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David Allan Easton |
Branch Co-ordinator
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19 Hipsburn Crescent |
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Lesbury |
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NE66 3QD |
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01665 830928 |
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I was born quite a long time ago, when the Second War wasn't history, but rather a part of everyone's recent past. Yet the characters I remember from my early years weren't heroes from that war - rather, they were the eccentric gentlemen who were often referred to as Captain or Major, reputed to have silver plates in their heads... heroes from an earlier conflict. My father had 'got in' at the very end (or I probably wouldn't be writing this), and one of the few tales he would tell was of how he was so well treated in Cologne by the family he was billeted with in 1919: a family who had lost their only son who was the same age as my father. It seems they would go hungry to ensure he had little extras ... few though they would be in Weimar Republic Germany. There was also my friend's grandad who was still removing pieces of shell splinter from his legs when the weather was cold, 40 years on!
So it was hardly surprising I caught 'the bug' at an early age (and reading Biggles from age 6 helped incubate it!). Off I went to school, where my favourite subjects were English and History - for 13 years I waited for either a novel from the period to study, or a history exam based on the Great War. Zilch! To add insult to injury, for 'O' level (GCSE now) Literature we studied 'The Shetland Bus', an account of the undercover work in Norway in WW2! A good read but...
So, off to University: English and History undergrad. Shakespeare, Corn Laws, Dickens, Reform Acts - but nothing about those four momentous years that shaped the world we now live in. Thoroughly disillusioned, I left with an Honours Degree (somehow), and joined Britain's largest bookmakers as a manager!
I still had my WW1 books at home, of course- then on a holiday in Ostend I joined an excursion to 'the battlefields': it was pouring with rain (Flanders' rain, the wettest sort), but this only seemed to add to the atmosphere of the 'Trenches of Death' (not then restored) and Ypres square (dug up for re-cobbling and with duckboards over the mud). I was totally hooked! I 'jumped ship', staying on for the Last Post- I think there were two men and a dog there as well as the buglers: it was indescribably beautiful and moving. I overstayed my leave by an extra week! So began my love affair with Flanders and Picardy/Somme.
I eventually left bookmaking, and among other things I taught WW1 studies to various groups as part of the 'non-voc' further education system. If there is a more fulfilling occupation in life (apart from making TV programmes with unlimited budgets about the battlefield excavations) then point me to it! Unfortunately, education funding cuts (yes, they do happen) brought an end to this idyllic interlude, but not before the courses had brought together a group I am privileged to have as friends and who (with some very welcome additions) form the core of our Branch and our annual trips to France.
So, a very ordinary life - but an extraordinary interest makes it a satisfying one. My membership of the WFA is something I a proud of, and the aim of furthering knowledge and understanding is one I can commit totally to. While I look back with affection on the 'two men and a dog' days, it has to be said that being able to park by the Tank memorial with a coach, visit the Bute and take a walk in Thiepval woods is the way forward: and the WFA has helped lead the way in opening up the battlefields to a new generation by making them aware of their very existence.
I hope this gives you some idea of what makes me tick - now why don't you get in touch, either personally or on the website (form below), and tell me what you want from the WFA, and how we can achieve even more by sharing ideas and experience. |
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