It’s such a privilege and such a pleasure to live in the same town as Dougie Williamson, the last of the JN-Dog Boys, and to be able to get together with him and his lovely wife Janet, pretty much any time we feel like it.
COVID put a stop to that in mid-March, but luckily for us Kiwis, it was only 3 months before we got back to zero community transmission and it was safe to get together again.
We met up a couple of weeks ago at the Stone Oven in Devonport, the same cafe that we met for the first time, eight years ago. They love Devonport and still own flats here, so occasionally come over to meet with the property manager or check on work that’s been done.
We had promised to do it again soon and eventually arranged for me to pop over for coffee and cake with them this morning.
As a bit of fun, the other day Janet had emailed me this photo of Dougie proudly wearing his new JN-Dog Boys tee-shirt:
She asked if it was good enough for the website and I said yes please!
So this morning I took my tee-shirt with me and we got Janet to take a photo of the pair of us wearing them, feeling a bit silly, but what the heck!
We had a nice catch-up in their upstairs apartment and Janet showed me a beautiful portrait she has painted of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – Janet is definitely a fan!
I told them about another JN-Dog story that I’m working on at the moment, a New Zealand pilot who was shot down over Holland in the first “Dog”, managing to evade the Germans in Belgium for over 3 months with the help of the Belgian underground, before being betrayed to the Gestapo.
And they showed me very cute photos of the newest Williamson; grand-daughter Isabel, who they were off to visit this afternoon!
Such an inspiring couple, living life to the full.
Nice to see the snifter image on your T shirts.
Its all part of the part airmen played in WW2. But
Please understand and respect the copyright held by the family of Hartmut Lahm the Artist
Thanks June, as I explained in my email, the tee-shirts were someone else’s work, not ours, and we definitely respect the copyright of the original artist, Hartmut Lahm. I would love to know more about him, his life and his work, if you would like us to publish something on this website?
Thanks again and kind regards,
Chris
Hi there ..
Not sure if this mail will reach Janet and Doug but I am part of the South Africa family. I was married to Doug sister’s son Markham Bewley, sadly passed
They should remember me from a visit to South Africa about 20 years ago.
All the Bewleys are passed now except Stuart my step son who has just had twins.
I would love to have a contact address, email or phone .
Kindest Regards,
Lorraine Keenan
Thanks Lorraine, details sent to you by email, kind regards, Chris