New wartime books on Lincolnshire feature at conference

Left - RAF veteran Warrant Officer Donald Campbell who introduced Ralph Ottey (right)

Two new books on the Boston area were featured in a two-day conference reflecting on the county’s wartime history in literature.

The ‘Writing the Air War and Lincolnshire’ event was held at The International Bomber Command Centre, near Lincoln, hosted by Bishop Grosseteste University and the University of Lincoln.

How the air war (world wars and the Cold War) has been represented in print, plays and screenplays was the question addressed by eminent writers, historians and veterans. It also included a public event on the Saturday to launch significant new titles.

The first of these was Ralph Ottey’s memoir, ‘A Jamaican in Lincolnshire: From the Wartime RAF to a Life in Boston’. Ralph attended to talk about his memoirs. Aged 100, he was one of two of the remaining three black Second World War veterans who attended the conference.

Ralph Ottey of Boston launches his new book of memoirs at the conference.

Ralph volunteered for the RAF in Jamaica in 1943 and was one of around 5,000 black Caribbean volunteers to receive training before serving in a range of ground trades. Ralph served in Motor Transport at RAF Woodhall Spa. His leisure time was divided between playing cricket and going dancing at Boston’s Gliderdrome, where he met his wife, Mavis.

Ralph took an accountancy diploma and returned to Jamaica but was soon back with Mavis and settled in Boston, where he lives still after a successful career in business.

Another title launched presented specifically Lincolnshire perspectives on air war: A Parson in Wartime: The Boston Diary of the Reverend Arthur Hopkins 1942-1945, edited by P & R. Malcolmson.