Month: November 2017

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Ken O’Dell: RIP

We have had a report from Geoff Milsom that Ken O’Dell passed away last Sunday, 19th November.  Ken had been suffering from dementia for some time.  Condolences to his wife Beryl.

There are many gaps in the material we have on the website, and unfortunately we don’t have a photograph of Ken “Red” O’Dell – or at least not one where he has been identified.  However, a quick look through the old newsletters shows Ken O’Dell out in Malta and Bechuanaland in 1957.  In 1959 he was in Aden, then Rhodesia and Nyasaland on a Federal Surveys contract with Geoff Milsom, Paul Heimes, Brian Corbin, Adrian Workman and others with the Dakota ‘Charlie Tango’.  The Company News in September 1973 reports him in Saudi Arabia.  By 1978 Ken was Chief Engineer, and the February 1978 internal newsletter reports him out in Zanzibar, Nigeria and Liberia as ‘Travelling trouble shooter”.  Was he ever at home?

The funeral will be at Easthampstead Park Crematorium, South Road, Wokingham RG49 3DW, on 6th December at 10:30.

 

 

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Eddie Holmes memorial service

John Tompkins was at the memorial service for Eddie Holmes on Monday 20th November, and has sent in these pictures.

Eddie Homes Memorial service
Eddie Holmes in RAF uniform
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Eddie Homes: RIP

We have received an email from Eddie Holmes’ son Stephen announcing the death of his father on 28th October 2017.  His email is copied below.  Eddie Holmes worked in Compilation and Project Control with Tony Furneaux and the team.  Some photographs are attached below.

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Dear Friends,

It is with deep regret that I have to inform you of the the death of my father, Eddie Holmes on the 28th Oct.

Dad had been struggling with Parkinson’s for many years but kept the sharpness of mind and sense of humour until the last. He was 91.

There will be a simple Service of Committal at Beaconsfield Crematorium on the 20th November at 11:00 which we are reserving for close family and friends. However everyone is welcome to a subsequent Service of Celebration and Thanksgiving at 1:00 at the High Street Methodist Church, Maidenhead.

I would be grateful if you could pass on this news to former colleagues at Fairey Surveys.

Thank you

Stephen Holmes

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Ken Ullersperger, Roy Macdonald, Eddie Holmes, Roger Laffoley. Taken at the Fairey Surveys reunion at White Waltham, 2004
Ulrich Münzer (foreground), John Marshall (?) (left) and Eddie Holmes (right),  at Farnborough Air Show
Eddie Holmes and John Tompkins in Compilation
These were taken during a fishing competition on the Thames: both photograhs show Eddie Holmes on the right.
Eddie Holmes is in the bottom left photograph, on the right. Photographs by Ulrich Münzer, 1966