In the departure lounge of Manchester Airport early on the morning of November 5th 2015, sat the unofficial advance party of the group participating in the OCA 50th Airfield Opening Celebration Trip to Thailand. Harry Murray, Mark Wareham, Neville Wareham, Terry Evans and John Hamnett were booked on an Emirates flight to Bangkok with a change over at Dubai. The final destination was the Manhattan Hotel Bangkok, where the group would stay for the next few days. Picture taken in Dubai airport.

Friday night 6th November and the first group meeting was held in the foyer of the Manhattan. With Mike and June Stanbridge due to at the hotel later in the night and more attendees arriving over the next two days, a get-together enabled us to start the getting-to-know-you process. Back row L/R Mark Wareham, Harry Murray, Terry Evans, Margaret and Jim Vardy, John Hamnett, Dave and Gill Allison and Neville Wareham. Front L/R Dave Jardine and Sandra, Alan Myers, Bill and Anne Watch, Tam and Beatrice MacDonald.

The majority of the group made an early start on the morning of Saturday 7th. They were booked up on a trip to the Floating Market and then on to Kanchanaburi. REspect was paid at the graves of the FEPOW and then a walk around the area revealed some of the artifacts and relics by the Japanese. This train was actually used on the Death Railway. I stayed behind in the hotel to await stragglers and book the mini-buses that would transport us to the British Embassy the following day. Pix by Mark Wareham

The first test of our planning and organisational abilities came on the morning of Sunday 8th. During Saturday the rest of the group had arrived which had swelled our numbers considerably. Three mini buses had been hired to transport us to the British Embassy and were due outside the hotel at the pre-arranged time. As the group assembled in the hotel foyer I looked for late comers and was relieved to see everyone assembled. A ten minute drive through the back streets of Bangkok saw us pulling up outside the Embassy in Wireless Road.

The image above shows the Bangkok Pipe and Drum Band with Neil Campbell as guest piper. Neil was about to play the first of his 'gigs' both official and casual.You will see more of Neil as this story gets told. He and his trusty Bagpipes were to play an important role in all our events. The picture left shows Mike Stanbridge approaching the Cenotaph in the Embassy grounds, about to lay the OCA wreath. There were numerous people attending the Ceremony and our party certainly swelled the numbers.

It was best 'bib and tucker' for the OCA party attending the Remembrance Ceremony at the Embassy. We were there with time to spare which gave us the opportunity to explore our exotic surroundings before the Ceremony started. We mixed with diplomats in ornamental national dress and the military 'Brass' of many different nations including Germany, Thailand and Australia. There were also civilians in attendance, with one man bringing along his young family to lay a wreath in memory of their grandfather whom they'd never seen.

Posing in front of a statue of Queen Victoria is the Bangkok Pipe Band with guest piper Neil Campbell center. The Christian Service of Remembrance is indeed sombre and thought provoking. But, I find a lump in my throat when the piper plays the 'Lament' and I think I wasn't the only one with a tear in the eye as the band played. After the Ceremony we were invited to the Embassy gardens for refreshments and some social discourse. Below is a slideshow of pictures taken by different members of the group.