Canterbury 2022 Seminar.

Canterbury 2022 Seminar.

Photos by: Bart Kamp.
Day 1
After an absence of more than three years Dealey Plaza UK held its 18th seminar to attend in the flesh since the Covid pandemic wreaked havoc to our events agenda. We had a super small gathering in November 2021, other than that we held Zoom meetings through the pandemic. The seminar’s location is in the historic city of Canterbury, on the site of the ruins of St.Augustine’s 6th Century Abbey. 
We had various folk from the UK and US presenting to us on various subjects related to the JFK Assassination at the Old Sessions House in Christchurch University on October 1st and 2nd.

Our program leaflet can be viewed HERE.

The posse gathered for a meal the night before. Some of them, who shall remain nameless, showed serious hangover battle scars the first day of the conference.
Neale Safaty opened the conference and was followed by Bart Kamp who spoke on Oswald’s first two hours while being incarcerated. Due to laptop issues he could not present the media as intended so resorted to the PDF of his Anatomy of Lee Harvey Oswald’s Interrogations paper. There was a big gasp during his presentation from the audience upon hearing that Oswald had been frisked twice already while being arrested and only after another body search two hours later bullets were found in his pants pocket.
This was followed by a coffee and tea-break with no biscuits present…
Neale Safaty had an interview with Dave O’Brian. They discussed his first release and I managed to ask him about the pipes, fixed to the wall in the sniper’s window. These pipes would hinder a right sighted marksman. Dave had  managed to get a photo of himself n that position before it all became the current Sixth Floor Museum.  Furthermore his latest, co-researched with our own Johnny Cairns Case Not Closed, was discussed.
Then it was of to lunch at the Two Sawyers for the usual high-end cholesterol intake alongside with a few pints.  

Photo by: James Ian Gay.

“The Network of Men & Institutions Involved in the JFKA” was the title of Casey Quinlan’s presentation over Zoom. I loved the PowerPoint presentation and there was great interest in his work.

 Tactical Ambush in Dealey Plaza by Brian Edwards consisted of possible shooter locations around Dealey Plaza. The overall location was a perfect setting for an ambush and there were choices aplenty.

Quick tea & coffee break followed.

David Knight followed quickly thereafter with The Throat Shot (revisiting the case with new technology). More to the point what type of rifle could and could not create such a small incision wound. It was speculative, but great fun to watch. I and several others lapped it up.

Our final speaker that day was Larry Schnapf and he spoke to us about JFK Records Litigation. His presentation was technical but shows where the areas are for litigation, since the law regarding the releases is not being adhered to. And at this point both Larry Schnapf and Bill Simpich have together with the Mary Farrell Foundation commenced a lawsuit against President Biden and NARA for failing to comply with the requirements of the JFK Records Act. Read more HERE.

At the end of Larry’s presentation Malcolm Blunt stepped forward and had a little chat to inform him on some documentation, especially on a set of  HSCA index guide records that could be of great benefit but are only available in heavily redacted form. 

An excellent dinner at Chapmans followed and that just went way too quick.

Day 2

Our Sunday morning starter as per usual, which is our book sale headed by Mike Dworetsky, Alan Johnson and John Wassell.

And this was followed by me interviewing Malcolm Blunt, battery issues made the video cut way short, but due to Pete Mellor kindly sharing his audio recording and others sharing their video snippets and stills from that talk I am happy to say that we chopped a film together with an acceptable result. For everyone to see soon. 

Scott Reid videoing in from Scotland presented about William Duff, a Scottish connection to the JFK Assassination. Duff is a most interesting character. I hope he manages to get hold of more stuff for an update in the near future.

The Tippit Physical Evidence with Johnny Cairns who was interviewed by Neale Safaty. 

Lunch buffet awaiting with our great thanks to Isobel Dworetsky for taking care of this.

With ourselves filled with sandwiches, crisps and more sugar we got served which, to me at least, was the highlight of the weekender Russell Kent. Russell is a former member who had his ebook published a few months back. Perfect reason to stop by and do a presentation and this he did. JFK Medical Betrayal: Where The Evidence Lies is its title and the focus of today’s talk was almost solely aimed at the Clark Panel. Tidy and crystal clear presentation.

I got my video camera sorted so I taped his talk.

Paul Brown spoke to us on The Paines and that was a good idea from a timing perspective, since the Ruth Paine documentary was just released a few months prior.

And this weekend’s closer were Larry Hancock & David Boylan on Oswald in New Orleans. And as per usual a rock solid presentation.

It was an incredibly enjoyable event, marred by a few tech hiccups, yet incredibly interesting subjects by all speakers involved. The whole weekend just flew by and I for one cannot wait till our next get together next year. 

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