RAF Wittering News

THE Catering Flight at RAF Wittering and the RAF Benevolent Fund have teamed up to make a Christmas difference to nearby veterans and senior citizens this festive season.

Flying Officer Alex Smith is the Contract Support Officer at the Cambridgeshire Station. He asked for assistance from the RAF Benevolent Fund to help the Station provide some festive cheer to local veterans and senior citizens.

The Fund was happy to help with the project and provided money for Christmas hampers which were delivered to residents of Kingfisher Court in Peterborough. Kingfisher Court has a high proportion of Service veterans as residents and operates a high-quality extra care system.

The hampers contained lots of festive goodies along with a copy of the latest Station Magazine – Wittering View and Christmas cards from RAF Wittering.

Fg Off Smith were joined by Flt Lt Dean McAulay and Sqn Ldr Lee Cope to deliver the hampers and chat with the residents. Among the residents was Veteran Gerald Dexter who served as an aircraft technician, working on Canberra aircraft and was also a member of 504 Squadron, a reserve squadron now based at RAF Wittering.

A spokesman from Kingfisher Court said: “The tenants at Kingfisher Court always look forward to their visit from the RAF. It’s one of the highlights of their Christmas celebrations and they thoroughly enjoy talking to you all.  The veterans really appreciate the recognition they receive and this year, made a point of commenting about how lovely and friendly you all were. Thank you from everyone here for everything you do.”

Fg Off Smith said: “It was a great opportunity and opportunities like this are genuinely one of the best parts of the job.”

Wing Commander Nikki Duncan is the Station Commander at RAF Wittering. She said: “What an amazing start to Christmas. A big thank you to Alex and the team for doing such a great job in bringing this project to life, and I’m so pleased that we’ve had the support of the RAF Benevolent Fund!”