Derek Hume was born in 1929 and lived in Croft Road, Benfleet during his childhood. He was a member of the Army Cadets in Benfleet from 1944 until 1947 and at the age of seventeen Derek joined the regular Army. He was in the regular army for six and half years and then the army reserve for a further five and a half years. During his time in the regular army he served in Greece, Cyprus and Egypt for just under three years.
The photos on this page were made available to the archive by the family of Derek Hume.
In the top photo Derek is in the back row, second from left. Derek’s good friend Trevor Lidstone is in the second row from the front, far left.
The other three photos were all taken in the playground of Benfleet Primary School.
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It’s been many, many years but I remember clouded by the mist of time that from the ‘mid-1960’s, the Army cadet force used to meet in a concrete meeting hall at the very river-end of Watlington road. Just a short eastwards walk along the railway-line footpath from the Sea Scout hut situated at the west-end of the station platform. Unfortunately both huts now history.
@Thom Johnson.
I believe that the army cadets had their HQ in Benfleet in early 1950s where the car park by Hopes Green shops is now.
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