Alan Green

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July 2005 Alan Green contacted Peter Pickering via the Aden airways website  gallery and I'm pleased to say the two Khormaksar Secondary School friends are now back in touch after more than 40 years. Alan is today living in Canada. Peter is in Australia.

"I'm working Graveyard shift at a grain shipping terminal in Vancouver BC Canada. Everything's running smoothly at the moment which means its quiet for me and so I'm surfing the net. I came across Airliners.net and a photo of an Avro Shackleton taken in Aden in 1963, which brought back great memories. Then I saw the name of the photographer (Peter Pickering). I lived in Khormaksar in 1963. My father was W/O G. A. Green. I started my early photography with you and developed and printed my work in your dark room in your flat in Maalla [it was actually in Dhobi Lines at RAF Khormaksar]. I think I still have one or two of those photos. A Victor Bomber, Aden Airways Dakota, and a Cunard Eagle Britannia. I only have to look at them to know why I'm an electrical technician. I would love to hear from you, where you are and what you are doing. I may even be able to dig a photo you took of me at the time.

 

I'm back at work for another night. We have visitors with us from Brisbane at the moment. They are relatives on my mothers side that I found doing genealogy research. There Mother lived on the next street to us in Aldergrove for 16 years before we met. My wife Evelyn's mother and brother live in Brisbane. We visited Australia & New Zealand in 1988 & 1997  ( Queensland & New South Wales) with our boys Scott & Kevin (b.1981 & 83) and had planned on visiting in 2003.  

We had a strike and major layoffs in the grain industry in 2002 and Dad died back home in Watton, Norfolk so I went home to England for 6 weeks to visit Mum and the family whilst my wife, Eff, spent 3 months backpacking round Australia. She bought a rail pass and went all over including Perth. 

 

I know what you mean about keeping in touch with school friends. I never did keep in touch with anyone after a new posting.  We went from Aden to RAF Halton near Aylesbury Bucks. (after 6 months with Mums family in Suffolk) I just seemed to move on and get on with a very different life.

 

My memory is terrible I had completely forgotten about the Dhobi Lines. I can remember most places could not place them with respect to each other.  I remembered your name because its memorable and I had thought of you a few times during the years, wondering whether you were a press photographer or sports photographer. I would never have guessed water purification.

I have tried to remember other names from Aden and can only come up with  about 3.  Hillary Cook - lived 2 doors away in Mills square.  Caroline & Allison Clementson also in Mills square. I will have to have a chat with Mum and see if she can jog my memory.  My older sister Marilyn may also come up with a few names.  David, Jillian, Richard & Adrian were too young to remember much about Aden at all.  Were you in the Air scouts. I remember a few trips in Shackletons, Twin Pins, Beverlys and Wessex's and I was with someone but cannot remember if that was you. " 

Alan Green   effone52@yahoo.ca