Hope you don't mind this contribution - not from a pilot's perspective, but this is what makes me fond of the Wessex:
As a small child in the 1960s I spent several happy family holidays staying at the 'Hearts Content' bungalow at Praa Sands in Cornwall. Always a cause of huge excitement and frantic waving from the whitewashed wall at the front was the sound of an approaching Wessex flying low along the beach on it's way to or from Culdrose, and the mental image sits right there amongst the happy memories of wooden surfboards and raspberry mivvies!
Pretty sure I remember Whirlwinds doing a similar thing, too.