The Newsletter Of : Marple Target Sports Centre:
http://www.marplerifleandpistolclub.org.uk
Issue 5 December 2002
A very sincere apology for the very late publication of this copy of our Newsletter, but as I explained at the AGM a Motherboard failure in my Computer threw a huge spanner in the works. Once the deadline for posting with the AGM papers passed then one is ashamed to admit that Sightings came second third and even fourth to other projects not even connected to MRPC.
Quite a lot as happened since the last publication, there have been new gutters installed on both sides of the Range. The proposed outdoor range has been put back onto the backburner due to the number of expensive to over come difficulties not the least of which is the instability of the ground. It is not going to collapse but if we had started to excavate as planned then apparently it would have caved in the excavations.
Our Membership Secretary resigned his post just prior to the AGM. He remains an active member of the Club still.
Now for something of an Obituary but with a slight difference.
Some 5 years ago I had a conversation with Alex Aksan at the club one Sunday, on the subject of W.W.II. Alex was born Polish, but had become a British citizen after the war and a member of Marple Rifle and Pistol Club when he retired. Previous to his retirement I knew he had worked in London, but was unsure as to what his job had been. Unfortunately Alex died shortly after this conversation, but was survived by his wife Mary.
Over the years Alex told me a fair bit about his family and his
personal history. He had been born in the Crimea before the Russian Revolution and spoke
German to his mother (she was German / Swedish), Polish to his father and Russian to his
school friends. He was an able and clever student and so when it was time to go to
university, he studied languages, English, French, Italian and began on Arabic. However
his professor said that Arabic was a very variable language and that if he were to achieve
full mastery, he would
have to drop two other languages. Unwilling to drop two languages he gave up Arabic after
his first year.
When the war began he made his way after many adventures to Britain where he volunteered
for the army. The army with a fine sense of his skills put him in intelligence and sent
him to the 8th Army in North Africa because of his command of Arabic!
Later on he was moved to Italy, which at least enabled him to use
both German and Italian (also Polish, as there were many Polish troops at Monte Cassino).
During the war, back in Poland, his younger uncle was murdered by the Russians at Katyn
Wood in 1940 (he had no children) and his elder uncle, who had a Jewish wife was left for
dead when he attempted to resist the Germans who came to arrest her (also no children).
After the war Alex was given the choice of returning to Poland or becoming a British
citizen; he chose to stay.
The next bit I only found out after Alex died (from Mary his wife). After the war and
until he retired Alex (and Mary) were counter-intelligence officers working for the
Russian section of MI6 in London.
A basic question that all MI6 personnel had to answer was ,'have you any relatives living
abroad?' Alex answered, 'no, they are all dead'.
I run a small website on W.W.II history and in it I mentioned my conversation with Alex
about the war. In June of 2002, whilst I was away in Norway, I got an email from an Adam
Aksan living in Mobile, Alabama, USA asking if I could put him in touch with Alex. Adam
said that according to his family history, it was possible that Alex could be his
great-uncle.
I wrote back saying that Alex had died and that anyway he had no living relatives, but if
Adam wished I could put him in touch with Mary. who may have some relevant Aksan family
data.
Adam wrote to Mary, enclosing three photographs of Alex!!!! It
seems that the elder uncle (Arnold) survived the war unbeknown to Alex and had further
children. They later emigrated to the USA, where there is now a little colony of Aksans.
Mary was becoming quite enthusiastic about the whole business, as she now had lots of
relatives that she did not previously know about. She was in the process of putting
together a potted biography of Alex's life and assembling the family tree (back to the
1500's) when on 20th December, she suddenly died.
Bitter-sweet, I think. Alex died not knowing that he had living relatives and Mary before
she could meet any of them or give Adam all her news.
I have been able to put Adam Aksan in touch with the executor of Mary's will and she (the
executor) has said that Adam can have, "all the Polish stuff" when the estate
has been fully evaluated.
Hopefully Adam Aksan will be able to have and utilise the, 'Polish stuff', otherwise I am
afraid it will all be thrown away (Mary and Alex had no children, or other relatives).
I am in touch with Adam and will let you know if anything interesting comes out of all the
'Polish stuff', but don't hold your breath, it may be some time.
Mike Williams.
Thanks Mike we won’t hold our breath but will be very interested to hear about any follow ups. (Ed.)
Anyone who has been near the Range this year cannot have failed to notice the growing lake
in the Road out side the Social Area fire door. Contrary to popular belief we are not
starting a model boat Club! Well after some research into who is responsible for that
stretch of road our Secretary wrote to United Utilities concerning the flooding and also
the great potholes that are appearing in the road surface. In response to this letter
United Utilities promised to have an Inspector have a look at the flooding, and would get
their Legal Department to check if they where responsible for the up keep of the road
surface. On the evening after the Inspector was due I went down to the Range (Tuesday) and
was amazed to find that apart from some rather large pieces of ice the Lake had gone.
Presumably the Inspector ordered some form of pumping device to be used, either that or
they have a direct line to the maker of the universe. That must be some kind of record.
Who ever heard of a utilities company moving that fast? Don’t hold your breath for
the road surface though that looks like a long protracted problem.
Altcar Dates. For 2003.
Sunday 6th April, Sunday 5th May, Sunday 1st June, Sunday 6th July, Sunday 3rd August, Sunday 7th September and last Sunday 5th October.
Any one wishing to go on any of the above dates should contact either Mike Williams or David Martin the week before.
Remember you only pay your normal range fee plus travel costs, the Club pay the Range Hire Fee. So what are you waiting for, go on have a day out.
Mike Williams is or rather has run another series of target shooting training sessions but unfortunately the late publication date means that the dates concerned did not get the publicity that they deserve SORRY MIKE!.
Editors fault no one else to blame.
We are having another Barbecue this year it will be held on 18th May admission £5.00 and £2.50 for children under 14 years old.
Our Club Chairman wrote an excellent report on the last Barbee and yours truly lost it. SORRY JOHN. Only discovered the loss when starting this copy of Sightings.
If you have not visited the Club’s Website now may well be a good time. Even if you have visited it but not recently still have a look Mike Williams has done a lot of work on it.