Y2K REUNION
CHICKSANDS
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Posted by Brig Chris Holtom on 6/6/2000 from 152.163.204.181:
The accommodation on base will cost £10 per person per day. You get bed and breakfast for that. If you want meals that are not paid events (such as the dinner/dance) the midday meal is £1.97 and the evening meal is £2.82
The contact number on camp for information is 01462 752321. Its in the registration cell and you can get most information you need there. I recommend you book for the paid events on arrival. I have had to set a limit on places and they are filling up fast. See you next month. Best wishes
Chris Holtom
*******
American Coordinators for the South West Region
Hello all,
I know it has been awhile since you have heard from me and need to apologize for the lull. Numerous changes in the structure of the reunion planning at all levels and Air Force mission requirements have kept a lot of us very busy. Please don't get me wrong, work has been on going with the reunion planning. If you take a look at the Chicksands reunion page, as well as the SW Region reunion page, you will find a lot changes and important information has been added since my last e-mail.
Here at the South West Region though, we need some help and hopefully you can fill the bill. We need your thoughts and ideas not only for the Chicksands Reunion and what you would like to see, but also something for all the alums that could not make the long trip.
Now here is the good part, we are having a contest. I promise you it is not of the usual high school promotion, this one is neat. The winner will receive their very own personal web site designed with a value of approximately Five Hundred Dollars $500.00). You read it right, that's a real value of $500.00, but wait, that's not all. If you are the winner your site will be maintained for one full year at an interval not to exceed two months! That is six times. Your site will be designed and set up by Sam Braswell (videoranch.net) and will be installed on a non-fee hosting service. All you need to supply is the information you want on your site, a few pictures and your email address. Your site will also be listed, initially, with approximately 20 of the major search engines. There are two major stipulations though and those are, your site must be of a personal nature as opposed to a commercial site, and not morally offensive to anyone. Remember, we're a part of America's Team and that means we are all winners!
Judging will be by popular vote and the winner will be announced no later than November 29, 1999, in time to be up and on line before Christmas.
Send your thoughts, ideas and suggestions for a post Chicksands reunion to sambraswell@videoranch.net. As always publicity for the reunion is of primary concern and solicit any input you have as to how to get the word out to as many as possible.
Curt
"Welcome to the South West Region Homepage for the RAF Chicksands Y2K Reunion. I would like to thank Brig. Holtom for opening up the gates of Chicksands to all of us who love it so much. The entire South West Region Coordination team is working very hard to make this reunion as enjoyable as possible. Travel arrangements, lodging, and special events are currently in the works and will be continually updated as new information comes in. Our sole purpose is to make this trip as easy and enjoyable as possible, but we need your help. I hope you will find this page very informative, helpful, and entertaining. Please feel free to contact us with any questions, concerns, or comments you have.
Curt Mathiasen SW Region Coordinator" Y2K Reunion Coordinating Staff (19/7/1999)
Chris Holtom, Brigadier
Commandant (19/7/1999)
From Chicksands,
We had a great Open Day on Saturday with
well over 2000 people
visiting the base. The Priory Tours were
packed out. Local Radio
covered the event throughout the day and
they are keen to come
next year. We got some good coverage for
next year.
I met someone who was here in the 50's who
found out about the
reunion by accident. He is not on the
Internet. I hope all of you who
read these messages and www.chicksands.com
can remember
those who do not have Internet access and
let them know about
our event. Best wishes Chris Holtom. PS,
weather here hot, sunny
and 29 degrees. Getting short of water!
cgholtom@aol.com
From Seminole, FL
CHICKSANDS HISTORY: Intelligence Museum News - - -
Chicksands Alumni and Friends have acquired
the main elements of
the centerpiece USAF display within the
Chicksands Intelligence
Museum. We now have a Hammarlund SP-600 High Frequency
radio of the type used by the USAF at
Chicksands during the
1950s and 60s Cold War era. SP-600s were the collection
workhorse for intercepting both
Communications Intelligence and
Communications Security targets. At one
point, the old 6950th
Radio Group operated over 200 SP-600 radios
in the
formerly-fenced "Tech Site" which
still surrounds the last of the
RAF's 250 foot antenna masts. A fatigue
uniform, contributed by
Vincent Wuwert of Toledo (Ops Baker Flight)
will be worn by a
store mannequin, posed at the SP-600 radio
wearing period
headsets contributed by former Chick,
Francis E. Brandon, Jr.of
Austin TX. The radio was purchased with
funds directly donated by
a growing list of Chicks and from the sale
proceeds of history
books and Fighting Chick shirts. We will
include a list of donors with
the exhibit, which will be dedicated next
July at the Y2K Reunion.
For now, know that all contributions are
treasured and will be
publicly acknowledged. - -
Every former Chick should be aware of the
significance of the
antique radio we are sending to Chicksands.
HF radio collection
was what Chicksands was all about during
World War 2 and
throughout the Cold War. The need for tight
secrecy surrounding
radio intercept operations hid the
identities of equipment used by
the Ops Flights. As a result, thousands of
you, who performed with
excellence over decades in a broad spectrum
of administrative and
support specialties, may not have known
about the top of the food
chain your efforts made possible: our radios
and their operators,
copying the signals of friend and foe from
all over Europe. In the
same way that ground support staff of all
career fields identify with
the aircraft they keep or kept flying from
their home air bases,
former Chicks can point with pride to the
radio that will be displayed
as the reason the West needed Chicksands and
needed all of us
to serve there. - -
SP-600s were retired in the 1970s and were
replaced with Collins
R-390s and we are trying to acquire one of
them for display as well.
Also on our search list is a military style
typewriter used by Chick
radio operators to copy code. And then we
have a big ocean to
cross with heavy hardware. We can use
contributions in every
amount - even a dollar bill in an envelope
to CA&F Projects, POB
4053 Crofton MD 21114. Your purchase of
history books and shirts
helps too (visit the 'store' on our webpage,
www.chicksands.com ).
