Author Archives: James Sansom

We recently bought this wonderful group of AAGB items. These belonged to a Miss M B Wilford, it appears that it was found by a house clearance company and unfortunately there appears to have been more which has been split (I know at least three people have some items belonging to Miss Wilford now) It’sContinueContinue reading “Miss M B Wilford”

To continue on our series of re created photos from Leeds we need to go back to 1945. It’s  late October / early November and The War is over! Up and down the country surplus AAGB vehicles are being donated to hospitals in the communities they served. Betty Bacon’s ambulance went to the Leeds GeneralContinueContinue reading “Leeds “Then and Now””

The last couple of posts have been about our trip to London so I thought I’d do one about our recent time up in Leeds. This post focusses on the “Wings for Victory” parade. In 1943  the wings for victory campaign was launched and was designed to raise funds for new aircraft for the RAF.ContinueContinue reading “Leeds “Then and Now””

We recently got this great photo which clearly shows the links between the AAGB and the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry or as they were known WW2 the Women’s Transport Service. The paper with the photo titled “Meeting the Enemy” which was passed by the British Censor on 23/11/1940 reads “London, England – Girl members ofContinueContinue reading “FANY photo with AAGB links”

Happy Independence Day to all of our American friends! Remembering back to the ASL pre Independence Day drinks back in 2017, what an amazing event which I’ll remember forever!

While in London recently we visited the memorial to “The Women of World War II” This is the first time I have managed to get there so it was lovely to see it in person. We laid two crosses there which means we’ve now done it for all three members killed during the war. OneContinueContinue reading “The Women at War Memorial”

We Recently took a trip down to London and couldn’t help visiting some AAGB landmarks! Grosvenor Gardens really is the home of the AAGB, It’s where they had a number of parades including their formation parade. It’s also where they were headquartered for a number of years. We took some time to try and reContinueContinue reading “Grosvenor Gardens”

Hi everyone, Just to keep you updated, for the time being we will be having a new post go live on the blog every other Thursday at 06:00 GMT. The first one is this week, we hope you enjoy them and If you are interested in seeing more or a specific thing then you areContinueContinue reading “Future Posts”

Recently we popped up to Leeds for the day. I’ve got loads of photos which I will be uploading to the site gradually but I thought I’d start off with this. The AAGB used the garage of Rowland Winn in Leeds, all through the war the AAGB served from here and all the AAGB trainingContinueContinue reading “Leeds”

We were saddened to learn the other week of the sudden passing of Raymond Colledge, former chairman of The American Society in London who died suddenly in early December last year. Ray was a huge supporter of this project and wrote the foreword for my book back in 2017. He invited me to the ASL’sContinueContinue reading “The passing of a great supporter”