A Harrogate RAF veteran was flooded with more than 850 cards for his recent 100th birthday.
A Facebook group dedicated to the RAF launched an appeal to send Stanley Clark, who lives in Harcourt Gardens Care Home, 100 cards for his milestone birthday.
However, after the post went global, he received more than eight times the anticipated amount – including one from King Charles III.
Mr Clarke, who joined the air force at just 16 as an electrical fitter in 1940, went on to become a servicing commando, RAF pilot and station commander. He served in North Africa and Europe before retiring in 1979.
The veteran woke up to birthday wishes from former service men and women from across America, Canada and Australia.
Mr Clarke said:
“I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who sent me these wonderful cards and gifts, this was totally unexpected and overwhelming but very much appreciated.”
He spent his centenary birthday enjoying afternoon tea alongside friends and family who had travelled from Australia and Canada.
Home manager at Harcourt Gardens, Adelina Pangilinan, also said:
“The cards just kept on coming, it was quite amazing.
“Nobody knew just how well the request would be received and it was absolutely wonderful to see the look on Stanley’s face when we delivered him the cards.
“It’s clear to see that Stanley, alongside all the other brave and admirable veterans are part of a very tight knit community and it’s wonderful see the support and admiration for him.”
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Bid to send 100 cards to Harrogate RAF veteran on 100th birthday
A campaign is underway for a Harrogate RAF veteran to receive 100 cards on his 100th birthday.
Stanley Clarke joined the RAF as a 16-year-old electrical fitter appliance in 1940.
He volunteered for Commando training in 1942 then spent the war in North Africa and Europe. He retired in 1979.
A Facebook page about the RAF with 23,000 followers is now trying to make his milestone birthday special.
It says Stan is “alive and well living in care home in Harrogate”, adding:
“Stan is 100 years old on April 6th and we’re hoping to fill his care home with cards.
“Please take a couple of minutes of your day and write a card, or go to Moonpig and help make this great man’s day.
“Let’s get Stan over 100 cards.”
It urges people to send cards to: Gp Capt Stan Clarke, Harcourt Gardens Care Home, Harcourt Road, Harrogate HG1 5NL.
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Wreath laid in Killinghall to honour heroic Harrogate airman
A wreath was laid in a churchyard in Killinghall on Sunday to mark the 80th anniversary of the death of a local RAF pilot in the Second World War.
Flying officer Ted Thackway lost his life on Black Thursday — the worst night in British military aviation history. He was just 23 years old.
Bilton-born Ted was part of the elite RAF Pathfinder force that guided British bombers to their targets.
He was one of five men killed flying back to Britain from Berlin when their Lancaster crashed in dense fog near Hardwick, east of their home airfield of RAF Station Bourn. Two members of the crew survived. Fifty members of the Pathfinders crews died on the night of December 16 and 17 due to fog and low cloud.
Ted Thackway. Pic: rafpathfinders.com
Relatives laid a wreath on Ted’s grave at St Thomas the Apostle in Killinghall, where his headstone is maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Debbie Havercroft said her father, who died in 2021, brought them up on tales about Ted, whose youthfulness and modest upbringing made him something of a rarity among RAF officers.
Nick Wrightson, who lives in Birstwirth, said Ted grew up in Killinghall and Bilton and left school at 15 before joining the RAF in 1939 aged 19.
Ted (left) with his family in Bilton in 1938. Pic: www.rafpathfinders.com
His funeral was held at St John’s in Bilton, where Ted had been a choir boy, and later that day he was buried at Killinghall, where his mother had grown up. His grandfather had been churchwarden at St Thomas.
Ted’s mother Elsie met a Canadian after the war, remarried and moved to a town called Egansville, where a commemoration also took place marking the 80th anniversary of his death.
You can read more about Ted and Black Thursday here.
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Candlelit Christmas service to remember Harrogate war dead
More than 1,000 servicemen who died in the two World Wars are to be honoured at a candlelit Christmas remembrance event in Harrogate.
Members of the public are invited to join the event, which will be held at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s (CWGC) site at Stonefall Cemetery on Sunday, December 18 at 3.30pm.
Visitors will be provided with battery-operated tealights to place on the graves of the fallen, which will be followed by a short service of remembrance.
Stonefall is one of the largest CWGC sites in the North of England and holds 1,013 Commonwealth casualties, 988 of them airmen who died during the Second World War, when Bomber Command bases were established across Yorkshire.
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Two thirds of these are Canadian – including two 17-year-olds – and there are also graves of servicemen from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and the Caribbean. Many of them died in the military wing of Harrogate General Hospital.
Local resident Benji Walker, who conceived and organised the event, said:
“I feel it’s as important today as it was at the time to recognise the sacrifice of those who gave everything to serve this country. The Candlelit Christmas Remembrance is a chance for the local community to gather to remember the sacrifice of the hundreds of CWGC casualties buried at Stonefall, many of them thousands of miles from home.”
Mr Walker, who has a son serving in the Yorkshire Regiment, will be using the event to raise money for the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation and Help for Heroes. Members of the public can sponsor a candle with the profits being split between Help for Heroes and the Commonwealth War Graves Foundation (CWGF).
CWGC public engagement coordinator Elizabeth Smith said:
“We’re grateful to what Benji has inspired here, a chance for people from all over the world to pay their respects to the fallen at a unique site, and at a special time of year. This has now become an annual event and long may it continue.
“The Air Force plot at Stonefall Cemetery is incredible and resembles the sites we care for overseas. At the end of the Second World War local people were encouraged to adopt the war graves of the Canadian servicemen and lay wreaths on behalf of their families at Christmas.”
Those wishing to attend the service are advised to dress warmly, wear appropriate footwear, and bring torches. The meeting point is the war graves plot adjacent to Forest Lane. Parking is available in the cemetery car park off Forest Lane.
Home Office asylum centre near Harrogate district an ‘abuse of power’, says MPA Conservative MP has described plans by his own government to build an asylum centre in Linton-On-Ouse as an “abuse of power”.
Kevin Hollinrake, who represents Thirsk and Malton, called a debate in the House of Commons on the matter yesterday.
The government is pressing ahead with plans to house 1,500 asylum seekers for up to six months in a ‘reception centre’ a former RAF base in the village, which is four miles from Great Ouseburn and Little Ouseburn in the Harrogate district, nine miles from Boroughbridge and 13 miles from Knaresborough.
However, the plan has been widely criticised by residents and politicians.
During the debate yesterday, Mr Hollinrake said:
He said:
“I said right at the start that this is an abuse of power, and I do not think that is putting it too strongly. The Home Office is using its emergency powers, with a Q notice, so it did not have to go through the planning process for this material change of use, which it undoubtedly is.
“The reason for those powers—why is it an emergency?—was, we were told, covid. Well, we thought that covid was actually largely behind us, especially at this time of year.
“I do not think it is right to say that covid can be one of the reasons why we are using emergency powers in this way.”
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Mr Hollinrake went on to question what support and funding would be in place ahead of asylum seekers arriving at the centre.
Police car and CCTV to be deployed
He said he had been told a double manned police car would be located in the village 24/7 and CCTV would be installed.
However, Mr Hollinrake said it was unclear when those plans would be put in place.
He said:
“Those potential mitigations would help, but it is not clear that those plans will be in place on May 31 when service users move in. I have also not seen a clear plan anywhere.”
He added that there has been “an indication” by the Home Office that next week’s first set of arrivals, which includes 60 people, may be delayed.
Last week the chair of Ripon City of Sanctuary joined calls to pause plans for the centre.
Residents in Linton-On-Ouse ahead of a public meeting over the planned asylum centre. Picture: Linton-On-Ouse Action Group.
Nicola David, chair of the sanctuary, told the Stray Ferret the centre was not suitable for refugees or the village.
She said there would be too many asylum seekers to residents at the site.
She said:
“Everybody is in agreement. Everybody is saying it is completely unsuitable.
“The only people who are saying it is [a good idea] is the Home Office.”
Why are refugees being sent to Linton?
The controversial proposal for Linton-on-Ouse is part of a wider plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda to have their claims processed.
Before potentially being flown out to the African country, asylum seekers will be held in ‘reception centres’ across the UK for up to six months, with the first announced being at Linton-on-Ouse.
Ms Patel said:
Red Arrows set to fly over Harrogate district this week“The global migration crisis and how we tackle illegal migration requires new world-leading solutions. There are an estimated 80 million people displaced in the world and the global approach to asylum and migration is broken.
“Existing approaches have failed and there is no single solution to tackle these problems. Change is needed because people are dying attempting to come to the UK illegally.”
The Red Arrows are set to perform a flypast over the Harrogate district this week.
The RAF aerobatic team are set to fly from their base at RAF Scampton to RAF Leeming on Thursday (March 24).
According to a military airshow website, the Red Arrows are due to pass over Harrogate at 2.01pm.
The team will also fly over Burton Leonard and Ripon on their way to RAF Leeming before returning to Lincolnshire.
It comes as the Red Arrows have been confirmed to perform at a number of airshows this summer.
Among the events include airshows in Eastbourne, Teeside and South Devon.
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Menwith Hill submits new plans to expand
A 45-foot long ‘communications container compound’ could be built at RAF Menwith Hill.
A planning application submitted to Harrogate Borough Council by the Ministry of Defence, which owns the site, says the new building would cover 464 square metres and help ‘meet the operational output of the station’.
There are no other details about what work would take place within the new building. The plans also include provision for a large fuel tank.
Built in the 1950s on the edge of Nidderdale, Menwith Hill is the United States’ largest overseas surveillance base.
Giant radomes, or ‘golf balls’, are a distinctive feature of the site.
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Recent expansion
There have been several planning applications to expand the base in the past couple of years.
Last year the MoD was granted planning permission to build three more radomes.
In February, the council also approved plans for another radome as well as an electrical substation.
Separate plans were submitted to add a new visitor centre, vehicle canopy and changes to the road junction on Menwith Hill Road.
Last month, a new report alleged the base provided intelligence for American drone bombings campaigns in the Middle East, including the high-profile assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in 2020.
