Sharen collects stamps and stones

SECUNDA – Ms Sharen Wickens was a member of the first women’s only team of the South African Air Force.

She has been living in Secunda since 1998 and has been involved with the Secunda Senior Citizens’ Club, Mental Health and the Moths Club for years.

The first women’s only air force unit, Squadron 114, was formed in 1975 when Ms Wickens and her friend and colleague at a printing company in Johannesburg where she worked for 23 years, decided to write a letter to the air force to ask how women could help in the air force.

“We actually did not want our sons to go to the army, so we decided we could maybe join and help the air force,” said Ms Wickens.

“It was called Squadron 114 because we began with 14 women in the air force. Before that year, the air force never considered women to become part of the force.

“My years in the air force was a wonderful time.

“Women were not allowed to go past the red tape (the area where soldiers were actually fighting), but we did casualty evacuations and I worked in the air force as a logistics officer and we all did observations.”

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Ms Wickens was later promoted to a major in the air force and all the women of Squadron 114 were moved to other squadrons when Squadron 114 was closed in 1990.

“In those years it was because of politics that the government decided to close Squadron 114.

“They thought it would not be save for a women’s only unit in the air force.”

Ms Wickens finally retired from the air force at the end of 2015 when her husband, Mr Brian Wickens, also retired from his job at Sasol.

She already stepped down as an executive committee member of Mpumalanga Mental Health and gave notice to step down from the committee at Kristopher Ryan Centre as well where she was involved for a few years.

Ms Wickens runs a guest house full time from her home and she has been collecting postage stamps and stones for a long time.

“I have millions of stamps from different countries.”

She wants to begin a stamp club in Secunda for children 12 years and older in the school holidays in the spring.

“I learnt so much since I have been collecting stamps, because with the stamps come information about when and why those stamps were printed.

“I think it can be a good hobby for the children of today.”

In the air force, Ms Wicken’s colleagues called her Major Klippies because she collected stones.

She now has a collection of gem stones and other stones that she has collected over the years.

She remembers in her air force days how she walked in the camps looking for stones when she was not on duty.

For more information about the stamp club, contact Ms Wickens at 084 510 9609.