CLYDEBANK Blitz survivor Blair Holt was proud to have served with the RAF during the war – and even prouder when his young great-great-nephew signed up as a cadet.
Lewis Cramb, who is 15, completed the Glasgow Kiltwalk at the weekend in Blair’s memory – and he knows his great-great-uncle would have supported him every step of the way.
“He recently passed away and I wanted to fund a way to commemorate what he had done in his life,” explained Lewis. “I decided to step out of my comfort zone, to help both myself and the RAF Benevolent Fund.”
Lewis has already smashed his £400 fundraising target and there is still time to donate via his fundraising page (glasgow.thekiltwalk.co.uk/fundraising/GlasgowKiltwalk2022-LewisCramb).
The RAF Benevolent Fund supports serving RAF personnel, veterans, and their families, when they need it most. The Fund provides financial, emotional and practical assistance to help people live with dignity and independence.
Lewis, who is from Bearsden, is a cadet in 1740 (Clydebank) Squadron Air Cadets, which he joined in August 2021. He completed the Kiltwalk alongside fellow members of his squadron.
Blair grew up in Clydebank, explains Lewis’s mum, Angela.
“He was my father’s uncle, and with no children of his own, he treated our family as his own,” she says. “He was like a grandfather to my family - he actually gave me away at my wedding, as my father had passed away some time before.”
Angela adds: “He was born in Liverpool, but moved to Clydebank as a baby. Work took him to Castlebar in Ireland and then to London, and eventually he retired to Melrose.
“During his service, he was based at RAF Waddington and frequently took flights to Leuchars so he could sneak home to visit his fiancé Dorothy for short weekends. He also ran the cinema nights on the base as he could work the projector.
“He was young during the war and did his National Service with the RAF. He always talked passionately about his time there and he was so pleased Lewis had joined as a cadet.”
Angela adds: “His birthday coincided with the Clydebank Blitz. His father brought him back from Larkhall ,where they had been temporarily housed as a result of the Blitz, so they could collect his birthday cake, which had been ordered before the bombing.
“Amazingly, City Bakeries was still standing – so he did get his birthday cake.”
The Clydebank Blitz was a sustained bombing attack by the Luftwaffe during World War Two, which left 528 people dead, thousands more injured and 40,000 evacuated. The raids took place on March 13 and 14, 1941, and resulted in Scotland’s biggest loss of civilian life of the war. The town was devastated, with entire streets wiped from the map.
More than £3 million was raised for hundreds of charities after a crowd of more than 10,000 people participated in this year’s Kiltwalk, founded by entrepreneur Sir Tom Hunter.
He said: “I regard the success of Kiltwalk as one of the Foundation’s greatest achievements. It was a joy to see so many of our Kiltwalk Heroes out in their tartan at Glasgow Green.”
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