CERSA 96

November Walk at Virginia Water and Lunch

Walking and Lunching seem to feature highly in the lives of many Heathrow CERSA members.

On November 8th Trish Wigley lead us on a most enjoyable easy stroll around the very picturesque Surrey attraction.

We braved the few spots of rain at the start which threatened to scupper our plans, but failed.

It was followed by a delicious lunch at the Belvedere Arms in Sunninghill, Ascot and as ever plenty time to chatter and catch up.

Strolling along

Desmond Latimer and his walkers team also organise monthly walks combined with pub lunches. Contact Desmond on Mob: 07745173693 Home :-01189785552. sdlatimer@btinternet.com These monthly walks continue to prove very popular attended by a good number of retired ‘preventers’.

Heathrow CERSA Social Programme 2023

18 Jan National Archives Kew

The CERSA Christmas lunch took place in Staines-on-Thames on 7th December 2021. Despite a late change of venue, it attracted a healthy audience of nearly thirty members who travelled from near and far to join the festive throng.It was good to see some new attendees, including John Whyte, one of Heathrow’s former Collectors.

Feb Windsor Mar London Transport Museum Acton April AGM

The revised venue – the Boleyn Hotel on the south side of Staines Bridge – proved to be a great success. After a welcome drink in the bar, we enjoyed the lunch in a private room at the rear of the hotel. The dining room was set up in “banqueting style” with 4 or 5 large tables. There were copious menu choices, which accommodated everyone’s needs.

May Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking June River Thames trip July Charterhouse, Farringdon, London Aug N/A

The room was alive with reminiscences and conversation throughout the event, as you might expect. Many thanks, as always, to the back room team to do all the organising to make the event a reality – Trish Wigley, Bridget Kenton and Heather Nolan. My thanks, also, to the staff of the Boleyn Hotel who looked after us well, on all fronts –probably better than our previous venue.

Sept Museum of Rural Life and lunch , Reading Oct Kew Gardens Nov Museum of London Docklands

My conclusion was that a “good time was had by one and all”.

Ian Denison

We were very lucky to be able to have this one and only social event in 2021. We look forward to reintroducing events in 2022. Ed

Dec Christmas Lunch

Check website for updates. http://heathrowcersa.blogspot.co.uk

Heathrow in 2023 Ian Denison OBE, Heathrow CERSA Chairman

Heathrow is always in the news for both good and bad reasons. The airport was turned upside down during the COVID pandemic when we introduced the Health Measures agenda on behalf of the DHSC. Passenger Locator Forms and fixed penalty notices were the order of the day – with both passengers and airlines picking up some hefty fines for non-compliance. Terminal 3 and 4 got closed in the process and are now back in business. We introduced some new e-gates software in the middle of the process and, sadly, it didn’t live up to the billing that preceded it. In the middle of all this we started to work in bubbles and from behind Perspex screens in the immigration halls, the customs channels and even in the back offices. Those who were unable to work onsite, due to health reasons, moved to an element of home working for other government organisations. We even spent a week doing the Afghanistan repatriation flights in August last year That all seems a long time ago! We have recovered from that, but with some serious holes in our staff resourcing numbers. We can be between 250 and 350 staff short at any one time and support from mobile teams and other airports is still a daily occurrence.

Not having enough staff is not just a Border Force issue. It continues to blight airlines, handlers and HAL.

In recent weeks, we have been dealing with Industrial Action mounted by the PCS Union This is about pay, pensions and redundancy terms. Six airports, including Heathrow, were included in the action, which lasted for eight days during Christmas and the New Year. The government were determined not to close ports and turned to the military for support. Three hundred and twenty service personnel were deployed to Heathrow for the duration of the strikes and were focussed in the immigration halls.

Heathrow is a never-ending soap opera – there’s always something on the boil…….and something in the news media!!

Remembrance 2022

Border Force and its predecessors, Customs and Excise, HMRC and The Immigration Service has been associated with The Cenotaph Remembrance event for many years. The original link to the event and our essential volunteer support, has its origins with the late Les Scriver, former Customs Officer at Heathrow. Les had strong links with the British Legion and used them to develop our ongoing involvement each year.

Much of the organisation on the day takes place not only on Whitehall but also on Horse Guards Parade. All those intending to march are first security screened (a relatively recent innovation), and then sorted into brigade contingents. Each contingent is assigned a column letter and an order number within. The column letters correspond to large letter banners on Horse Guards and chalked lanes on Whitehall. Each contingent positions in number order behind a letter and is called forward to match the lanes on Whitehall. Complex enough but numbers attending are not known finally until the day. Supporting the Remembrance event is very special and rewarding. Watching veterans and others march past the Cenotaph with such pride is quite a spectacle even if some are fuelled by the odd hip flask! Some carry medals earned in conflict; others carry medals earned by relatives departed. Everybody is immaculately turned out either in full or partial uniform, all remembering those who served or gave their lives for our freedom. I will be there next year.

Courtesy of Daily Mail

John Isaac

Christmas Lunch at the Boleyn Hotel in Staines

Twenty eight Heathrow CERSA members returned to the Boleyn Hotel again this year for a most enjoyable Christmas Lunch early in December. With a welcome drink in the bar followed by traditional Christmas lunch in the dining room, there was plenty opportunity for colleagues and families to catch up.

The hotel staff worked hard to serve us quickly and pleasantly.

In wishing all of us a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, our new Chairman Ian Denison OBE, brought us up to speed with news from the front line at Heathrow. Staffing issues, looming strikes and preparing the military to step in at Immigration controls. Nice to be retired Eh?

Left Ray chats to our treasurer Bridget Kenton and her husband Michael.

Barbara Eades (left) talks to our Secretary Heather Nolan and David Eades (right)

Ian Denison, Tony Biddle and John Whyte at lunch

As Heathrow CERSA moves towards its 30th anniversary this year, founding member and former Chairman Gordon Hodson offers a little about its beginnings.

The origin of CERSAs

In early 1990s Ron Sanders, then Chief Welfare Officer attended the funeral of an elderly, long retired Preventive Officer. Ron had known him since he had been an APO and kept in touch after the man’s retirement. He was struck by how few fellow officers were there whereas at the man’s retirement party the large hall in which it had been held had been crowded with well-wishers. The camaraderie that had existed throughout that officer’s service had dissipated rapidly once he retired.

With the Welfare Conference due he decided to put his concern for discussion under AoB. The role of Chief Welfare Officer fell within the remit of the Assistant Secretary Personnel Branch D (PDD)

By an accident of fate, I was due to attend that conference. Having taken up marathon running following open heart surgery in 1980, in June 1990, following an interview with Peter Jefferson Smith, Deputy Chairman, I had been detached from my position as AC (Fraud) London North and West and appointed to launch the Department’s intended accession to the Health & Safety Executive’s “Look after your heart” campaign in C&E. The department had been targeted due to its rather poor record within the Civil Service for deaths from premature heart disease in service and post retirement.

The role I was fulfilling was proper to the Chief Welfare Officer so I would be equivalent to Ron, working to the Deputy Chairman via the Ass Sec PDD. As that post was held by my brother Norman it was the only time in my career that I worked directly to him. Ron insisted he had been reduced to the filling in a Hodson sandwich.

I was attending the Conference to give a presentation on the LAYH campaign for it was evident that there were links between LAYH and CERSA: a healthier, fitter “in service” lifestyle followed by extended friendship and camaraderie

for husbands and wives in retirement could hopefully have a beneficial effect on preventing heart disease and extending lifespans. Ron’s infectious enthusiasm and his arguments in favour of the formation of CERSAs won considerable support.

In September 1990 at a ceremony in Birmingham the department acceded to the LAYH campaign. Meanwhile Ron and Welfare staff generally had been endeavouring to publicise the project as much as possible via the department’s newspaper “Portcullis” and local newsletters and CERSAs were soon set up in Leeds and Poole.

One of the biggest difficulties encountered across the country when it came to forming CERSAs was that, despite the Reorganisation of the department having taken place over 20 years earlier the gap between the Officer grade + Excise and the Waterguard had not yet been closed. Some groups merged successfully whilst others went their separate ways. Then again some CERSAs, such as Woking, grew from VAT offices with associated VSO’s.

The Heathrow Walkers group led by Des Latimer took to the countryside on 2 November for a walk and pub lunch at the Cricketers in Littlewick Green. Top photo shows (l to r) Ken Faulkner, Pete Harland Jones, Eric Preedy, Des Latimer, Cliff Davies and Michael Nolan. Below at lunch we were joined by Gordon Hodson, Norman Shackley, and Chak Chakraverty.

Desmond Latimer and his walkers team organise monthly walks combined with pub lunches. Contact Desmond on Mob: 07745173693 Home :01189785552. sdlatimer@btinternet.com These monthly walks continue to prove very popular attended by a good number of retired ‘preventers’.

By November 1990 my involvement in LAYH was complete and I was posted to London Airports as AC (Fraud & Intel). It was soon evident that there had been no discussion about setting up a CERSA. Given my previous experience of the social life of various groups of staff working at LHR I felt it could be a strong candidate and found Jack Bugge, Collector in favour.

Discussing the idea with other members of the Collectorate produced differing views but no strong opposition. Time and staff for research work, were the principal problems. Who would take it on? The final decision approved by Jack Bugge and Colin Coventry my Deputy Collector, was that I would take it on in my spare time supported by part time assistance from PMU staff, principally Dave Clements and Chris Deadman.

I first approached Bill Adams, the Whitley Rep who I had known from my days as a PO and CPO. He was a tower of strength as was Dave Edwards the Union rep. Contacting retired staff was a major problem from the outset and it caused some wry humour when we found the minimal records of addresses were held under the title “Dead Filing”. All staff were encouraged to assist in helping us create a list of retired staff living within 25 to 30 miles of Heathrow whether or not they had worked at Heathrow Airport. Dave Edwards took on the task of drafting a constitution for The CERSA (Heathrow Area).

Jack Bugge offered us the use of a Committee room in the Custom House for our Committee meetings and copying and postage facilities for Newsletters. This would enable us to keep membership fees at a minimum. Eventually we were ready to send out explanatory letters with an invitation to attend an inaugural meeting to 30 people.

The outcome was reported in the Heathrow newsletter and our CERSA has gone from strength to strength, thanks in recent years to the work put in by the Committee.

Mark (Bats) Suter

say that we are still coming to terms with this is an understatement. However, as we all know, time moves on and so to bring everyone up to date with his wishes, I can advise you that the sale of his collection of 20 assorted guitars did realise a total of £22,000. And as stated in his Will, this was donated to Battersea Dogs (and Cats) Home.

Those that know, will realise that Battersea was close to his heart, and was the origin of his nickname, Bats. Unfortunately modern day society and political correctness prevents me from disclosing the how's and why's, but it was conceived in the late '70's on drinking nights in the town of Staines.

One of the guitars that was in Mark's collection is pictured here. Some of you may recognise Mark with some chap that looks familiar. His name is Eric Clapton (you may have heard of him) and they formed a firm friendship. Marks' Fender

Stratocaster was signed by Eric and dedicated to Mark. Mark was the LAP Collection expert in guitar valuation and their association was based on a mutual understanding of guitars. On one occasion, when Eric was flying out of LHR on Concorde, Mark met him in the First Class lounge, "played mother" and poured the tea. Eric has been strictly tea total for over 40 years.

So, if you have the time, and a wee dram to spare, please raise your glass, at your leisure, in memory.

British Library Visit

Ian Farquhar

On 18th November last year my wife Sue and I battled our way through the central London traffic to the remarkable British Library for our CERSA trip.

The architect was a maritime man and indeed the building looked a bit like a large ship. The building was opened in 1997 and contains within its satellite over thirteen million items. The stunning foyer is wide and airy with a floor of criss -crossed marble, and white painted columns which supported a geometric floor plan of reading rooms, conference and exhibition spaces.

Mark Suter with Eric Clapton

In the centre of it all is a striking glass column known as “The Kings library”, which contains a collection of books some very large and leather bound amassed by the 18th century monarch George lll.

We had an excellent tour guide who showed us so many treasures we never would have found without him. In the ‘Treasures Gallery’ is an original Magna Carta (only in law for 11 days), the first folio of Shakespeare’s Plays and the first editions around Europe of printed books. We even saw one of the first printing presses. We saw a Tyndale Bible, which only survived Henry Vlll’s wrath because it actually belonged to Ann Boleyn, and then we were introduced to some very valuable postage stamps (tiny little bits of paper worth millions of pounds). What I never realised was that so much of the British Library was open to the public (everything we saw) in very convivial surroundings. Lovely and warm, lots of desks to study at and free wi-fi! Easy to get to, next door to Euston tube, a small friendly group, we completed our trip with a leisurely coffee in the foyer. A great idea for a trip. We loved it.

Hello Heather

It was with much sadness that I received the news of Alan Gregory’s passing. He was my Surveyor in Terminal 2 and the reporting officer on me when I finally got promotion!!

We had some good times in Terminal 2 and formed a good working relationship which Alan fostered throughout the Terminal with his easy going but effective, manner tinged with a large amount of common sense. I recall one incident which illustrates this.

A young French lady ( I even remember her name) Miss Faschetti, was stopped in the Green channel with a quantity of haute couture dresses undeclared, and liable to a substantial amount of revenue.

It was established that she was on her way to a London Fashion house with dresses for display with a view to future sales. Alan became involved when the Fashion House contacted him to try and resolve their problem after some discussion Alan ruled that Miss Faschetti should be allowed to proceed against the Fashion House security with the proviso that she report back to us after the presentation. Her hotel was also warned to advise us if she left without notice, which subsequently she did.

Alan asked me to go and arrest her when she arrived at Departures I said I would try but could not really remember her fortunately (or am I odd) the first thing which I notice about the opposite sex is their shoes. Thus Miss. Faschetti fell foul of my being able to recognise her shoes . She was dealt with appropriately with out much empathy.

Thus I shall always remember for his common sense dealing with a situation which could have had adverse publicity for the Department and was in accord with the Churchillian ethos : " Rules are with for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools "

Please pass on my condolences to his family. Thanks for the sad news I shall remember Alan and his family in my prayers

Bill Adams

Golf Award for Dave Warren

I was very honoured this year to receive the Sir Henry Cotton Award from The Golf Foundation for “meritorious services to Junior Golf over a sustained period.” I was nominated by Ric Foulner and Douglas Connon, both of whom are outstanding supporters of the League, so I give my thanks to them. I received the award at a golf day at The London Club in Kent, from Nick Dougherty, the Sky TV Golf lead presenter who is the new, and youngest ever, President of the Golf Foundation. Nick presented the trophy to possibly the oldest ever winner! (TBC)

I have been the volunteer Secretary of the East Lothian Junior Golf League for 18 years and before that I was Junior Convenor at The Glen Golf Club for 9 years. Needless to say, much has changed, for the better, since I was a Junior in East Lothian in the 1960s!

Each Club in the East Lothian Junior Golf League would not function were it not for the dedication of their past and present Junior Convenors who have, by their often unsung dedication, ensured that the futures of their Golf Clubs, and of our League is secure. I would like to dedicate this award to all of them.

It has been my absolute pleasure to have given my time and encouragement to the thousands of Junior Players who have participated in the East Lothian Junior League during my tenure. My role in the League gives me immense satisfaction through seeing young people enjoying playing golf and competing, making friends and socialising, and becoming healthy and mature adults. The League adheres to these values - The Nine Core Values of Golf. We hope that frequent participation in our events ensures that our Players will remain in the game of Golf for the rest of their lives, and easily return to golf if they ever have a lapse from playing.

The Old days at LAP - on film

There’s a Sky documentary called "Liverpool Narcos". You may have seen it, but in case you haven't seen it, it's a series of three programmes about the drugs scene in Liverpool. The first programme is about Heroin, the second about Ecstacy and third about Cocaine. It's a most interesting series and shows just how rife drugs dealing and use was in Liverpool.

I was alerted to the programme by Ken Faulkner who told me that I featured in a short clip in the first of the series. I've also discovered that, along with many others, I feature in the third programme. Eric Preedy suggested the clips may have come from a programme called "The Duty Men" which was filmed in 1985/6 and he was right.

I've looked on Youtube and found an episode called "Aunty's Bag" which include all the clips that feature in the Liverpool Narcos series. There are lots of colleagues that we can remember in that episode - Jim Kirk, John Howard, Vic Donocik, from the CIU and also Des Latimer, Keith Campbell, Bob Stevenson, Mike Beglin and several others including me.

As we spent so much time and effort looking for drugs at LHR during our working lives, colleagues might be interested in being alerted to the Liverpool Narcos programme. They also might be interested in seeing the episode of "The Duty Men" that clips in the Liverpool Narcos programme have used. The episode of Duty Men is on Youtube (see the link below) and, apart from a reminder of what it was like in Terminal 3 when a detection was made in the '80s, it's fun to watch in order to spot various colleagues as they were 37 years ago.

1. Duty Men "Aunty's Bag"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1pLMiNU3Ho

2. Liverpool Narcos - On Sky it is channel 121, on Virgin 277.

Cliff Davies

Dave Warren

Nick Dougherty (left) presents the award to Dave Warren

Behind the Scenes Tour of National Archives at Kew

For the first CERSA outing of 2023 it was a behind the scenes tour of the National Archives at Kew in January. A few of us had previously visited to view records, but to be shown around the storage areas was an amazing experience. There is a vast quantity of records meticulously recorded and categorised under strict temperature and humidity control. In the event of a fire, obviously no water is used here! Instead there is a method of sucking out the air to restrict any burning before the Fire Service attend. Most documents are in heavy duty cardboard boxes that will withstand 30 minutes of soaking in liquid if there is a water leak. Items requested for viewing are meticulously logged by the staff to ensure that they are returned to the correct place once viewed.

How they find anything in there among the various floors was amazing. The storage areas reminded me of the cargo sheds in Shoreham Road, but much bigger.

More records are also stored in a salt mine in Cheshire, which has the perfect temperature for storing records. Items from there can be requested and viewed at Kew a few days later. Among the many highlights of items that we were shown were:

• The 1770 map of New Holland Sting Ray bay made by one of Captain Cook’s crew of the Endeavour. We know it now as Botany Bay.

• The Custom duties paid at the port of Rye in the 1700s.

• The list of executed prisoners for various prisons in the 1800s and 1900s. This attracted much interest to the bemusement of our guide. “Looking for relatives” someone explained.

The gigantic map of Epping Forest, which takes two people to lift out and carry. “Was it 1 to 1 scale?” quipped Phil Campbell.

Our guides were extremely knowledgeable and made the tour interesting and fun. We were afforded more time than the hour we were expecting and finished off with a pleasant lunch in the canteen on site.

An excellent trip for my first, but not last, outing with CERSA.

Rod Gauld

Retiring Room

Editor Michael Nolan

13 Brownrigg Road Ashford, Middlesex TW15 2TL

Tel: 01784 256549 Mob: 07813 363076

Michaelnolan75@gmail.com

Heathrow CERSAis on the Web at: http://heathrowcersa.blogspot.co.uk

Heathrow CERSA Committee 2022-23

Chairman Ian Denison OBE

Secretary Heather Nolan

Treasurer Bridget Kenton

Social Secretary Trish Wigley Committee

Mike Thompson, Helene Hamblin, Chris Hamblin.

Retiring Room editor

Newsletter Editorial Notes

Retiring Room is the quarterly newsletter of the Heathrow & West of London Branch of the Customs & Excise Retired Staff Association.

It is published quarterly in order to keep the membership informed of association activities undertaken or planned on their behalf, as well as keeping them up to date on events in their old departments.

Readers’comments and contributions are encouraged and letters from the membership are especially welcome. Contributions should not exceed 200 words and should be accompanied by a good quality photo of at least 500Kb size.

These should be posted or emailed to the editor at least two weeks before quarterly publication dates at the start of January, April, July and October.

Copy deadline forApril 2023 issue is 15th March.

Michael Nolan

Membership Notes

Membership stands at 95 plus partners.

If you know someone who is interested and is about to retire why not ask them to email: heathernolan61@gmail.com

Heathrow CERSA accepts no liability for loss damage or injury while members are participating in the Association’s organised events.