Category: Social life

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Fairey Surveys reunion 2026

Date: Friday 31st July 2026 from 12:00

This year we have a change of venue. The reunion will be held at the West London Aero Club at White Waltham Airfield, SL6 3NJ, just down the road from the cricket club. There is plenty of parking.
WLAC directions

They have offered us a private room (the Snug), and a finger buffet, with drinks including coffee and tea available from the bar – cash or card.

We shall send out invitations by email, and by post for those without an email address, or without one that we know about. If you receive an email invitation, please reply even if you don’t want to come, as the price of postage is getting prohibitive.

There is a charge of £8 per person to cover the cost of the room hire, and the Club will provide a buffet lunch for £13.50 per head. Buffet menu.

The minimum number for a buffet is 20. If we don’t get that number, the Club can offer a selection from their bar menu for orders in advance, which are paid for at the bar. If this happens, I’ll send out a menu at the end of June, and refund in cash anyone who has paid for the buffet, as they arrive at the Club.

If you would like to attend, please fill out the form attached and return with a cheque, or email me and pay by bank transfer – details on the form.

Reunion attendance form

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Reunion 2025: photographs

Photographs from the reunion at White Waltham Cricket Club on Friday 25th July.

Sue Dunstan’s husband Kevin sadly passed away on 26th June. His funeral was on the same day as the reunion, so we were missing some of our regular attendees (see apologies list for details).

Scroll down for the indexed photograph and the names.

Photograph by Tony White
  • Tony (Chalkie) White of WWCC
    & Dave Padgett
  • John Wheeler, John & Alison Holton
  • Jerry Willson & Les Ritson-Smith
  • Victor Brown & Gillian Wallace
  • Lawrence Scott, Derek Minter,
    Elizabeth Scott
  • Brenda Miller, Ken Fostekew,
    Dusty Miller
  • Richard Groom & Lawrence Scott
  • Rob Wallace
Photographs by John Tompkins

Right click and select ‘open image in new tab’ for a larger image.

Apologies list (opens in a new window):

Reunion photograph with numbered index.
To see a full size version, right click on the photograph and select ‘Open image in new tab’
To download it, right click on the photograph and select ‘Save image as…’
1 Richard Groom10Elizabeth Scott (Lawrence’s daughter)
2Derek Minter11Les Ritson-Smith
3Dave Padgett12John Wheeler
4Gillian Wallace (Edwards)13John Holton
5Rob Wallace14Alison Holton
6Victor Brown15John Tompkins
7Jerry Willson16Carol Tompkins
8Ken Fostekew17Dusty Miller
9Lawrence Scott18Brenda Miller

To download names, click here

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Reunion 2024: photographs

We only have a few photographs from this year’s reunion. If anyone has any others they could share, please add a comment below, or email admin@faireysurveys.co.uk and I’ll add them to this post.

Photograph by Tony White

Click here for a full size image

Photographs from Dusty Miller

For full size images, right- click the photograph and select ‘Open image in new tab’

Photographs from Gillian Wallace

And finally, the people who were there: (Click here for a full size image)

1Derek Minter14Les Ritson-Smith
2Dave Padgett15Victor Brown
3Brenda Miller16Gillian Wallace (Edwards)
4Dusty Miller17Susan Deller
5Brian Slark18John Tompkins
6Jane Denham19Richard Groom
7Sue Dunstan20Mike Deller
8Jerry Willson21Carol Tompkins
9Roger Laffoley22Raelene Brown
10Anne Ullersperger23Sally Pilkinton
11Ken Fostekew24Ken Ullersperger
12Dave Wright25Patricia Cheffins (Bill’s daughter)
13Joan Wright26Lawrence Scott
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Reunion 2023 group photograph index

Group photograph 2023 with numbers

Click here for a full size image

1Dave Padgett22Geoff Light
2Derek Minter23Jerry Willson
3Colin McCarthy24Beryl Light
4Donald Paton25Victor Brown
5Mike Deller26Raelene Brown
6John Holton27Les Ritson-Smith
7Alison Waddell (Holton)28Dave Wright
8John Tompkins29Geoff Milsom
9Dusty Miller30Janet Grimble
10Sally Pilkinton31Bina Wood
11Brenda Miller32Ray Wood
12Rob Marshall (son of John)33Susan Deller
13Anne Ullersperger34Mike Wilkey
14Roger Laffoley35Mike Wilkey’s partner Kath
15Jane Denham36Chris Forsey (son of Peter)
16Rob Wallace37Patricia Cheffins (daughter of Bill)
17Ken Fostekew38Jean Fostekew
18Carol Tompkins39Gillian Wallace (Edwards)
19Diana Timbrell40Ken Ullersperger
20Geoff Manning41Lawrence Scott
21Peter Timbrell42Joan Wright

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Reunion 2023: photographs

FSL Reunion 2023: group photograph

Click here for full size image

The indexed version is now available, click here to see it.

The list of people who couldn’t make it this year is here.

If anyone has photographs they took at the reunion that they would like to share, please email them to admin@faireysurveys.co.uk and we’ll put them up on the post.

Victor Brown has sent these photographs from the reunion (to see full size images, right click on an image and select “Open image in new tab”) :

Victor Brown’s reunion photographs
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Hurricane pilots discuss tactics

This photograph came from Ken Fostekew, taken at Geoff Milsom’s 99th birthday celebration, but it warrants a post all of its own.

Geoff piloted Hurricanes as well as Spitfires during WWII, and he was an instructor for Hurricanes. Here he is talking to James Brown, the owner and pilot of two Hurricanes kept at White Waltham airfield.

Hurricane pilots together: Geoff Milsom and James Brown
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FSL Reunion 2019: group photograph

The 2019 reunion was held on 26th July, as usual at White Waltham Cricket Club, but this year it was held at lunchtime instead of in the evening.  This seemed generally popular, particularly for those who come from a distance, but please let us know if you disagree, or have any other suggestions for the occasion in future – use the Comments box below, or email admin@faireysurveys.co.uk.

Despite the awful weather forecast, rain didn’t stop play, and we were able to sit outside to reminisce and eat the excellent buffet.  Many thanks to John Tompkins for organising the reunion so (apparently) effortlessly!

The club barman was roped in to take the group photograph, so hopefully everyone who attended is included.  Click on the photograph for a bigger image.  Let us know if you want a high resolution copy of the photograph (2.4 MB) by email.

If you attended and have any good photographs, please send them in (admin@faireysurveys.co.uk) and they can be added here for everyone to share.

More photographs received from Ken Fostekew:

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Fairey Surveys reunion 2019

The Fairey Surveys annual reunion will be held on Friday 26th July 2019.

This year again it will be held at lunchtime – 12:00 to 15:30, as usual at White Waltham Cricket Club.

A finger buffet will be available at approximately 13:00, which also caters for vegetarians

If you have not been before, and would like to come, please let us know (admin@faireysurveys.co.uk), or download the form and send it in with a cheque before 19th July, and Google the White Waltham Cricket Club website for directions.  There is a charge of £15.20 per person for the buffet, and it helps to know numbers.

You are welcome to just turn up, but if you don’t want to eat, there is a small charge of £3.50 to cover hire of the clubhouse and bar staff.  Please introduce yourself when you arrive, and we would love to see any old photographs you may have!

FSL Reunion July 2019

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FSL reunion 2018: photographs

Attached are a number of photographs taken at the Fairey Surveys reunion held at White Waltham Cricket Club on 27th July 2018.  This year it was at lunchtime, which seemed to work very well.  Click on the photographs to see the full size version.

These are from Ken Fostekew:

And some from Dusty Miller: