Teenager gifts painting to RAF SAR force
UK Royal Air Force (RAF) search and rescue (SAR) personnel operating out of RAF Valley at Anglesey Airport, Wales, UK received a special gift in August.
UK Royal Air Force (RAF) search and rescue (SAR) personnel operating out of RAF Valley at Anglesey Airport, Wales, UK received a special gift in August. Fourteen-year-old Emily Speakman, a schoolgirl from Mold in North Wales, presented them with an oil painting depicting a C Flight 22 Squadron Sea King helicopter flying over the sea near Holyhead. She had titled her painting ‘Brenin Y Mor’, which is Welsh for ‘The Sea King’, and had asked to donate the picture to RAF SAR Force HQ, saying that she is ‘fascinated with the Sea King’. She visited SAR Force HQ with her mother, brother and grandfather and was taken inside the helicopter – the same aircraft shown in her painting – and briefed on its various duties.
“Emily’s painting is of such a high quality that I was completely blown away,” enthused Sgt Martin ‘Seaweed’ Seward, duty radar and winch operator. “It’s hard to believe it was painted by a 14-year-old.”