Pinewood Studios were honoured to host their annual remembrance service and tribute of silence today. Joining Pinewood staff and tenants special guest Lord David Puttnam and representatives from the Royal British Legion of Iver, the RAF, Imperial War Museum, Iver Parish Council, Buckinghamshire Council, and the Army Film and Photographic Unit (AFPU) to pay respects to our armed forces community past and present.
The service, led by Father Andrew Montgomerie of the Iver Parish Church, involved a number of poignant readings and a two minute silence bookended by the Last Post and Reveille played by Geoff Lawrence.
In early 1946 a simple dinner marked the end of AFPU and RAF presence at Pinewood Studios in wartime and on 21st April 1956, the plaque commemorating both Services was dedicated to the members of both Units who lost their lives during the Second World War.
The names on the plaque remember the photographers and cameramen, drivers and despatch riders, flying crews and airmen who lost their lives producing imagery in all theatres of Commonwealth operations which is so highly valued today.
The service was introduced by Dan Burton Pinewood’s Community Engagement Manager, with readings by Corporate Affairs Director Andrew M Smith OBE Deputy Lieutenant representing Her Majesty’s Lord-Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire, The Countess Howe and Air Cdre Sansome. Further contributions from special guest Lord David Puttnam and Nigel Smales from the AFPU Association with closing remarks from Paul Clark, one of the last surviving members of the AFPU who trained at Pinewood. Also in attendance was George Sibley, who served in the SAS and at 109 is a longtime supporter of the AFPU.
