RAFA Presidents Band

However the 87 year old has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and fears this summer's concert by the RAFA President's Band will be his final one.

"This will be my swan song," he told the Observer this week.

Ken has organised the highly regarded and talented band to play in Bexhill for a number of years and hopes local people will turn out in force for the concert on Saturday June 19 at St Augustine's church in Cooden Drive from 7.30pm.

The concert will mark the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain and promises to be a stirring and patriotic evening of musical celebration.

"It's a very important year," he said, "and the last concert for me.

"It is quite emotional."

Ken was just a teenager when the Battle of Britain raged across the skies in the summer of 1940. He worked as a messenger boy with the civil defence until he signed up for the RAF on his 18th birthday.

He was living in Woodsgate Avenue before then and remembers the fierce bombing raids that tore the country apart.

"It was pretty horrendous. You saw all these dog fights going on overhead. I remember one day I was cycling up to Russells garage and the sirens had gone off, and I saw this plane overhead. I looked up and it was a German bomber. I also saw the bombs dropping out of it while I was cycling up London Road.

"I thought to myself '“ those are not going to drop anywhere near me. If I can see them dropping it means they are not going to drop anywhere near to me, so I carried on cycling. The bombs actually dropped in Little Common."

Ken will attend the President's Band concert with his wife Elsie and their son John who is visiting from America. They have two daughters, Carolyn and Barbara.

The first concert he ever organised for Bexhill was at the De La Warr Pavilion in 1948.

This latest performance will be led by musical director Peter Stockdale MBE and the band will impress with a number of classic pieces, familiar tunes, and musical fireworks including William Walton's Spitfire Prelude, the Dambusters March, and climaxing in a Last Night of the Proms type finale.

There are 200 tickets available and they are on sale at the Bexhill Observer front office and the RAFA Albatross Club on the Marina, at a cost of 10 each.