Canon Craston in World War II as a Royal Navy rating
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Canon Craston today
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A 91-year-old World War II veteran will be honoured for his bravery… by the Russians. Canon Colin Craston, of Lever Park Avenue, Horwich, will receive a medal from the Russian Federation for his service in Arctic convoys. The medal, with the presentation at Manchester Town Hall on 13 October, is to recognise his work as a wireless telegraphist on HMS Eclipse, an E-class destroyer of the Royal Navy, from March 1942 to March 1943. Canon Craston, a great-grandfather, received eight medals over the years recognising his Navy service, but next month’s event will mark the first time he’s ever personally received a medal. He said, “I’m very, very pleased to be receiving this medal… it’s a great privilege. I’ve heard for a long time that the Russians wanted to honour those who served in the convoys and I look forward to being given a medal in person. I remember my war years well. There were dreadful weather conditions along the way… ice, gale storms, you name it. I appreciated the experience… it was very interesting”.
Canon Craston sailed from Iceland to Russia in the destroyer, but his captain sent him ashore, as he’d been selected for a commission. Seven months after he left the destroyer, it sank in the Aegean Sea east of Kalymnos, Greece, killing 119 of the 145 crew members on-board. Canon Craston said, “My life was absolutely dependent on coming off that ship… my friends and colleagues were all on it. I’m 91 years old, yet I could’ve died aged 20. I didn’t even have to come off it. I didn’t find out it had sunk until seven months after it happened”. Canon Craston went to America to repair an aircraft carrier and went on to serve in the Far East, along the Indian Ocean, from 1943 to 1945. Originally, he’s from Preston, but moved to Bolton in 1954, where he served as priest of St Paul’s Church in Deansgate until 1966, and of St Paul’s with Emmanuel Church in Vicarage Street, Daubhill, until 1993. Canon Craston has two children, five grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. He’ll attend the ceremony with his wife Brenda and daughter Carolyn Edmunds.
2 October 2014
Neil Robertson
The Bolton (Lancashire. ENGLAND. UK) News
http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/news/11509106.Horwich_World_War_Two_veteran_to_be_honoured_by_Russia/?ref=rss
Voices from Russia 
It’s Gonna be Napolitano in Karelia! Valaam Monastery to Send Monk to Italy to Learn Secrets of Mozzarella Makin’… No Lie
Tags: cartoons, cheese, Christian, Christianity, Cooking, Dairy, dairy industry, Eastern Orthodox Church, editorial cartoons, EU, European Union, Food, Food and cuisine, human aspect, humour, Italy, Karelia, Moscow Patriarchate, Mozzarella, Orthodox, Orthodoxy, political commentary, politics, Religion, Religion and Spirituality, Russia, Russian, Russian Orthodox Church, sanctions, Sergei Yolkin, Valaam Monastery, Yekaterinburg
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There have been all sorts of interesting (but expected) fallout from the sanctions. Makfa, which was already the biggest domestic pasta maker in Russia (they’re in Yekaterinburg), just got bigger… they’re cracking down on Mickey Dee’s… but this one is a “Strange, but Nonetheless True”. The famous Valaam Monastery in Karelia is sending one of the brothers to Italy… to ferret out the secrets of mozzarella makin’. Perspirin’ minds wanna know… are they gonna bring in gen-u-wine Eye-tal-i-an water buffaloes for the real deal mozzarell’ di bufala or are they just gonna make wimpy old cow’s milk mozzarell’ with the milk from their own dairy herd? On the other hand, is the said brother gonna do his best to convert Joey the Cheese-Maker and entice him to come to northern climes? In that case, he’d be “The Spy that Came INTO the Cold!” (A little riff on John le Carré‘s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, for them in the know.) Now, that’s a mystery well-worth cracking!
BMD