Rodney Myers has been in touch with the club to advise us that Johnny Blunden died aged 99 on his 99th birthday in early February.
Johnny was a founder member of the club in 1948. Rodney Myers and his sister Jane will be attending his funeral on March 4th at 2pm at Urchfont village church.
Rodney has kindly sent us these memories and a photo of Johnny to share with you, the members of HRSC.
The club was formed by a small bunch of enthusiasts in 1948 when Culdrose Air Station opened. They were very helpful & used to race their whalers on the Helford. The group who got the club started were Mr Kirby, Johnny Blunden, Bets Williams (then Betty Danby) Mary Gardiner, Peter Danby & Robin Momber. Bets is the sole survivor now. She was 19 years old in 1948 & now lives in Constantine, having lost 2 husbands. The committee originally met in a room at Selangor, Bar Road, where Bets lived with John Edwards (they were married). They needed more space, so my parents invited them to come to Trewince for meetings & social occasions & they got very involved in the development of HRSC. Johnny was a pilot at Culdrose flying Venoms & other prop planes & jets such as the Sea Vixen. He became great chums with my parents who sailed & raced an old gaff cutter called Otter. There is a framed photo of Otter in the club.
Trewince Hotel became almost a second mess for the young officers & Saturday nights was food, drink, dancing & party time. Several unfit to return to base so the large sofas were often occupied until breakfast time!
As a youngster Blunden was a bit of a hero for being a pilot of a jet, plus he had a lovely old Riley with running boards (always breaking down) plus he was a good sailor & became a huge family friend. He was Godfather to my younger sister who was christened at Culdrose. So, a long association & I last met him a few months ago on our way up country for a pub lunch.
Best Wishes to you & the club.
Rodney
