Join us for our monthly gathering at The South Lawn Hotel's Cornwallis Suite in Milford on Sea.
Members are warmly invited from 10:00 AM to mingle over coffee. Our engaging talk begins at 10:45 AM and concludes by 12:15 PM.
Following the discussion, enjoy a leisurely lunch from 12:30 to 2.00 PM.
Arrive early to relax with friends and enjoy a drink from the bar outside our meeting space.
Please purchase your beverages prior to the meeting to facilitate the staff's preparation for dining.
The dress code for the event is smart casual. We look forward to welcoming you.
Speaker Introduction
“I grew up in Kenya and served in the Royal Air Force, who also taught me to dive. A Malta posting introduced me to many historical aircraft and shipwrecks. On leaving the service I completed a commercial diving course, returned to Mombasa and was involved in salvage operations on the Kenya coast. In 1976 I published my first book on East African railway history and in 1977 became a commercial diver in the Arabian Gulf based in Bahrain and later established a marine salvage company.
In 1982 I was appointed MD of a Kenya diving company in Mombasa responsible for operations in East Africa and later returned to Bahrain and established a new diving company with contracts throughout the Gulf and East Africa. As part of my interest in military history I was involved in the restoration of British forces graves in Bahrain, and the recovery at sea of a propeller from a crashed Air France airliner as a memorial to those killed and was honoured by the French government.
In the 1990s I published a number of books on the military and transport history of East Africa and an acclaimed study of the German cruiser ‘Königsberg’ sunk in East Africa in 1915. Later writing articles for a variety of aviation, medal and railway journals. In recent years I co-organised steam train safaris in East Africa and led World War 1 Kenya battlefield tours. Now resident in the UK, writing and research continues, together with presenting talks on a variety of subjects.