Mary Grosvenor

As I strolled down the flight-line one evening so fair

To view the Tornadoes and Nimrods parked there

I heard an old SAR pilot singing a song:

Only three shifts to go, boss, me time is not long.

CHORUS

Dress me up in me gro-bag and bone-dome,

No more for the Wessex I’ll yearn.

Just tell me old crewmates I’ve gone for a brew, mates,

You’ll always be welcome at home in Aldearn.

I’m leaving the Service with memories galore

Of rescues on mountain, on sea and on shore,

Of the odd hairy moment on Buachaille and Ben

And of whiteouts and mists sneaking up through the glen.

CHORUS

Farewell to me crewmates, the comrades I’ve known,

Navigators and winchmen, great blokes every one,

To the guys on the ground crews who took such great care

To make me and my Wessex so safe in the air.

CHORUS

A fond farewell too to the bosses I’ve had

Both present and past, they’ve not been too bad.

Some better than others, that’s life I suppose

But we’ve always parted as friends and not foes.

CHORUS

And now it’s the dawn of the rest of my life.

I’ve settled in Auldearn with Mary my wife.

Goodbye to the shifts, sleepless nights, Klaxon’s hoot,

Goodbye to those years of Life in a Blue Suit.

CHORUS

Auldearn had some witches there in days of yore

Which accounts for the rowan tree by our front door,

But when Mary is giving me grief for some sin

I don’t know if it’s keeping them outside or in.

CHORUS

The ARCC I shall miss now and then

When I hear some poor climber’s been stuck on the Ben,

But when I’m on the golf course, out chasing the ball

Then I tell you, dear friends, I won’t miss you at all.

CHORUS

This song was written for and performed as the farewell speech of Flt Lt Les Grosvenor QHI RAF who retired from the RAF after 25 years associated with SAR; first as a helicopter pilot, then as an SAR instructor, and finally as a controller at the ARCC Kinloss.