Len and Evelyn Bartram helped to start the RAF 100 Group Association, working alongside Martin and his sister, Eileen Boorman. Len was certainly the first person to write to me when I responded to the advertisement he placed in ‘Yours’ magazine hoping to bring together people who had served in RAF 100 Group. He put my mother in touch with many of her wartime fiance’s friends and colleagues from Foulsham before she passed away. We have therefore given both Len and Evelyn their rightful position on the inside front cover of this Newsletter. Evelyn has written how it was for them in the beginning, and includes memorial pieces written for her husband, Len, illustrating a long and varied life, admired, respected and loved by all who knew him.

 

 

Len & Evelyn Bartram with Hugh Holme from Canada (right) who was with the Canadian Air Force in 192, at Foulsham

 

‘Len and I first met Eileen and Martin one Thursday evening early September when they had just started to think about a Memorial for Oulton. I was at the kitchen sink washing up, it was about 7.30; a knock at the door and Martin and Eileen asked if Len Bartram lived here. They then said someone from Sussex had told them the chap you want to see and talk to is Len B. Anyway, they said they would not stay very long, but we all got on so well they stayed until 11.15. We really liked them. They were lovely friends from the start. Two weeks later, they came again with two of their friends. Once again, only a short visit, they said. After endless cups of tea and home-made scones, it was 11.45 before they left. We had many happy times with them; lots of laughter.

 

When they were not in Norfolk, they would telephone sometimes three times a week. The talk was about Oulton and a few other RAF stations came into the conversation. They would talk about one hour on the phone. They were as you all know really lovely people and we do miss them very much. After Len died, Martin still telephoned me every week like many people. I miss that. But it was an honour to have known them and they have many friends who they made happy by starting the Association. We all made many friends.’

 

Len Bartram of Stody Estate: a tribute

 

"A much loved husband, father, grandfather and brother, a wonderful work colleague and friend, this quite remarkable man had a full rich life. Born in Gunthorpe, Len was firstly a paper boy, later a gardener and park keeper for the Festival of Britain, then becoming a nursery man. Len is perhaps the best known as the forester and planter of a quarter of a million trees, and I misquote, ‘If you seek his monument, go into the Stody estate and look around you’. The recipient of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Medal, presented to Len by the Queen Mother, following his forestry journey around Sweden as a Churchill Traveling Scholar. Len was a very knowledgeable and careful researcher, with a keen eye for detail; this clever man was a keen photographer, our villages’ historian, a self-taught computer-literate, he introduced the villagers’ Millennium video; an RAF historian; he took seven years to organize the Foulsham Reunion for those scattered worldwide …"

 

Revd Robert Marsden

The Briningham Association of Churches (April 2002)

 

Stody Parish Council: a tribute

 

"Len was a man who devoted so much of his working life, and much of his spare time, to the well-being of Stody and Hunworth.

 

I first met Len soon after I moved to Hunworth in 1983, and already he was clearly a tremendous authority on the history of our two communities. When I had a chance to look at length at his typescript, it was obvious that he had applied a huge amount of time and dedicated hard work to amassing all this historical information. I was so pleased when in 2000 Len was able to publish a short account of Stody and Hunworth – a small reward for all his local history research over the years. Len also memorably led the introduction to the Millennium Video account of Stody and Hunworth. The video was tremendously popular, and a milestone in our community life.

 

Len leaves another major legacy to this part of the world, namely all his work over decades as a professional forester on the Stody Estate. Time and time again, visitors to these two villages remark with pleasure on how many lovely trees and areas of woodland there are in this part of the Glaven Valley …"

 

Charlotte Crawley

Chair Stody Parish Council’

 

 

Len Bartram during his forestry journey around Sweden as a Churchill Traveling Scholar

 

Used with kind permission by Evelyn Bartram

 

 

This article is from the Autumn 2007 issue of Confound and Destroy