Dust to dust - The Girl from Barry

Post Reply
Message
Author
TheGreenAnger
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 3286
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2022 11:40 pm
Location: Unfashionable end of the Western Spiral

Dust to dust - The Girl from Barry

#1 Post by TheGreenAnger » Tue Feb 21, 2023 9:54 am

My necessaries are embark'd: farewell. Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave.

User avatar
Wodrick
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 8368
Joined: Sun Aug 23, 2015 8:23 am
Location: Torrox Campo, Andalucia.
Gender:
Age: 74

Re: Dust to dust - The Girl from Barry

#2 Post by Wodrick » Tue Feb 21, 2023 10:24 am

And I thought you were telling us Shirley Bassey had croaked.

k3k3
Capt
Capt
Posts: 1504
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2015 9:44 pm
Location: Torbay (not Oz!)

Re: Dust to dust - The Girl from Barry

#3 Post by k3k3 » Tue Feb 21, 2023 10:26 am

Wodrick wrote:
Tue Feb 21, 2023 10:24 am
And I thought you were telling us Shirley Bassey had croaked.
Me too.

TheGreenAnger
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 3286
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2022 11:40 pm
Location: Unfashionable end of the Western Spiral

Re: Dust to dust - The Girl from Barry

#4 Post by TheGreenAnger » Tue Feb 21, 2023 11:07 am

Definitely don't want to kill Shirley Bassey off, astronomical object that she is in the entertainment firmament .

The chap who taught me to fly came from Barry, and he went on to become a training captain with BA, having literally pulled himself up by his bootstraps, and I know the place pretty well and was delighted by the story of Ms Gomez (nee Morgan) who has come up the hard way from a council estate to become a prominent astrophysicist. She seems to be a lovely lady, who while she has her head in the stars, is also very down to earth. Besides anybody called Haley is bound to be more than just some old shooting star like Ms Bassey... ;)))
My necessaries are embark'd: farewell. Adieu! I have too grieved a heart to take a tedious leave.

User avatar
tango15
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 2459
Joined: Wed Oct 23, 2019 12:43 pm
Location: East Midlands
Gender:
Age: 79

Re: Dust to dust - The Girl from Barry

#5 Post by tango15 » Tue Feb 21, 2023 1:30 pm

I also thought, by the headline, that the grim reaper had called for her.
I had the pleasure of her once (so to speak) when working in Air UK ops at Blackpool. At the time, we handled the newspaper uplift to the island of Ireland, and it was a Saturday night - about midnight. I had noticed a Navajo or somesuch arrive in the midst of this, but paid no attention to it. Then a chauffeur popped his head around the door of the office, which was on the apron, but separate from the terminal building, and asked, since the terminal was closed, if we could look after a visitor for a while. Airport security being almost non-existent in those days, I agreed, and to my astonishment, in walked Shirley with a big bag of fish and chips. There was a well-known F&C shop opposite the airport, which stayed open late in the summer and the chauffeur had been sent to get them apparently. She sat down in the sole comfy chair, and I offered her a knife and fork, but she refused, saying that she preferred to eat them with her (well-manicured) fingers - she said they tasted better that way.
She had been in cabaret in Blackpool and the Navajo was to take her back to Cardiff. She was in ordinary clothes, having changed out of her ball gown. Very pleasant, no side on her at all, and I got her to autograph the notes I had made in the logbook. Effusive thanks before she left, by which time word had got around the apron, and the loading of newspapers stopped for a few moments while everyone had a gawp. Then one of the loaders came in and said, "Did I just see Shirley Bassey come out of your office?" :)

Post Reply