I was born, second son to George and
Lily Crawford, in Strathmiglo in the Howe of Fife and moved
to St Andrews before my feet, quite literally, had time to
touch the ground! I have an older brother James (Jim).
I started school at the
West Infant in
St Andrews in the Autumn of 1948, moved on to the the
East
Infant – ' Fisher ' - where I took my 11+ - then the ' Burgh ' and after only a short
time there was transferred up to Madras College.
After leaving school, I spent a couple of years with Fife
Constabulary as a Police Cadet stationed first in Cupar and
then St Andrews.
The next 22 years were spent in the Royal
Air Force. I did basic ‘square-bashing’ training at Bridgenorth in Shropshire and went on from there through
Medical Training at RAF Freckleton near Preston. That was
followed by postings to RAF Ouston (I thought I was getting
posted to the USA - but it turned out to be just outside
Newcastle-on-Tyne). A tour at the RAF Hospital Akrotiri in
Cyprus (subsequently The Princess Mary's RAF Hospital)
followed, after which I was posted back home first to the
Medical Centre at RAF Swinderby and later to RAF Upavon.
After a tour at RAF Hospital Changi in Singapore on
Reception and Aeromedical Evacuation I returned to Medical
Centre work at RAF Leuchars. For some unknown reason I was
given a (short) tour at RAF Hospital Cosford from where I
'fought' my way out to get back into Medical Centre work at
RAF Kinloss and RAF Leuchars (again). My final tours were in
the RAF Careers Information Offices in Liverpool and Dundee
from where I retired to 'Civvy Street' in 1983.
After 13 years in Marketing with a Dental Company in Dundee,
I was made redundant and thought I could handle being
'retired' early. However, one year on, I was totally fed up
doing nothing and gained a position with the Voluntary
Organisations North East Fife as the Resource Centre
Co-ordinator. Alas that came to an end in March 2005 when
the funding ran out!
My final four years of working life were spent as the
Librarian and Assistant Secretary in the School of Class is
at the University of St Andrews from where I retired,
finally, in 2009.
My wife - Carol Tippett - from Dundee via St Andrews and
Wanstead (London - and I started corresponding as pen-pals
while I was stationed in Cyprus with the RAF and, while
stationed at RAF Swinderby, we married in 1966. We have 2
children: Gregory (Greg) and Amanda (Mandy).
Greg married to Julie - Has two girls, Rebecca and
Siobhan, and Julie has a son Callum.
Mandy married Garry - a 'Coaster' from Anstruther - and they
have a son, Martyn and daughter Nicolle.
Carol and I still live in St Andrews.
Click Here For Family Photos
In 1998, with the help of one or two others, I managed to
organise a 'Class of 48' reunion for those who started at
the West Infant with me and met up with many of the old
crowd at a 'do' in the Scores Hotel. Ian Seeley and I were
able to create a souvenir book which included a 'potted'
history of everyone we'd managed to contact (copies are
still available from me).
Miss Jessie ‘Teenie’ Robertson - our oldest surviving
teacher at the time was Guest of Honour at the reunion.
Alas, she died at the end of September 2001.
My favourite pastime, as you’ll have gathered from this
site, is hill walking, in addition to spending quite some
time researching my Family Tree - where I get confused with
the dead and irritate the living - and between times try to
keep the garden in shape!
I manage to get into the hills almost every weekend and once
a year I've included one long walk - upwards of 20 miles.
Part of this annual effort has resulted in me raising a fair
bit of much needed charity sponsorship for those not so
fortunate as myself. I've completed the 95 miles of the West
Highland Way no less than six times - twice accompanied by
Carol and once by my grandson, Martyn who was only 11 years
old at the time.
In June 2004 I completed The 54 mile Caledonian Challenge in
just over 21 hours and raised £2,000 for the Scottish
Community Foundation.
You can read all about that event and see some of the
pictures I managed to take along the way by
clicking here.
I’ve promised myself that it would be my last BIG walk ...
but then?
