Ian Irwin and his wife, Sue, who he met over 40 years ago when she lived on a farm at Wiston, Haverfordwest, and he was stationed with the RAF at Brawdy, recently took an emotional trip down memory lane.

The couple, who now live in Royal Wootton Bassett, were in Wales visiting Sue’s family when by chance they drove past the old RAF Carew Cheriton site where Ian’s mum was stationed during the war.

Originally from Lisburn in Northern Ireland, Ian takes up the story:

We noticed it housed a museum, so we thought we would pop in to take a look round. Well, what a little gold mine of information and nostalgia. One of the first things the volunteer showed us was a picture on the wall of all the ladies from the Women ’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) who were stationed there during the war.

We couldn’t believe it, but our mum was in the photo. It is unlikely that the photo was ever seen by our mum previously. The volunteers were really interested to hear her story and of course when we were young we were regaled with her old RAF tales.

We do remember that when she was based at Carew, she told us that a local family called Bill and Gwen Griffiths used to invite her round to the family home for tea and a break from the camp.

Many years ago Sue and I took my mum to nearby Jeffreyston to meet up with the Griffiths family who she hadn’t seen since 1944. Needless to say it was a wonderful trip down memory lane for them all.

We thought it would be nice to pop down to Jeffreyston and try and find a connection to the Griffiths family. Sadly the only thing we found was a headstone in the local church belonging to Bill and Gwen. I have put a message on the Carew Cheriton FB page hoping to find the Griffiths family. 

It was such an emotional day knowing we had walked the same steps as our late mum over 70 years later. But what made it so special was the photo of our mum.