Christmas 1973.

Christmas 1973. From left to right, Barrie and Patricia Manchester, Doreen Gilder, Keith and Rosemary Rotheram  and Peter.  [Courtesy of Keith Rotheram ]
  
  I haven't updated this blog for a couple of weeks, as I hoped to meet up with the original Hull Wargames Group started by Peter Gilder and pick their collective brains about those halcyon days. Anyway I hope to finally meet up at the Partizan Show at Newark, at the end of this month. Phil Robinson has been instrumental in organising this and has very kindly given me some brief notes over the phone, providing a little of Peter Gilder's background.
My intention is to create a detailed synopsis of Peter Gilder's life, but at the present time Phil has supplied a few interesting items about Peter Gilder's background.
EARLY BACKGROUND;
  Peter Gilder obtained a RAF apprenticeship and attended their establishment at Halton Camp in 1945. Clearly Gilder was extremely bright and finished in the top 10 percent of the intake, which qualified him to be sent to RAF Cranwell to train as a pilot. Peter Gilder trained and flew single seater jets for the RAF. Gilder was involved in some small way n the Berlin Airlifts, but in what capacitity it is not known. 
  After leaving the RAF, Peter Gilder began work for Alberkan Pie Machines, where he also began his illustrious career as a figure sculpter , and then moved on to work as an Inspector for BAE Systems at Brough near Hull and worked for the company until the late 1960's when he went to work for Frank Hinchliffe, where the rest is history.
  It is clear to me that Peter Gilder was a very intelligent person with a skill in engineering, which explains why he was so damned good at making figures out of solder on a brass dolly.
  Anyway Gilder placed an advertisement in the Military Modelling looking for wargamers in the Hull area. The advertisement apparently was a big success, and  quite a few people attended the initial meeting.
 Amongst the attendees was Keith Rotherham, Barry Manchester, Ken Rollin? and Mike Sharp [ whose father had also attended Halton Camp] who all became close friends of Peter Gilder. At this time Phil Robinson was at university and missed the initial meeting. The Hull group had a fair share of very talented painters and wargamers, and a lot of the early Gilder armies contained a large proportion of their respective painting talents. 
  Anyway, thats all at the moment, but I feel it is a start, and I hope to create a more detailed account later.