CAPTURE NEW HORIZONS

Yesterday I flew down to London for a memorial to celebrate the life of a friend and colleague who died suddenly before Christmas.  Travelling in from Heathrow Airport I arrived in central London 90 minutes before the start of the event at the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall so I decided to go for a walk down to the Embankment.  I ended up outside the Ministry of Defence building and standing in front of the Battle of Britain memorial.   I served 14 years in the Royal Air Force from 1982 to 1996 and the Battle of Britain is as important to every past and serving member of the RAF as the Battle of Trafalgar is to anyone who has served in the Royal Navy. The memorial is to the people who took part in the battle in 1940 that stopped the German invasion after the fall of France and ultimately led to the defeat of Germany in 1945 due to the fact that Britain was able to continue the war and become the staging post for the Normandy Invasion in 1944. ...

On the headland at Skateraw Harbour is a stone cairn topped with a wooden cross which is a memorial to the six members of the St Giles' (Canongate) Boys' Club who used to camp at Skateraw but lost their lives during the Second World War. The memorial was re-erected in 1980 and it was dedicated by the Very Reverend Dr. Ronald Selby Wright, the Founder Warden of the Club.  The inscription on the slightly faded stone tablet reads 1939-1945  To the Glory of God. In memory of  David Adams RAF aged 21  William Brown Lt BY aged 23  Jack Cooper RAOC aged 22  Jimmie Dalgleish MM RHA aged 23  Jim Stewart RAF aged 19  Jim Stobbie RN aged 19  Who loved to camp here and gave their lives that others too might love it.  "When the morning was come Jesus stood on the shore"  Click HERE and  HERE for more information on the memorial at Skateraw Images taken...

Sunday 1st May 1994 is a day seared into the memory of almost every motorsport fan around the world. This was the day the three time F1 world champion Ayrton Senna lost his life at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola when his Williams Renault impacted with the wall on the outside of Tamburello Curve. It was the final element to one of the blackest weekends in motorsport history. Austrian Roland Ratzenberger also lost his life in an accident on Saturday and Rubens Barrichello's Jordan also hitting the barriers hard during Friday's practice, the Brazilian taken unconscious to the medical centre but he did make a full recovery. On the 1st May 2014, 20 years after the fatal accident, 25,000 fans from around the world descended on Imola to remember one of the sports greatest drivers.  Two weeks later on Friday 16th May I paid a personal visit to the spot at Tamburello, which is marked by mementos and Brazilian flags, to reflect on the events I witnesse...

At the top of the hill by the car park above the harbour at Cove is a bronze memorial by Jill Watson depicting the wives and children left behind after the East Coast Fishing Disaster of 1881 looking forlornly looking out to sea for their lost husbands, sons and fathers .  The memorial was unveiled in October 2008   The inscription on the memorial reads:  'Commemorating the widows and children of Cove left by the fishing disaster of 14th October 1881 when 189 fishermen were lost off this coast. Cove lost 11 out of 21 fishermen.' The disaster hit every fishing community on the South East Scottish coast with the Eyemouth fleet losing 129 men and one third of it's fleet (19 out of the 46 boats were lost).  Proportionally Cove was harder hit with over 11 out of the 21 fishermen lost and three of the four boats working out of the small harbour.   More on the history of the Disaster of 1881 can be found HERE For more on this memorial and...