The Francis Frith Collection.
You are here:

The Toss of A Coin.

It was my brother Quentin Green who tossed a coin for the last seat on the plane that was to take 34 boys and two masters (Mr Budd and Mr Beacham) to Stavanger in Norway. One boy had to give up his place at the last moment (although there had been, I have come to know, many boys whose parents had to remove them from the trip because they could not afford it), and according to the newspapers at the time this boy was named as Denis Fields whose widowed mother could not afford the last payment. So my brother Quentin (also known as 'Greenfly' and 'Kew Green') tossed a coin for it. Quentin always called heads. He did so this fateful time - and won. Only he lost. I have always wondered who the other boy was but have never been able to find him. I would love to know what he has done with his life. I am now reaching the final stages of research into the whole story of the tragedy and shall soon be writing the book 'The Lanfranc Boys' in which all those who died in the disaster will be commemorated. The book will be published for the 50th anniversary in August 2011. Many Lanfranc boys who had to pull out have already contacted me but I would be very pleased if any others, such as the one who has written here, would get in touch too. There are still many boys for whom I have little or no new information and ideally I would love to know more about any of the boys from people who once knew them.

Written by Rosalind Jones. To send Rosalind Jones a private message, click here.

A memory of Croydon in Surrey shared on Tuesday, 25th August 2009.

Memories Links

Other memories of

See more memories of Croydon

Croydon homepage

Add a Memory for another place

Tips & Ideas

How does Croydon feature in your personal history?

What are your best memories of Croydon?

How has Croydon changed over the years?

Share memories about your local community, its history and people.

Comments

RE: RE: The Toss of A Coin.

I came across this page by accident when looking for something else! I was born in Croydon and used to go to Gonville School where I sat next to a boy named (I think) Geoffrey Green. My father moved us to Sussex before I went on to secondary school. A few years later, the Lanfrancs air crash happened. I believe that I knew most of the boys who died on that day. Had I still been in Croydon, I would have been one of them.

I also knew some girls whilst at Gonville - in particular Tessa Hopkins and Celia Pinkerton - I used to have a crush on them! I wonder whatever happened to them - it was all such a long while ago but sometimes it seems only yesterday.

Now I live in New Zealand . . . . . . .

Comment from Alan Venamore on Saturday, 6th February 2010.

RE: RE: The Toss of A Coin.

I have not been on the web for long, so what a delight it was to find my old home town of Croydon. I do not know if this information will help? We were born at 38a Lancing Road. I have a brother with the name of John Gater, who also was one of those going on that fatal trip, and as you have guessed, Mum could not afford it. If I can remember, there was another holiday that was cheaper. When he left Lanfranc School, he started off as a motor mechanic at a bakery, got married and moved away to Folkestone. After a couple of moves, he is now settled in Yate, Bristol, and has not got long now for retirement. I now live in Swindon in Wiltshire, and often think back as growing up, and if I mention that trip it upsets him to think of all his friends and masters. He knew them all.

Comment from Michael Gater on Wednesday, 2nd June 2010.

RE: RE: The Toss of A Coin.

I just sent a message to R. Jones with a similar story to those above. My parents didn't have the money for the flight. The other trip that year was to a village called Radfeld next to the town of Rattenberg in the Tyrol Valley. I think it was a few weeks before the Scandinavian holiday, cheaper and I had more friends on the Austrian trip. I have a picture of us all on the platform at E. Croydon Station. I am standing next to Timothy Mitchell, he's the only Lanfranc boy I remember. The next year I moved to Croydon Tech. on Pampisford Road. I have been living in Canada for the last 36 years. I still can still smell the factory that was next door to the entrance to the school and shudder thinking of freezing my bollocks off on those cross country runs on the common. CG

Comment from Colin Goldie on Sunday, 26th September 2010.

Comments

3 comments have been shared so far in response to the memory "The Toss of A Coin.".

Why not get involved and post your comments using the comment form below.

Post a Comment about this Memory

To post a comment about this Memory, complete the form below. Your comment will appear alongside the original Memory on the website. If you wish to send a private message (not published on the website) to the person that wrote the Memory, click here.

Subject: RE: The Toss of A Coin.
You have to be logged in to be able to post a comment.
If you have a Frith account, then please log in below, if not, click here to create one.
Email:
Password:
Comment:
  Note: There is a 300-word limit - you have 300 words remaining.

© Copyright 1998-2012 Frith Content Inc. All rights reserved.