Not just a great Grandad....

Appart from being a fantastic Grandad, always prepared to listen and give sound advice he was a great husband, always there for Gran, and prepared to do that extra bit to make her happy. Here you can see them both enjoying each others company in the garden.

Another Success....

As you can see the Gardening was a great success, the tires really work and if you look carefully you will notice that Gramps looks VERY content and happy with the result....

Gramps the gardener....

As you can see here is Gramps proudly tending his veg, grown in some very carefully selected tires. The project was a great success and gave lots of great veg which both Gran and Gramps enjoyed....

Wey & Arun Canal Trust

Sir Peter Mursell was one of the first vice-presidents appointed by the Wey & Arun Canal Trust.

In the early days of canal restoration, particularly in the South of England, such projects were viewed with suspicion by many people and sometimes even with aggression. In the early ‘70's Sir Peter saw the bigger picture and became a strong supporter of the long-term project to restore the derelict old canal often referred to as London’s Lost Route to the Sea.

With his position at County Hall he was able to quietly let his fellow councillors and officers know of his support of the project and he was happy to accept the position of vice president to publicly show that support.

In those early days he hosted a cheese and wine evening for the committee amidst the lovely apple orchards in Kirdford. However, it was his continuing support in his quiet fashion and his willingness to attend special meetings and events whenever possible that was appreciated. Most of the time he was content to remain in the background and only proffer advise when asked to do so. On the rare occasions we called a meeting of the VP’s he was always ready with his ‘words of wisdom’!

He quietly arranged generous grants from his family trust for the canal trust on several occasions. To many of the 2500 members of the now thriving WACT he was probably just a name in the list of Officers of the Trust. It is now the time to remind those members of one of the strong supporters of the restoration of ‘our’ canal in those early days when one of the main tasks was to establish the credibility of the project.

It is unfortunate that Sir Peter will not have the pleasure of joining the first cruise under the new bridge at Loxwood. We will raise a glass to his memory when that event takes place, hopefully in the near future.

Peter Beresford
Vice President & former Chairman Wey & Arun Canal Trust.

At Glynebourne

Granny and Gramps organised a trip to see Cosi fan Tutti at Glyneboure in 2000. We didn't have the picnic experience but ate in a tent, at the next table to Darcy Bussel. Of course didn't stare!

I remember that whole evening clearly. Expecting only to recognise a few tunes and be bored by the rest of the opera, I was totally drawn in from the first moment and rode the emotional roller coaster of the opera. I can't explain why but the thing, the music, the singing, the costumes, the setting and the atmosphere were truely magical.

Last flight with Gramps

G-SNAZ



Our last flight was some years ago when we went out to celebrate my shiney new helicopter rating. We left Shoreham in G-SNAZ, an Enstrom F28F, on a perfect clear day with big white fluffy clouds and just played. Zooming up and around the clouds like Gramps could do in his young days, when he would look at the sky and say good day for a flight, and just take off in his Swallow. This spontinaity is rarely possible in these days of control zones and air traffic. A magic flight that will live with me forever.


Swallow

Fine Woodworker

One of his Adirondack Chairs.

Facebook groups for Grandparents

Grandchild Laxton Mursell has started a Facebook group - Grand parents, gone but not forgotten.

A zizz after lunch

Phoebe and Gramps having a snooze in the comfy chairs.

Jigsaw Puzzle Adict

A connoisseur of jigsaw puzzles, the hand cut wooden kind, there was often a puzzle on the go and late night getting 'just one more piece...'. Each box has a label showing a list of who did the puzzle when and rather like favorite books, some have more entries than others.

ATA

Text reads,

Prevented from joining the Royal Air Force by poor eyesight, Peter Mursell joined ATA in May 1940 with 400 hours flying, mainly in light aircraft. Within weeks he was flying Lysanders, Masters and Battles. On 13 June he ferried his first Hurricane. On the same day he ferried Battle L5363 from Andover to Chateaudun in Northern France, from where he brought Hurricane P3515 back to the UK.

In the spring of 1941 he became C.O. of the ATA ferry pool at Ratcliffe where, with the advent of German bombing, the task of clearing the nearby Spitfire factory at Castle Bromwich had assumed high priority.

Early in 1943 Peter Mursell was posted to ATA Headquarters at White Waltham and appointed Director of Training. Under his guidance the ATA school expanded until by 1944 it comprised some 80 aircraft types varying from Tiger Moths and Miles Magiester in the EFTS to Wellingtons and Hudsons for advanced twin engine training. Already, in 1943, a four engine training school had been formed in conjunction with No. 41 Group Maintenance Command at Pocklington, moving later to Marston Moor.

While Director of Training, Peter Mursell continued to help out ferrying whenever the opportunity arose. During the course of his duties he made a point of flying every available aircraft type, including the Gloster Meteor. One of his last tasks was to partake in discussions concerning the possibility of ATA ferrying helicopters. In the end this never materialised.

Sir Peter Mursell 1913-2008

Peter has left his mark on so many of us. If you would like to share your memories or pictures and help to show how significant his life was, please feel free to add your thoughts to this blog.

Simply add a comment to an existing post or send an email with your text and photos to phoebebright310.peter@blogger.com and it will be posted.