My tribute to Aunty Gloria, Uncle Derek and my cousins Jacqueline, Michael and Antony who died tragically in an air crash 50 years ago today.

Sunday 23rd May, 2021

Remembering the Orchard family from Ickenham on the 50th anniversary of their death. The loss that never went away.

Gloria Elizabeth Orchard née Lloyd 1926-1971. My beloved Aunty Gloria, my father's sister.

Fifty years ago today, on 23^rd May 1971, a whole family from Ickenham died tragically in an air crash at Rijeka airport in former Yugoslavia. My Aunt Gloria, née Lloyd, my uncle, Derek Orchard and their children, Jacqueline (12), Michael (9) and Antony (7) are still remembered today not just by my family but by many people from the village. Revd. V.B. Wynburne, vicar at the time of St. Giles Church, wrote in the Ickenham Church News in July 1971 “They were so much an integral part of the community in general and the church in particular that we all feel a tremendous sense of loss”. That loss has never gone away.

Gloria was born in Sledmere, North Yorkshire, in 1926. She was the daughter of a clergyman, my grandfather, Revd. Canon John Lloyd, and Dorothy Gertrude née Scull, an accomplished pianist. Her siblings were my father, Charles Courtenay Lloyd and Raymond who sadly died of polio in 1938 aged just 16.

After Sledmere, the family moved to Henbury near Bristol. Gloria attended the Clergy Daughters’ School in Bristol, later named St. Brandon’s School. During the war she was evacuated to Wells. She came of age just before the war ended and, wanting to do her bit, served in the WRACS as a private and corporal. She was a skilled driver and mechanic. My father’s sister was a practical, loving,  no- nonsense, get-on-with it sort of person, but at the same time, very jolly, independent and family orientated.  

Gloria met and fell in love with Derek Orchard on the Island of Krk in Croatia. It was to what they called “Mummy and Daddy’s island” that they were to take the children on holiday that fateful day in May. Derek, an only child, was born in Middlesex in 1930 and the couple were married by my grandfather at his church, St. Mary’s in Henbury, Bristol, on the day of my birth, 8^th February 1957. Derek was a chartered engineer with Vickers. I remember him riding to work on his Vespa. I should also add he was as fan of Tottenham Hotspurs. My memory is a bit fuzzy after 50 years but I do remember that.

As many young married couples, they worked hard to make a living and form a family. After their wedding they went to live in Ickenham at 18 Ivy House Road. Gloria had time to run her home, look after her children, contribute to the community and also look care of her parents. After her father’s retirement my grandparents moved to Ickenham, to 17 Hoylake Crescent, to be near them.

I was witness to all this because as a family, my parents, brother and I spent every Christmas in Ickenham when we were children. They were the closest family we had and my father and I are their only surviving direct relatives.  We also spent many Easter and summer holidays with them. Gloria loved to drive and would take us on trips in her old Humber to special places such as Burnham Beeches, Pinewood Studios, Windsor, the Model Village in Beaconsfield and The Natural History Museum in London.  I remember once Uncle Derek taking us all to see the Christmas lights in London. Those were happy times. I have fond memories of Ickenham, of going to church, to the library and to do the shopping with my Aunt at Budgens supermarket on Swakeleys Road or of playing on the swings with my cousins at the end of Ivy House Road. My Aunty Gloria made us tea every day in her dining room using real china which always included jam sandwiches. I worshipped her and always regret never telling her I loved her but that would have been too emotional in those days. In the evenings, we would play monopoly or other games. Both she and Jacqueline played my grandmother’s beautiful old piano which is now at my house in Madrid, sadly collecting dust.

They were very much part of the community in Ickenham. Gloria and Derek played badminton and attended events popular at the time such as “cheese and wine parties” at the church hall. Gloria was on the Mothers’ Union Committee, the family went regularly to St. Giles Church, Michael sang in the choir, the boys went to the Cubs and all three children attended Breakspear School. Jacqueline left Breakspear in the summer of 1970 and attended Hillingdon Court Covent School. There she met Sally Ackroyd who became her best friend. Neighbours have described to me how Gloria  went out of her way to help them. One of Michael’s school frinds, Boo Smith , recalls how Gloria gave her mother Jacqueline’s school dresses with her name stitched on the night before they left on that fatal journey. Boo explained that “all the Mums in the area were very friendly and supportive of one another”.

The family never went away on a real holiday until that fateful trip. Besides, life was busy and Gloria had to take care of her mother in her latter years. Only when my grandmother died in December 1970 were they able to take a family holiday abroad. Of course, they chose “Mummy and Daddy’s island”. It was an exciting time for them, preparing to go and there was lots to do. Initially Jacqueline was to travel out later when her school broke up but her mother didn’t want her to travel alone. Michael joked with fellow choirboys at St. Giles, about missing evening service. Sally Ackroyd called Jacqueline a “kind and gentle soul” and described how she went to her house the day they were leaving to get a stamp for a letter. That stamp may well have been for my aunt’s last letter to my father which I still have.  In it she writes: “Frantically preparing to go tomorrow. Due to take off from Gatwick 5.30 pm. Tomorrow, arriving Krk airport 9.45 pm. Perhaps we could pop up and see you in between Norwich and any other plans you have. Love from all to all. Gloria”. It’s chilling, but we would never see them again.

That tragic night my family and I were watching the news when the accident was announced. I was 14 at the time, just 2 years older than Jacqueline. My father mentioned Gloria and family were going to Yugoslavia but he didn’t know on what flight. He rang their house in Ickenham and there was no reply. The next day, I went to school as usual and only when I came back in the afternoon, did I find out the terrible news.  It was my mother who told me. She described how the authorities had rung my father in the morning to give him the news. When he put the receiver down, he said to my mother: “I only have you left now”. He had now lost his last remaining sibling. He is still alive today, having just celebrated his 102^nd birthday and every day of his life since that dreadful call he has missed and mourned the death of his sister and her family. As for me, something died inside me when I heard the news. I was handed a cross I would bear all my life but at the same time I carry them all in my heart.  It is something that never goes away.

As a family we took a last journey to Ickenham for the memorial service. It was hard walking out of Ickenham Tube station and knowing they would not be at home. Even so, that day we visited 18 Ivy House Road. I remember going into Jacqueline’s bedroom, feeling devastated and empty. I found her hairbrush and took some of the hair which I wore in a locket for many years. We stayed at 23 Hoylake Crescent with the Andrews’ family, neighbours of my grandparents. Eleanor Andrews  was a dear friend of both my aunt and grandmother. My father though spent that night by himself in the lounge at his sister’s house. He was heartbroken but never showed his feelings and rarely talked about the tragedy ever again.

Tributes and memories of those from Ickenham who remember the Orchard family.

Their death was a huge shock to us but also to the community I learned. I have missed them every day of my life as has my father so I was amazed to find that many people still remember them today, especially the friends and class mates of Jacqueline, Michael and Antony. Recently Michael’s friend called Helen Gill who I didn’t know at all wrote to me out of the blue: “I went to school with Michael and walked home with him. I have always remembered the sadness of losing him and the loss of his family – it was devastating for the whole community and must have been so sad for your family”. She also told me the school was so upset and that the tragedy never left her. I think it never left anyone who knew them.

All these years I had no idea how many lives the Orchard family had also touched and I recently found some of these people on the village Facebook group page. The response was incredible and warmed my heart.  Peter Moxon writes “I remember Michael and the Orchard family. We were at Breakspear School together and in the same class. I still remember the day the terrible news was announced in school assembly.” He also said “the Orchards were a lovely family and I would say that Michael was my best friend at Breakspear. I often visited their house after school”.  Peter’s father recalls Derek taking Michael and him up to London to see HMS Belfast.  Barbara Head writes: “There was a sadness in the village following the tragedy” and Sally Ackroyd admits “I still look up at Jacqueline’s window each time I walk down Ivy House Road”. She added “it was hard when she died, such a shock. I put a rose in their grave last Christmas and gave it a brush. Jacqueline would be 62 now.  Shirley Masson writes “I remember them. I was in the same year as Antony at Breakspear. I think of them from time to time. I remember the shock of the news”. Many of those who remember them leave flowers at their grave from time to time and even clean the headstone. Hazel Elliot wrote: “I lived in Ickenham and went to Breakspear. I think I was the year above Michael. I remember Mr. Ettling, our headmaster, telling us though as young children I don’t think we realised the tragedy and enormity of it. I always thought of the family whenever I walked along Ivy House Road and past their house. Tim Price who was friends with Antony told me that his parents were friends of Antony’s and that it was “very sad and will never be forgotten”. Wendy Frany writes  “the whole of my family was devastated when the accident happened …. It was  a tremendous shock, losing them all like that, but we were always somehow grateful that they died together”. Boo Smith recalls “I remember walking home from school the day after the accident and another little girl I often walked home with  said to me, “I am glad they are all in heaven together”. … as children we took great comfort from those thoughts”. Boo also told me her memories of the night they died: “The lady who lived next door to Gloria was called Audrey Jinks who was often popping in to see our Mum. I still have a clear memory of that fateful night when Audrey came down to Mum realising that the family was on that flight”. Cathy Bryant writes: “yes I remember your lovely relatives as my parents were their friends and my brother, sister and myself were the same ages as Jacqueline, Michael and Antony. We remember many happy times at both our house and Ivy House playing and going to Breakspear and church. I was only 7 when the air crash happened and remember Mr. Ettling telling us in assembly. So devastating, will never forget,”

The community was so stunned and shocked it decided to raise funds for a special memorial stained glass window at St. Giles. It is a fitting way to remember this much loved family who so unfairly met their death too soon in life and in such a tragic way. It was a way of never forgetting.

No, we cannot forget and this is why special prayers were said for the Orchard family at St. Giles Church today. I would like to thank Revd. Felicity Davies and the Church Administrator, Stephanie White, for making this possible. I would have liked to be there but because of Covid that was not possible. I hope we can hold a belated 50^th anniversary memorial service and get together next year. I remember the turnout at their memorial service on May 27^th 1971. The church was so packed not all could enter. I hope we can fill it again in memory of Gloria, Derek, Jacqueline, Michael and Antony when we meet next year to pay tribute to them and share together the loss that never went away.

Masha (Maria) Lloyd

Some photos of the family

Antony, the youngest, aged 7

The article in St. Giles Church magazine upon the death of the family

Summer 1970. Jacqueline's class at Breakspear school 

My grandfather, Revd. Canon John Lloyd with his three children, my father right, Gloria in the middle and little Raymond on the left. Probably taken in about 1931 at their home at the New Vicarage in Henbury (Bristol)

One of the awful clippings my father kept and passed on to me

A close up of Jacqueline in the centre

Uncle Derek with baby Jacqueline

Gloria (right)  an army corporal (driver) about 1945

Gloria and Derek's wedding, Henbury 8th Feb 1957 (the day of my birth)

Gloria Elizabeth Lloyd in 1939 aged 13.

Henbury Vicarage c1931 with Courtenay, Raymond, Gloria, Grandpa, Grandma.

Jacqueline and Michael in their garden at 18 Ivy House Road Ickenham Probably Summer 1970

Jacqueline Michael and Antony playing in the snow, probably the winter before they died