Edwin J Hawking, or Eddie as he’s known to all, had a memorable 100th birthday.
He and his wife Audrey, who live in Oldland Common and have been married for 77 years, had a surprise visit from members of the Bitton and Oldland branch of the Royal British Legion, who gave them a trumpet fanfare, presented their branch standard, and handed over a framed certificate to mark the occasion.
Their day was made all the more memorable thanks to BBC Points West coming along to record the milestone.
Eddie was born in Upton Cheyney on March 25, 1926, and joined the Royal Air Force training as Air Crew in 1944. He was at Lords’ Cricket Ground in London at first, then due to the V2 rocket attacks on London he was relocated to Babbacombe Bay near Torquay
Towards the end of the war, Eddie decided to transfer to the Army. He did his Officer Training in Bangalore in India and afterwards was commissioned into the 2nd Punjab Regiment of the Indian Army. This was as tensions started to mount, with plans for partitioning rapidly advancing. At just 22, Eddie was promoted and served as the youngest Commander in his Regiment. In 1947 the British left India and Eddie’s service ended as a Weapons Training Officer with the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry.
On leaving the military, Eddie went on to train as an art teacher at the West of England College of Art in Bristol where he met Audrey. Most of his art teaching was in the north of England, but in retirement he returned to his ‘grass roots’ in the West.
Eddie joined the Bitton and Oldland Branch of the RBL in 1991, following in the footsteps of his father Fred Hawking, a founder member in 1927
Eddie and Audrey have three sons, Chris, Andy and Matt, a daughter Becky Vicary, grandchildren Ben, Jonathan, Helen, Liam and Zoe, and great grandchildren Max and Felix.