An Evening with Richard Scaife and Paula Martin
Richard’s title was An Accidental Hero. He borrowed the title from novelist Zadie Smith who wrote a feature in the Telegraph, on the 60th Anniversary of D-Day, about her own father’s experiences, and in this article referred to Richard’s father 5 times. Richard went through his parents photographs (with them) identifying who was who, and in the process realized how much Social History there was, and what a good subject it would make for his presentation.
So the early part of his presentation was a photographic history of members of his family from about 1902 to the 2nd World War. His mother’s Grandfather, John Maud, was a farmer at Rillington and the farm is still in the family. Leonard Maud, his Mum’s father was a Postmaster and shopkeeper in Skipworth. His Dad’s father, Herbert Scaife was apprenticed in 1896 as a joiner and wheelwright in Escrick.
By 1944 Richard’s father was training for D-Day. He got a week’s leave to marry his mother; and his father’s sister arranged to marry on the same day but in the morning. They had a joint wedding breakfast at Skipwith.
His father was a tank Commander, and the latter part of Richard’s talk related to the D-Day landings and tanks. We saw wooden ramps and “hedgehog” defences on the Normandy coast designed to capsize or sink landing craft. We saw AVRE’s (Armoured Vehicle Royal Engineers) fitted with a variety of attachments to assist in assaults. His father’s Group landed at Le Hamel, now swallowed up by Asnelles.
His father was awarded the DCM and eventually baby Richard accompanied his mother and father to Buckingham Palace to the investiture. Though told all of this by his parents he sadly has no memory of the proceedings.
Paula’s title was A Safari in Zambia. She told us about the camera equipment she had bought, and the 10 week Open University Photography Course she had enrolled on. We saw a map of the tour with the various safari camps they stayed at. Her AV presentation was a feast of waterfalls and the various animals they had encountered; elephants and hippos, canoes and crocodiles, giraffes, zebras, apes and a variety of birds. Apparently the bush camps were all temporary structures liable to be washed away in the rains. And she told us a little about the life and the high mortality rate of infants in the country.
In his vote of thanks Brian Turnbull noted that the evening had been a game of two halves; Richard’s History in Monochrome, and Paula’s Colourful Travelogue accompanied by modern beat music. Clearly both presenters had put a lot of effort into producing the splendid evening we had had. The audience responded with applause.