Wilf Forgham

Wilf Forgham was born in Wallasey, across the river Mersey from Liverpool. When he was 14 the Second World War broke out and even before he gained his matriculation at Wallesey Grammar School he joined the war effort as a messenger with the Auxiliary Fire Service and later became a fire warden, spending long freezing nights on top of buildings overlooking the docks along the Mersey and alerting the fire crews down below to any damage caused by German bombers. When he reached the age when he could enlist he joined the Army, and became one of the very first recruits to the newly formed elite Parachute Regiment, and after intense training at RAF Ringway, now Manchester Airport, he went into action on the night before D Day in 1944 with the 22^nd Pathfinder Group, landing near the famous Pegasus Bridge in 1944 at Ranville and clearing the way for the main airborne assault a few hours later. In December that year, before going back to battle, he married Mary Crampton, and, after VE day, he saw action in Malaya, followed by postings in Singapore and Java, sailing home to England in 1947.

In civil life he was a chartered structural engineer and had a long and distinguished career in the construction industry before taking early retirement and buying a restaurant in Surrey which he ran with his son and his wife. They later took on a pub-restaurant in Shropshire before they finally retired, in 1990 moving to a bungalow in Wappenham Road Helmdon to be more central to their widely scattered family.

Mary, A VAD in wartime, had serious ill health in her later years, but Wilf was more outgoing, joining the Helmdon Fellowship of Retired People and becoming treasurer, a position he held for over ten years. He also organized some of the outings, notably (as noted Ann Smith in her memoirs), a very enjoyable trip to Liverpool, which included a ferry trip over the Mersey. Mary never recovered her fitness and died in January, 2000.

In 2001 Wilf became parish clerk under chairman David Brookhouse, serving for two years, and in 2002 he married Audrey Harwood, who lived in the Old Bakehouse in the village and had also been on the Fellowship committee. Together they bought The Old Barn in Cross Lane and from then on they embraced village activities such as the WEA (Adult Education) with its lectures and outings, the Tuesday lunch club, and Helmdon Presents. He also subsequently thoroughly enjoyed another role for many years as treasurer and advertising assistant to John Thorne, the editor of the much respected Helmdon Talkabout, until it ceased publication in 2010. A very loving and caring man, he sadly died in 2013.