also from the drum impactor, mounted dorsally on top of the rear fuselage and forward of the vertical stabilizer. There was a planned, precise and professionally practised methodology for handling the irradiated aircraft; extraction of it`s crew; offloading of samples and refuelling the aircraft. Although it was essential not to touch the skin of the aircraft, during some operations this was unavoidable.

The off-loading of the samples was the longest job and this was the only team issued with respirators. The rest of the of the technicians breathed ambient air and any associated dust.

On completion of all this work, the active area was abandoned by the technicians and the aircraft left, in radiation terms, to decay. Only the AWRW staff remained in the laboratory to process the samples and select those that would be flown to the UK. Everyone exiting the active area, were thoroughly dehydrated and now commenced the long decontamination process before they could drink or eat. The process contiued, shower after shower; scrubbing brush after scrubbing brush and with close cutting of body hair and finger nails etc.

Later, in the evening of shot day, I and an assistant returned to the active area and refuelled each aircraft in turn to prevent condensation and fungal growth in the fuel tanks. And then we went through the drawn out decontamination process once more, accompanied this time, by the refuelling tanker driver!

Depending on the radiation level of the aircraft, decontamination may commence the following day but this decision would be determined by one of the monitoring Regiment Officers.

The technicians carried out the process of decontamination, the management and rectification of all the pumping and spraying equipment and the management of active settlement tanks.

The process of decontaminating all of the aircraft had to be completed prior to the following test shot proceeding. Daily work was continuous until all aircraft were decontaminated.

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 49

Final clearance of each aircraft back to 76 Sqdn was invariably given by one of the Regiment officers after final monitoring. The decontamination equipment was fairly basic in those days. We had a temperamental steam generator to assist in removal of the white wash material, assisted by lots of elbow grease and stiff bristle brushes.

Otherwise we used water sprayers, which were small power assisted crop sprayers.

Recording of personal radiation dosage was by two devices. A dosimeter was worn and this device was reset at the end of each worked day. Also worn was a film badge, which recorded the accumulated dose history for a particular shot. On GrappleYankee shot day (said to be the big one) my AWRE record shows that I lost my film badge, which was untrue; I would have to had recovered the film badge before personal monitoring and decontamination would be allowed to proceed. The Regiment monitors would have considered loss of the badge a hanging offence! The RAF Regiment provided strict monitoring of all personnel exiting the active area. During the aircraft decontamination process daily personal decontamination was often a very drawn out, time consuming; sometimes an unpleasant process and the rule of no eating, drinking or smoking in the active area was strictly observed. But one`s reward on clearing the Regiment monitors was an orange juice drink, a soggy bar of chocolate and a cigarette! Bliss.

During one shot day, a sampling Canberra returned with an engine fault that required the engine to be changed. We decontaminated the aircraft and then the technicians from 76 Sqdn were summoned; issued with decontamination clothing and then they changed the engine. The removed and irradiated engine remained in the active area throughout the time I worked at the Flight and it was alleged that it was buried and it may well be that it is still there.

On another occasion, a Shackleton maritime aircraft was brought onto the decontamination pan because it had accidently strayed into the path of the dispersing bomb-cloud. It is clear in my memory as on that occasion one of the technicians fell off the wing during the decontamination process. Years. later, in the late 1980`s I watched a TV programme about the Grapple Operation. A crew member of that flight was interviewed about the aircraft becoming contaminated. Later, in the same programme, a ministry spokesman said that the aircraft was not contaminated. This was not true. The aircraft was contaminated, it was then decontaminated and then monitored by one of the Regiment officers before release back to service.

50 | CAMPAIGN Summer 2015

Epilogue The Flight was part of a larger organisation that succeeded in a vitally important event in British history to ensure the nation had an independent nuclear capability to exercise political influence. I have immense admiration

for my Flight colleagues for their professionalism, friendship and good humour in those sometimes trying conditions. I am often back there in spirit.

Help needed finding information on flight

BNTVA Shop Window

Although not a member of your association I wondered if any of your members could help me with the following query?

I traveled on a British Government contract Trooping Flight from London Airport to Christmas Island 12 Aug - 14 Aug 1958. At the time of flying I recorded in my diary most of the flight details, eg flying times, aircraft registrations and fleet names. The one set of details I appear to have mislaid over the years are those for the third leg of the journey: San Francisco via Honolulu to Christmas Island by DC super 7c of Pan American World Airlines - 13/14 Aug 1958. The missing details I require are the aircraft registration number and/or fleet name. If you are able to help me you would make an old RAF retired Warrant Officer very happy!!

Raymond NJ Walking r.walkling159@btinternet.com

BNTVA No. 3218 Mike Turner

Band 1 items For Get Me Not Lapel Badge Car Badge Blazer Badge BNTVA Lapel Badge Cuff Links Key Fob Tie Clip Trolley Token Bookmark Grapple Tie BNTVA Tie woven BNTVA Tie printed

£3.00 £3.00 £12.00 £2.50 £5.00 £2.00 £3.00 £1.00 £3.00 £9.50 £10.00 £7.50

Band 2 Items Caps Baseball Scarves Fleece Scarves Silk Shirts Small to XXXL

£11.00 £12.00 £13.00 £12.50

Band 3 Item Fleece Small to XXXL Mugs NAVAD & BNTVA

£22.00 £6.50

Band 4 Item Tankard Glass

£20.00

ALL PRICES PLUS POST AND PACKING Band 1 add £1.00 Band 2 add £3.00 Band 3 add £4.00 Band 4 add £5.00 BNTVA, BM 5657, London, WC1N 3XX

CAMPAIGN Summer 2015 | 51

Ways to pay your annual BNTVA membership subscription Set out below are the methods you can use to pay your membership subscription, due 1st of April each year.

By standing order using the personalised standing order form sent out with the Winter Edition of the magazine.

By using the BACS system take your cheque or cash into any HSBC branch make out the paying in slip with the following details: HSBC Bank plc 13 Parliament Street York YO1 8XS Sort code: 40-47-31 Account number: 64259351 Account name: British Nuclear Test Veterans Association By using your own Internet Banking account make the payment using the details above.

Membership is available for purchase from the shop UK Membership - UK Single Member £20, UK Family (partner & dependent children) £30, Overseas Single Member £30, Overseas Family (partner & dependent children) £40

If you are unable to use any above ways to pay, CHEQUES made out to the BNTVA only, can be sent to the central address.

BNTVA BM 5657 London WC1N 3XX

Have we got your correct address details?

Can you please check that your correct address and postcode is shown on mailing address labels on any communications that we send to you? If we have the incorrect address (especially postcode) please contact us and let us know the correct details. See the address above for the Association’s contact details.

52 | CAMPAIGN Spring 2015

NewsDesk Mail Service The NewsDesk publishes articles of interest to BNTVA members and supporters from a wide field of sources, The Recognition Campaign NewsDesk covers all key developments and media coverage of our campaign.

You can access these regularly updated features on the BNTVA website at www.bntva.com News by Email – We now bring you a great new way of keeping up to date with everything that is happening, the News Email Service – You can sign up for free updates of the latest stories from our NewsDesks delivered straight to your email.

Never miss an interesting story or important announcement again.

To receive this new free service simply go to the BNTVA website and look for the subscribe form at the bottom of any news article. You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time.

Campaign magazine is published by the BNTVA. Editor: Steve Bexon.

Next issue copy deadline 30-11-15 BNTVA is not an anti-nuclear or an anti-war association. All opinions,views and quotations do not represent official BNTVA policy and are the sole responsibility of the writer.

Photographs and images – © Copyright of owner acknowledged.

All contributions for the magazine should be sent to the London address or emailed to editor@bntva.com

Campaign cannot guarantee total accuracy for any reproduction of letters / articles / transcripts.

BNTVA is a Registered Charity Reg. No 1131134 supporting past and present UK Nuclear Test Combined Service Veterans and their families.