Arborfield Old Boys Association
AOBA
Arborfield Life
fifty years on – and they do look different! ... By Howard Trill, 54A
Those of the 1954 intakes gathered for the AOBA Reunion in 2004, in the knowledge that they were celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of our joining. This year there were at least twice as many from the ’54 intakes as on any previous reunion I have attended, going back some twelve years. It was this significant anniversary that brought them in and, hopefully, we shall see them all again.
Foot Note: The 2004 Reunion was held at the Army Technical Foundation College at Arborfield over the weekend of Friday 18th June to Sunday 20th June. It was the last reunion to be held on the site of the Army Apprentices School and Army Apprentices College as the ATFC was closed in August 2004 seeing the end of more than sixty years of Army Apprentice training in the British Army.
2004 reunion
Trawling through our memories, one recalled the day when the Firework factory went
up, with a bigger bang than usual. That was the day that, as Duty Company, ‘D’ Coy
supplied the Fire Picket and two A/Ts found a boot with a foot inside it. There were
also memories of our PTIs, getting barrels of gunpowder out of harm’s way by standing
on them and rolling them down Biggs Lane with their feet, like lumberjacks on logs.
(No mean feat? Ed.) Not the best of things to recall, neither the solitary boot,
nor the dreaded PTIs – but a memory all the same. The mention of Biggs Lane, naturally,
brought back memories of cross-
Someone recalled our old Padre, ‘Jumbo’ Morgan’, who would insist on
riding his bike through the Camp, hanging onto the handlebars for dear life just
in case anyone saluted him. His fear was based upon the fact that he had his Bible
under one arm and his cane under the other. If one did salute him, he usually lost
control and fell in a heap on the road. Obviously, lads went out of their way to
meet and greet him!
One amongst us remembered that, as one of the ‘tall guys’, he
was used as a Parade Ground marker. This meant that he was on every parade, but mostly
standing still and watching. He was thus rarely inspected too closely, but of course
struggled with his arms drill. Not too sure as to whether he was complaining or rejoicing!
Some
of us made the annual visit to the 25-
Memories
of the Regimental Police were rampant. There was the time when Sgt Fred Silvers ordered
some geraniums to be planted at the edge of the Square, alongside the Saluting Base.
Naturally, these poor geraniums ended up being planted about six inches below surface
level and then covered over. A certain L/Cpl Dutton once ordered his bike to be painted
– and it was! Tyres, chain, saddle and handlebar grips, as well as the frame, all
ended up a lovely shade of olive drab.
The Reunion had its sadder side of course,
as we accepted the inevitability of a last look at where our military life had begun,
those fifty years before. Yes, we may meet up at a Reading hotel next year, with
a visit to the old 5 Battalion, but it won’t be the same. Even the simple action
of standing side-
The one criticism was of the photographer’s
actions during the Drum Head service, snapping away at the bugler (trumpeter?), as
he stood on a stone plinth for up to three and a half minutes after sounding the
Last Post. Some may have thought he had gone to sleep, or his watch had stopped.
Oh no, it was the photographer, who kept changing angle and attitude each time the
poor lad attempted to get the instrument up to his lips for Reveille! Whatever would
McNally have said?
So what did it all mean to us all? Rather like a time machine really.
OK, older, wrinkled and crinkled – almost hairless in some cases – but no change
in the characters we knew so many years ago. We were instant pals, as if it was only
the day before, the laughs as natural as ever. There was a togetherness, regardless
of intake, which can only be found amongst those who gave their youth away in exchange
for the Queen’s (or King’s) Shilling. Boys’ service was itself a challenge – a survival
course for those determined to win, whether at sport, turnout or trade. We effortlessly
swallowed those events that, in the end, made us what we are today – EX-
Intellectual copyright Howard Trill
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Arborfield Old Boys Association 1999 -
