Bletchley Park code-breaker Patrick Field among special guests to mark Armistice Day at Bishop’s Storford’s home game against Taunton Titans
Bletchley Park code-breaker Patrick Field was among the special guests to mark Armistice Day at Bishop’s Storford’s home game against Taunton Titans.
The 97-year-old member of the Bishop’s Stortford Armed Forces and Veterans Breakfast Club was one of 26 veterans invited along to enjoy a pre-match meal and watch the National League 1 match, which the hosts won 38-29, at Silver Leys.
Field, who served in the Intelligent Corps, presented BSRFC president Len Lindop with a special plaque on behalf of the breakfast club.
The popular veteran, who told the Indie in an interview last year that working at the famous Second World War code-breaking centre “was like going to university”, arrived at Bletchley Park just after VE (Victory in Europe) Day – May 8, 1945 – and joined the efforts concentrating on the war in the Far East.
Field and his fellow veterans watched the Stortford players take to the pitch in special poppy-themed commemorative shirts which were then sold at a silent auction, with the £3,500 raised due to be donated to the Stortford branch of the Royal British Legion. A bucket collection also raised approximately £1,000.
There was also a two-minute silence before the kick-off and a bugler performed The Last Post.
Stortford officials got the idea from their opponents who held a similar event when the teams met in Somerset this time last year. Club president Lindop was the driving force behind planning the day.
They presented Taunton with a framed shirt while another will be put up on the wall of the Silver Leys clubhouse.
Eight of the club’s sponsors paid for 19 of the veterans’ lunches and matchday entry while the club itself covered the cost of the other seven. The sponsors supporting the event were Bit Solutions, Hanbury Wealth, Three Willows/Ace of Lanes, Nockolds, Mulberry Homes, Steel Build Masters, Seneca Reid and RecruitAbility.
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