Wrens fly in to remember ex-colleague

From the Guardian Series, first published Thursday 8th Jun 2000.

EX-WRENS who served at a Royal Navy air station in Stretton during the Second World War are to reunite in Appleton for a commemorative service after more than 50 years apart.

They will be joined by others who served on HMS Blackcap at St Cross Church in Appleton Thorn on Sunday, June 4, at noon.

An annual commemoration service was started in 1991 by a few ex-Wrens who met to visit the grave of Anne Elizabeth McCormack, a steward on HMS Blackcap, who died in 1943.

Miss McCormack was returning from a dance when the car she was travelling in overturned and crashed into a field at Wrights Green. She was an orphan who was taken under the wing of many of her fellow Wrens and was buried at Appleton Thorn.

During the past 10 years the commemorative service has developed into a memorial for all who served at the air station, but this is the first year that so many Wrens who served in the 1940s have come together.

Pat Rogers, who served as a ship's cook from 1942 until 1946, was a friend of Miss McCormack and one of the founders of the commemorative service.

She said of the reunion: "We're hoping to renew our friendship. Our days as Wrens were difficult times but we worked very hard and played very hard."

The service, which will be conducted by Rev G H Buchan, will include a 'Poem for Anne', read by an ex-Wren, and an address by the chairman of the Greater Manchester Fleet Air Arm Association, Arthur Gardener.

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