MEMORIES OF A
NATIONAL SERVICEMAN
TREVOR SIDAWAY
ROYAL ELECTRICAL AND MECHANICAL ENGINEERS
THE SECOND BEST POSTING AFTER
THE
In the Autumn of '52, following six weeks of
basic training at Blandford Camp in
Bordon
Camp in Hampshire, together with other "mature" Servicemen, for four
months of technical
Training. Then on to a
transit depot at Arborfield, in
I was offered the option of staying on to be trained as a PTI (Physical
Training Instructor) but only if I
signed on for an extra
year--not an option!
The Arborfield experience was unpleasant--it
was mid-winter-- the camp numbers were changing daily
as personnel were shipped
out
Rumours about postings were rife;
I drew the short straw and was granted two weeks embarkation leave before
shipping out to
Then my luck changed!
I was taken off the Korean draft, no explanation, and transferred to
A
WEDDING AT
At
one
other whose name I’ve forgotten--I should have remembered him as, together with
Taffy, I was
invited
to be a witness at his wedding at Aldershots
Registrars Office
Although the wedding came out
of the blue it was no “shotgun” as she turned up in
months
later on holiday—looking “normal”
The REME Barracks at
around
and one of the highlights included meeting up with a Geoff Smith, who had been
a classmate
in
my Infants and Junior school in Cradley Heath, and a
couple of visits to watch
the
old second division
On the day we moved out, we
were joined by three other National Servicmen, Don Youldon, ? Adshead
and
one other--they had been training at Honiton
The six of us made our way to
been
converted into an underground barracks complete with bunk beds and we spent one
night there
(? Adshead,
the first surname on the list was given an acting rank of corporal and was “in
charge” of
the
transit)
FLIGHT
FROM
A REFUELLING
STOP AT BAIRITZ
We made our way to the famous
wartime airport at Blackbushe in Hampshire and had a
pretty bumpy
flight
in a Huntings aircraft, putting down at
Franco’s
We were in
by an
"old soldier"
"Thank your "effin" stars," said he, "and keep your
"effin" mouth shut--you're going to the
second
best
overseas posting after the
How right he was!!
SPORTS FIELD
REME Barracks, Governors Cottage Camp REME
Workshops and Offices
The rectangular flat
area in the foreground was the REME sports ground, it contained two football
pitches with "shale" playing surfaces, a little like the surface of all weather tennis courts
The REME barracks were away from the town on the eastern side of the
rock, overlooking the Straights
and the
The camp was on the site of what had been the Governor’s Cottage
residence and was a collection of huts
and buildings that included the old Governor’s Cottage
The backdrop was a cliff face and a narrow road was all that separated
it from the sea
The
REME Barracks in the 1950’s Picture by Simon Bull
A very un-military collection of buildings
overlooking the Mediterranean
In
the foreground is the Motor Transport area with a
The lighthouse at Europa
Point can just be seen in the distance
The Governor’s Cottage long
before it was converted into the REME barracks
A
very un-military collection of buildings overlooking the Mediterranean
Picture supplied by George Staples
Pictured in 1916, the
Governors Cottage, residence of the Governor of
The
original buildings formed part of the Sergeants mess
A BIT OF CRADLEY
HEATH AT GOVERNOR’S COTTAGE CAMP
The six of us were picked up at the
airport and dropped off outside the Adjutants office at Governor’s
Cottage
To my amazement I found myself standing
on a drain cover that carried the name “
Cradley Heath
Their factory, one of the largest
manufactures of cast drain covers in the
where I was born
Our documents were taken by the Company
Sergeant Major, he was a very un military CSM and
fitted
in with the
relaxed atmosphere in the camp, he was approaching retirement and had a touch
of the
Spanish Manana
My Billet
I was billeted in one of the huts with
the very appropriate name Vista
It overlooked the coastal road and had
an interrupted view across the straights with the coast of
It was the last hut in the camp behind
it was a rocky area, which had a deserted wartime gun
emplacement, followed
by a solid wall of rock up to an area known as Windmill Flats with the highest
point of the Rock
in the distance
My billet at Governors Cottage camp
Inside my Billet
My bed is in the foreground
of a very casual layout, which exemplified the easy-going
nature of
the camp
The view from the back of my
billet
The corrugated roof of my
billet can just be seen in the bottom LH corner, the wartime gun
emplacement
is clearly
shown with the highest point of the Rock in the background
A later photograph of Ginger and me at the
Corporals Club
Relaxing at the Corporals Club in the REME Barracks at
Governors Cottage Camp
Overlooking
the Mediterranean,
Lively
Saturday nights in Main Street with the Fleet in Port
In the 50's,
experienced
in recent decades
It was very much a military garrison with many thousands of servicemen
swelling the civilian population
of 30,000
On top of this it played host to all of the "friendly" Navies of
the World, especially the American sixth
fleet and
the British Mediterranean and Home Fleets
Occasionally more than one fleet at a time was in port and Main Street,
which in those days sported a
number of "Honkey Tonks" (Dance/Music bars), could become rather
lively, especially on a Saturday
night --the Trocadero
was the Forces favourite
Naval Shore patrols, complete with "nightsticks" were much in
evidence as well as the British Redcaps
(Military
Police)
The
TROCADERO “Honkey Tonk” in
The sailor standing in the doorway is part of an
A
worms eye view of a Spanish Flamenco dancer at the Trocadero
and
Our American Cousins
Jim Everart and Joe Guderian were in
the
Gib--and the odd Bordello in
They eventually
transferred to the Aircraft Carrier Medway
Morocco
was a few miles away across the Straits and the Spanish border town of La Linea
de la Conception
was a short walk across the Airstrip with the
Torremalinas in
1953
Torremalinas was a small fishing village, and not the
urban sprawl of hotels that it is today
Pictured
shortly after arriving in Gib in the Spring of '53
I'm in the designer
sunglasses and the fez
Across the border in
The Ceremony of the Keys—a daily event to “secure” the Fortress
On the left, Alan Cattell, a National Service "Redcap" in
I didn’t know him at the
time but he was to become a good friend in later life
# Playing
trains with Prince Charles & Princess Anne #
# More about the models # # "Resting"
in Tangiers--at the EL Farhar #
#
Football
in Gibraltar (Part one) #
# Football in Gibraltar (Part
two) #
# Keeping the
Laundry going and other Sports #
# Home #
email
me trevor_sidaway@hotmail.com Link to "Black
Country Stories"
