One of the roles Basil held with great success was ‘President of the Mess Committee’ (PMC for short) in charge of the officer’s mess, which is a focal point for social events in the life of an airbase.

As well as being administratively demanding, its also a very formal role – at official dinners, nobody could start their meal until the PMC did and when he put down his knife and fork then everybody’s plates were whisked away!  Despite this formality, Basil was sometimes seen to let his hair down. He and Eleanor were always uninhibited contenders in any fancy dress ball (see for example the photo of Basil as a Beatle). On another occasion, at the urging of other family members (… you know who you are !!), he played along in a game of Dead Ants at the New Year’s Ball so that when anyone yelled out “Dead Ants” everybody had to lie on the floor and wiggle their arms and legs up in the air.