St Ives-a new millennium - Flipbook - Page 73
St Ives-a new millennium
4/10/02
3:52 pm
Page 71
Top right: Richard Stenton and Isabella
Photo: Stuart Littlewood/Pentax MX
Left: Bob King
Photo: Stuart Littlewood/Pentax MX
Bob was only 17 when drafted into the
wartime Radio Security Service run by MI6 at
Arkley, Barnet. His job was to intercept German
secret service messages, some of which were
Enigma coded, and forward them to Bletchley
Park. He was one of hundreds of ‘voluntary
interceptors’ (VIs) monitoring the airwaves for
enemy transmissions and eavesdropping on
German intelligence.
Although a teenager at the time Bob was
already a radio amateur and constructor with a
good Morse reading speed, and he’s been a
radio ‘ham’ ever since. Pictured here in the
radio shack in his garden, he still uses his old
call sign - G3ASE - and operates an Eddystone
All-World 2 dating from 1935 and an HRO built
in America in 1938, which in some respects,
he says, have still not been bettered.
Bob was head of Science at St Ivo School
where he taught for 27 years. In a life packed
with interest he was a gliding instructor in the
ATC and ran the Citizens Advice Bureau in St
Ives for 9 years. He began bell-ringing at All
Saints in 1955 and still rings at Hemingford
Grey.
Metalworking became a hobby in the 1960s
and he has made a number of model steam
and traction engines. He is probably best
known in the town as a leading member of the
Civic Society of St Ives, which he chaired for 6
years. He also organises the annual reunion of
his old wartime ‘VI’ colleagues held at
Bletchley Park.
Richard lied about his age to join the RAF in 1943,
and at only 18 was flying as an air-gunner in
Wellingtons. He survived 30 trips as a Lancaster
tail-gunner, an occupation with a very short life
expectancy, and flew on operations nearly every
night at the time of the D-Day landings. In 1944 he
became an air-gunnery instructor.
He continued flying until 1958, in B29s at Marham
and Lincolns at Upwood, and retired in 1982 while
stationed at Wyton. He still has his flying logbooks,
the proudest possession of many wartime air-crew.
Richard hails from New Abbey near Dumfries. He
met and married Isabella, also from Dumfries, in
1948 after a whirlwind 7-day romance. They have
lived in St Ives since 1976 and are pictured here at
the Remembrance Day parade in 2000.
Bottom right: Wally Newbound, Macebearer
Photo: Stuart Littlewood/Pentax MX
In 1965 Wally answered an advertisement for a
macebearer and caretaker of the Town Hall and
Corn Exchange, and got the job. This enabled him,
with wife Ivy and daughter Elaine, to move to
St Ives and join other members of the family who
had been here since before the war.
Wally was taught macebearing by Alderman Bert
Burgess of the old Borough Council and Ben Quicks
who was Sergeant of the Mace at Cambridge City
Council. He also acted as Master of Ceremonies for
Huntingdonshire District Council.
He enjoys telling how, on a twinning visit to
Stadtallendorf, he had to take the mace with him
and was ‘held on suspicion’ by the German
authorities for being in possession of an offensive
weapon. Wally continued as macebearer until 1997
and is pictured here reunited with his staff of office
in 2001.
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