| THE
90th Entry Society
GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
OF PASS-OUT REUNION
By Sam Weller
The following is a short account of the recent Reunion, which has
been submitted to the RAF Halton Apprentices Association for possible
inclusion in the next issue of The Haltonian. These RAFHAA reports
are primarily intended for non-90th Brats, so the emphasis is less
personal than that which might be developed amongst those who actually
attended the Reunion. Participants
have all been invited to help with the latter, especially with the
provision of photographs (please send them to our Photo Archivist,
Ray Thompson, ideally in .jpeg format, in as large a quality as
possible).
Those who were at the Reunion should note that RAFHAA article length
restrictions forced me to simplify the descriptions of some of the
activities. There were, in fact, three visit options on offer for
the Tuesday and Wednesday, with local visits, a trip to the Cosford
Museum and a tour of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum complex. Most
of the Members visited the Ironbridge Museum on Tuesday, and then
visited Cosford on the following day, but a large group reversed
this process in order to get the maximum time at the Cosford Museum.
Some might query why I made no reference to the sad passing of Dickie
Bird at the Reunion in this Report, and the answer is that I consider
that this is a personal Brat grief which we share only within the
Entry. I am preparing a formal obituary for Dickie, which will be
sent to The Haltonian.
After the copy of the Report, I have provided a small selection
of photographs from the Anniversary Banquet evening. If you are
not in these, you may be in the next selection which will be published.
___________________________
90th ENTRY GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY
OF PASS-OUT
On
Monday 1 August 2011, 119 Brats and Camp Followers from the 90th
assembled in the Holiday Inn and the adjacent International Hotel
in Telford to celebrate the half century since we Brats had all
last been together. Several of the Brats participating had not seen
each other since our graduation on 2 August 1961, when bitter had
cost only one shilling and fourpence (instead of the £3 plus
being charged by UK hotels these days!), but, as always happens
with Brethren of the Wheel, old discourses were taken up as if they
had been interrupted only by the time taken to consume one of those
pints.
A
dozen of our number, however, had arrived the previous night, from
Australia, and they were joined by members of the organising committee
who were making final arrangements. On Monday evening, refreshed
by visits to the gymnasium (no A Tech Muscles to bully us there!),
the sauna and the swimming pool, everyone gathered in the evening
sunshine on the patio to enjoy a barbecue. Some celebrants had to
be asked to leave the bar at 0100.
On the Tuesday, coaches took participants off for a day-long tour
of the Ironbridge Gorge Museums, and in the evening everyone moved
to the nearby Telford International Centre, where we enjoyed drinks
in the lounge before our guest, and Honorary Member of the 90th,
Tom Mulholland (102nd Entry), entertained us with some memory-tugging
solo piping, including the 90th Entry’s favourite tune (after
The Bear), Highland Cathedral, with the setting sun lighting up
the scene superbly.
We
were all then piped into the dinner & dance hall (see below),
where we had a truly sumptuous Anniversary Dinner. This was followed
by some instruction from our musical compère for the evening,
who encouraged most of the diners onto the dance floor for at least
one of the many forms of dancing on offer. He was backed by a multi-talented
group of musicians, The Swing Commanders! Later in the evening, and
early morning, we reverted to the recorded music of our Halton days,
and were again asked to leave, some time after 0100 (we managed to
sneak back to the blocks without the Snoops spotting us!).
On the Wednesday we moved by car convoy to the Cosford Museum, where
we were made to feel a little like being back at Halton when we were
allowed to visit the restoration workshops (where they do have some
Apprentices under training), which are not open to the public.
The
Museum security system was tested later, when some of our Plumbers,
seeing that the Museum had two 950lb thermonuclear bombs (greedy!),
attempted to bring one back for the Trenchard Museum!
The sun continued to shine for our picnic lunch, but we later had
to say our farewells to each other and return to a reality which did
not bear any comparison with the memories which had been revived.
Well deserved congratulations were presented by all participants to
the organisers, who are already preparing our next gathering.
Sam Weller
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Sam’s Photo Gallery -
Part 1
In
the section above you have a copy of a photograph of our Honorary
Member and Piper, Tom Mulholland, leading the hungry hoards towards
the Mess for Dinner in the Report above. Below we have some of those
who followed the piper. I have done my best at identifying Brats,
from left to right. Can you provide more?
Yes, that’s a Rigger, Barry Slater, at the head of the rush!
Frank Denton-Powell,
Ginge Sprinks, Bill Goble, Dad Jones, John Holmes, Barry Slater
Norm Allen, Les
Wood, Dad Jones, Bill Goble, ?, Bill Ross, ?
Al Parker, Dickie
Bird, ?, John Haimes, Phil Grant, Stan Rowley,
Cherry Springate, Paddy Carver, Dave Parsons
Dallas Payne, John
Best, Stan Rowley, ?, Brian Merritt,
Chas Collier, Richard Barwick, Jesse Constant
John Smith, Harve
Allen, Reg Bartlett, Chas Collier, Dallas Payne
Sid Biddulph, Stan
Rowley, Harve Allen, Ian Butland,
Andy Spanner, Richard Barwick, Bruce Gourlay
Jim Gordon, Sid
Biddulph, Terry Drew,
Phil Overbury, Harve Allen, Andy Spanner
Geoff
Logan, Ian Wardill, Pete Knowles, Stan Rowley
Ray Thompson, ?,
Jim Gordon, Terry Drew, Ian Wardill
Tom Flett, John
Barratt, John Best, Jerry Gallagher,
Ray Thompson (his 1958 draped jacket still fitting him!), Mel Waters
Tom Flett, John
Best, Mel Waters, John Barratt, Jerry Gallagher
Mel Waters, Pete
McClarnon, Tom Flett
Mel Waters, Pete
McClarnon
Yes,
that’s two Plumbers who are last out of the bar!
I am sorry if I missed you, but it was somewhat like the Gannets’
Rush up the Hill from Workshops at times, as batches realised that
they had been left behind.
For those of you who have never been to one of our Reunions, you should
notice that it is a tradition at our Reunions for us to wear imitation
Forms 1250 as ID Tags, with each Brat having his 1958 or 1960 Brat
photograph on his tag, as well as his nickname, real names, service
number and trade.
Here we have three very special examples.
Firstly, the Brat
who, more than anyone else made the Reunion possible,
Keith Tippey, accompanied by his long-suffering Memsahib, Lin.
Second,
our Senior Brat and Birthday Boy
(71 on the day of the Golden Anniversary of Pass-Out),
Dad Jones (still pulling the birds – his wife, Joan, and Pat
Goble!).
Here we have another special example, with Dickie Bird
taken by Barry Slater at the Monday evening BBQ .
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