The 40th Anniversaty of our enlistment was celebrated with a Reunion at the Holiday Inn, Aston Clinton, on Nov 15 - 17 2013. A window was purchased for St George's Church and dedicated on the Sunday of the Reunion. Below is the speech about what it meant to be a Halton Apprentice and member of 123 Entry:
I can still remember one of the 1st lessons we were taught after that fatefull day in November 73; never volunteer for anything. So here I am having being volunteered to speak about our Entry. I hope you can draw some parallels from what I'm about to say, as it's tough to try and reflect on everyone's individual thoughts and perspectives of what it meant to be part of 123 Entry and a Halton apprentice.
Back in 2010, when Barbara and I first discussed the prospect of us trying to find members of 123 Entry and arrange a reunion, I thought we were raving mad. Steve Atherton had attempted to gather support for a 25th anniversary reunion, but if memory serves, there was only about 20% uptake. I think at that time I had my 1st real PC, didn't know what it was capable of and didn't even have an e-mail account, one of those statements still being correct. 15 years later, we can thank the proliferation of social and professional websites and of course Barbara's hard work for getting us all together. Jim young kicked off a Facebook group which has grown to 62 members, I created an Entry website and with a couple of small get togethers in Chester and Warwick, the ball started rolling to get us where we are today.
Our reasons for joining will be many and varied, for me it was an opportunity to leave home and undertake a proper apprenticeship, the princely sum of £16.25 per week didn't put me off. Others, I know, chose this route as their preferred option was closed; to this day, the Careers Offices still sell courses on the promise that it is a simple procedure to move trades. Of course we were told by everyone throughout recruiting and training, that we were the creme de la creme, a viewpoint not necessarily shared by our fellow aircraft tradesmen after graduation. Reflecting back on over 37 years service and what it meant to be part of 123 Entry makes me realise that despite all the modern additions to training and current buzzwords, the core principles that were instilled in us should still be strictly adhered to, regardless of performance targets.
So what made us into the people we are today?
Back to that 1st day! We were a new breed of apprentice, the 1st Entry to undertake Recruit Training at Swinderby. We got off our trains at Newark, to be gently coerced by drill instructors in battle dress and conveyed to Swinderby in vintage buses. The gentle coercion ended once we were inside the camp gates. Rather shell shocked, it seemed to me like we were being time warped back to the war years. Of course the careers office brochures only had glossy photos of fast jets and airmen in no1 uniform. Our 1st week was a bit of a blur with so many things to learn and remember, however, I distinctly remember a few things; one apprentice crying himself to sleep on the 1st night and then leaving; one hapless chap washing his shirts with his yellow dusters and my start of a loathing for Sgt Pepper!, shared by a few other members of 8 Flt. The highlights were Thursday night Top of The Pops, and the WRAFs coming over for bop night and of course Sunday night when we had the return bout of electric wrestling at Spittlegate. I've toned this down for the Padre, because we all later came to know it as the shag & shuffle.
Weekends were spent in Lincoln by many of us and soon we were at week 5 having had multiple haircuts whether we needed them or not, learned to March, moved on from wooden replica rifles to the SLR, got used to hairy Mary's, been through the gas chamber (nowadays called the respirator test facility) and had our injections before being let loose on the public. Those with a clearer complexion and no spectacles, were whisked down to Halton for a week, to rehearse for the 1st of what would become many route linings in London, instead of spending the week under canvas with the RAF Regt tormenting us. My initial impression of that dark December night as we arrived on Groves Wing again took me to World War 2, but this time Colditz sprang to mind, despite the warm welcome from the more senior apprentices who thought we should sleep vertically in our beds. The enormousness of what we would soon undertake began to take hold and it was only my fear of going home to my parents having given up, that stopped me from jacking it in; a feeling that I'm sure I'm not alone in having at one time or another.
I suppose we all found different ways of coping, as talking about our concerns wasn't really done in those days, except maybe between each other in our 18 man rooms. It was only when the social side of life at Halton became a part of our lives, that I started to enjoy my time; discovering the Rugby club, Sgts Mess Annex and The Two Brewers to name but a few, not to forget the girls!
We started our apprenticeship with the basics of engineering; our 1st practical was to cut and shape a piece of mild steel to precise tolerances. Slowly the building blocks of our trade came together. The larger hurdles were at the end of year 1 with the 1st ONC exam where we lost a few and the next large hurdle was our ONC final at year 2 end. I'm sure I have Sqn Ldrs Rennie and Young and our informal chats over several beers, to thank for getting through the ONC, rather than the formal lessons or should I say lectures. The final hurdle was after that long hot summer of 76, when we went to the airfield for our final practical tests. Talking of what or who shaped us into the future generation of aircraft technicians, besides our trade instructors and block NCOs, I'm also sure that with a bit of prodding, you'll remember our two Wing WOs, WO Latham and his replacement WO Jackson, some of you might remember their daughters, for differing reasons. WO Latham gave the impression of his abject dislike of 123 Entry, because we had disrupted his sleepy hollow with our large number; it seemed like after several months of trying to get to grips with us, that they simply gave up. WO Jackson seemed to be upset that the majority of us were simply taller than him! Then of course there was Brick Holden and we also seemed to be off his Xmas card list. One more thing they all agreed upon was our Strong Entry spirit, I'll expand on that shortly. Finally it was graduation. Despite summer dragging itself into Autumn, Our graduation day started shrouded in mist, just like that 1st Dec night I stood on the very same Parade Square. That feeling of enormousness had come back, but I felt reasonably confident I'd be okay.
Going back to Entry spirit, I recall us all being held behind on the last day before block leave one year, because we had a lock in in the NAAFI, after we had persuaded the Ord SNCO to have a drink or three with us. We had to clean the bar and had to clean our rooms twice before the management let us go. Fair play to the Regt Sgt (Sgt Hutchinson) who had aided and abetted us; he helped us clear up the devastation in the bar. There is another story I'd like to tell you. There was an instructor and his wife, whose house was almost a second home to many apprentices from 123 Entry, mainly because they had two lovely daughters. Their house became a focal point even after our graduation. One daughter married the brother of a 123 apprentice and one married a 123 apprentice. Very sadly, the younger daughter was killed in a RTA in 1985. I was friends with both and sadly couldn't make the funeral, but every year, I paid my respects at Halton Church, only to find in 2010 that I had been visiting the wrong church! Thanks for putting me straight Barbara and at this time I think, as we have already remembered our fallen comrades, we should remember Hazel too.
At this point considering where we are, I should make a confession on behalf of Class 2 and possibly others Padre; we didn't always attend Padre's hour, despite the offer of free tea and biscuits. One Padre became so exasperated with it that he decided to come to see us at the barrack block after yet again we had told Sgt Casey that the Padre wasn't in. Whilst you're in the process of absolving us of our sins, I should also on behalf of Entry members unknown, point out that the Entry window we're here to see dedicated isn't the 1st mark we've made on this green and pleasant land surrounding Halton, but that's as far as I'm prepared to elicit without a beer in my hand.
So what did it mean to be part of 123 Entry, the 1st of a new breed of technician? Was it the sense of community, esprit de corps, the sense of achievement, the shared experience or the prestige of being a Halton Apprentice. I'd tick all of the above. Ironically after the apprentice system ended in the early 90s, because it fell out of favour, the RAF has adopted our multi skilled heritage for the new generation of technicians and converted the existing legacy single trades. Maybe they got it right with us after all.
I hope we can do this again before we are too old to enjoy it, perhaps a 50 year reunion, or maybe sooner. Don't ever forget; illegitamati non carborundum!