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Experience the beautiful, world-famous Cotswolds as never before

Five reasons why historical guided tours make the perfect day out 1) Sightseeing with Cotswold Expeditions is exciting and interactive 2) Stand on the very spot and feel where history was made 3) Discovering new facts enriches the imagination 4) Children react positively to true stories, well-told 5) Cotswold historical guided tours equals drama, shock and awe

It happened almost everyday and in all weathers. Of all the games they played, this was the best and the most exciting. The squadron queued ready for takeoff, their full-throated roars growing ever louder. One-by-one the brakes were released and the Lancs thundered down the tarmac, arms outstretched, flashing past the swings, over the hopscotch court and scattering squealing children in all directions. Aged nearly 5, Ian Weldon had become an ‘officer’ and a leader amongst his peer group. He had his own squadron of Lancasters at Monksdown Primary School, Norris Green, Liverpool. Ian was affectionately dubbed “ Egg” by his parents. He was a much-loved-only son who worshipped his father, Pilot Officer Faber Weldon. Like all children of serving officers in RAF Bomber Command, especially in Liverpool in 1943, young Ian was accorded an unspoken respect at his school, both amongst his friends and within his neighbourhood. Most people had experienced the city taking a hammering at the hands of the Luftwaffe between April 1940 and January 1942. Pilot Officer Faber Weldon, 57 Squadron RAF was personally repaying Nazi Germany for what they had been doing to his city. Ian’s father was a Navigator in 57 Squadron, flying in Lancasters out of RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire, a station they briefly shared with 617 Squadron, which was preparing and training for Operation Chastise. He would have seen the top-secret comings and goings of Lancasters with their Mid-Upper turrets removed and unusual modifications under the fuselage. One of the last streets to be hit by the Germans during the Liverpool Blitz took place on 10th January 1942, when the house of Alois Hitler Jr. in Upper Stanhope Street, Liverpool 8, was destroyed. Alois was the half-brother of Adolf Hitler. His house was a mere 3 miles from number 4 Forest Lawn, West Derby, Liverpool 12, home to Faber Ernest Frederick Weldon and his wife Bertha, originally from Brittas Bridge, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. Alois Hitler had also met and married an Irish woman, Bridget Dowling, and settled in Liverpool, but there the coincidences ended. Bertha and Faber had married in 1938. He was a former policeman, and it was whilst Bertha was expecting their longed-for child that their baby was simply referred to as “Egg”. Faber Weldon, aged 31 in 1943, was a giant of a man standing at over 6’ 3”. He may at one time have been the tallest policeman in Liverpool and was even more imposing as he stood atop his podium directing traffic at a busy Liverpool crossroads. He was the sort who would never have been able to squeeze with ease through an escape tunnel from a German prison camp, or pass himself off in disguise, if he ever got out. Working at his station in the Lancaster meant he sat close to his friend, 22-year-old Radio Operator, Sergeant Alan Haddow. It’s possible that this photograph, taken in the back garden of Faber’s house at 4 Forest Lawn, West Derby, Liverpool shows Alan, a single man, a Scot from Glasgow and son to Margaret C.L. Haddow of Thornliebank, Renfrewshire. Just one parent listed in the Runnymede Memorial next of kin records for Alan suggests that his mother Margaret may have been a widow. Perhaps the giant, much older Faber had become a father figure to Alan. The following photographs, all taken on the same roll of film, show a smiling family visit with Faber, Bertha, and Egg, here bursting with pride, happiness and excitement.