I do not believe I was a typical apprentice but I certainly enjoyed my 3 years at Halton. I rarely went through 'difficult times' and when I did I could see the end of the tunnel was not far away when I would be in the proper Air Force! Also I could see how things had improved since my father's time as an apprentice, a generation earlier in the 1st Entry.

I was extremely interested in anything 'technical' or remotely connected with aircraft, participated in sport and read avidly about motorcycling and above all aero modelling. However I disliked drill and Parades and all they stood for and unless academics were directly relevant to 'my engineering' I had little time for them. I spent most of my free time in the Model Club and as I 'ran' the store I could escape to a modelling room of my own where the stores were kept. I also had a pass enabling me to be 'excused marching' back from work if I had to collect any modelling supplies from the NAFFI main stores. Joe Bollard was most upset at such official skiving and many was the time he 'could see' that I had dirty buttons or boots at 100 paces!

During the 1958 Easter break I went to the Veloce factory in Birmingham to collect a brand new Venom, a far cry from my 1948 rigid rear Matchless G3L or first motor cycle, a 1934 Triumph 250.

On graduating as a Cpl my first posting was to Wittering, along with 4 other ex brats. What a change in life style, especially the freedom! Initially there was a little resentment from my experienced co-workers as what I knew about Valiants and Canberras could be written on a postage stamp. However I was soon accepted owing to my knowledge of motorcycles and anything mechanical, coupled with the fact that I could outride any of them on a motorcycle. Nye Gutteridge had a Triumph 21 and many are the stories of our return trips home to Eastbourne down the 'Great North Road', as our riding styles were somewhat different; at least he achieved his ambition of 100 mpg where as I never succeeded in completing the journey in under 3 hours. I guess granny in a Fiesta could now make the same trip in far less time!

Dick Bingham eventually brought a BSA Gold Flash, which freed up the pillion of my bike at weekends, as he too lived near Eastbourne. Anyway I never forgave him for his statement as we were going through pea soup smog in London, 'shall I get off and walk in front'.

I enjoyed Wittering and after nearly 50 years later, 3 non-motor cycling memories stand out::

• Being Orderly Cpl the night the first of the new style 'Airmen's Clubs' was opened. At about midnight there were 'hundreds of drunken bodies' in the Club that I was supposed to shut. I thought to myself, they did not prepare me at Halton for this, what do I do?
• 
  Starting, driving and operating the original Valiant bomb-loading gantry, especially in icy conditions.
• 
  The long delay in my posting to Cyprus while a very protracted 'Summary of Evidence' and subsequent actions were concluded.

I eventually travelled out to Cyprus on the last trip of the Troop Ship Arcadia, I think (in case some 'smarty pants' knows different) Surprisingly I had a great time but the conditions were very basic, except for those of the Officer's, and I only found that out when I volunteered to teach children in a classroom that was located in the 'Officer's Mess'.

My very important secondary duty was i/c canteen carrying which meant I was responsible for organising the movement of 'stores', including beer, from the hold to the canteen. The crew stressed the only way to keep it cool was to mix with ice prior to selling, hence weak beer and inflated profits; our cut was only free beer.

I was attached to the RAF Regt at Akrotiri and for 4 months lived in a tent, prior to moving into proper accommodation. I had sold my Venom to a mate when I left the UK for £100, and he still has it! For about 5 months I concentrated on Aero Modelling but the motorcycle bug hit and I purchased a BSA Super Rocket. There were about a dozen other motorcycles at the time, mostly owned by ex apprentices. Of our entry Phil Jarman had a Gold Star, Mitch had a CSR and Jake Ward had a T 120. The latter 2 I have not heard about since! Were they in fact 81st and has any one come across then since, as I would like to get in touch with them or any other motorcyclist I knew out there!

Mac McLauren, 82nd had a CSR and in fact we rode over land together back to the UK in 1963 and we were both posted to Ballykelly. I kept in touch with him for about 25 years but he then seemed to disappear. Cyprus was fantastic and I could write a book about the great times I had.

Before pressing on I will recount an incident, which changed my views to 'think outside the box'. We needed to move a small hangar (Bessemer or some such name) about 25 ft, about 5 days work. As we started to dismantle a Regt Sgt suggested 'why don't we lift and move'. After a few crypt comments we agreed and in 5 minutes 150 'Rock Apes' had the job done!

When I heard I was posted to Ballykelly I was pleased, as I had heard it was a motorcyclist and bachelor's dream, especially if they liked the countryside and Mountains.

Ballykelly was just like an overseas posting, and I suppose it was. It was every bit as good as I expected, both at work and play. Every thing seemed to go my way during the tour. A Gold Flash and a Mini were added to the stable of my Super Rocket. I got married to a girl called Betty from Drogheda in the Republic and had a daughter a year later. During the tour I was also promoted to Ch Tech.

The Shackleton was a real character aircraft and until the Phase 2 arrived everything was run in the relaxed manner of the 50s. I became a Torpedo specialist but during the tour worked in most Sections. For some reason the 50+-year F S i/c the Explosive Area was moved out and I as a 28 year Ch Tech took over. Very interesting to say the least as the other SNCOs were much older, but I knew most of the workers as well as their girlfriends/wives as not long before I had been 'playing in the same circuit'!

Alas I sold the Super Rocket for £60 at a mileage of 119,000. It had never let me down but I had to replace about 7 timing side main bearings and at the same time renewed everything during the strip down. Except for the Magneto every other component was replaced several times but I only overhauled the gearbox once. During the tour I even found time to run both the Section and a Station football team, play a lot of Table Tennis and become the Armament Trade Trainer, part time.
In 1969 I was posted to Malta, but that is another story!

I hope we hear more of all these 'other stories'