The Toss Of A Coin

A Memory of Croydon.

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.

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