98th Entry Halton Apprentices

There is a bit of a rumpus going on in some quarters about the possibility of a name change for the RAFHAAA. It is a bit of a mouthful but many believe it clearly describes who the association represents, or, should represent.The Halton Aircraft Apprentice Association no longer simply embraces proper AA’s; thoroughbred ’brats’ like us in the 98th. The organisation now includes Craft apprentices, Technician apprentices, Dental apprentices, AET’s, Foreign Air Force apprentices , and even Royal Navy bods who trained at Halton are to be known as Trenchard ‘brats’.  See the inscription above on the Apprentice Tribute. I think the world is about to end!  The Associations inclusion of ’RAF’ in its title is obviously now questionable with Wavy Navy on board and the description ‘Aircraft Apprentice’  clearly no longer represents all the boys trained at Halton. Perhaps we should ask the Army to run the show, then everyone can sleep soundly at night in the knowledge nobody has been left out! One of the proposals is to rename the association ‘The Old Haltonians’.  We could then all rub shoulders with ‘The Old Eatonians’couldn’t we Rupert?  If you have any views please let me know and I will pass them on because mine are in the Victor Meldrew category! What was that about a dinosour? 

“Ahoy Captain, Halton ahead. I see no ships only Airships!”

Now that the Christmas dinner has had time to digest and the New Year celebrations have blurred it is back to reality once again. The credit crunch, fuel bills, interest rates, recession, collapsing economy and the rest. Or, if you are surviving on a meagre service pension like me, you will be wondering if a letter from the Paymaster Generals office is going to pop through the letter box to inform you that your current entitlement has been incorrectly calculated and in April 09 your pension will be reduced accordingly. My plan is to ignore all the negative issues in the world and carry on using my computer as I have always done. Cheers! 

Just to show we appreciate both our readers and contributors:

Click here to view: http://98thentry.com/98th2009.mov

Father Christmas visited me early this year when I received a call from Mick Ingham on 21st December 2008 and he told me he was now able to attend the Entry Reunion in April. Mick, known as ‘Boots’ in our Halton days because of his size 13 feet was one of my best pals at Halton. We spent many happy times together both at Halton and during leave periods when we visited one anothers homes and so I was sad that having traced him successfully his initial response about coming to the reunion was negative.  So, ‘Mooney’ is now delighted to be seeing ‘Boots’ again and I suspect the likes of Chris Norman, Dave Molden and other members of the ‘Rigger’ mafia will also be pleased to see him again.

Dear Santa

If you leave a new bike under the tree, I will give you the antidote to the poison I put in the milk.

Johnny

As Christmas approaches and the new year beckons it is perhaps a good time to reflect on the events of the past year. From a 98th Entry perspective, I think you would all agree we have had a very successful 2008 and next year we have the reunion to look forward to in April. I am still pinching myself to believe we have found so many from the Entry in such a short timescale and so many of us will be getting together again in 4 months time. It all started on 8th February 2008 when I sent an e-mail to John Burgess. We then met, visited Halton together and developed an interim Entry website. Then along came Peter de Pradines who on 27th May 2008 generously offered his expertise and use of the Web Weaver’s Workshop to produce the great website we have today. Peter works quietly away in the background, but, without his help and guidance none of this would be possible and I would like to thank him through these pages for his generous and hardworking contribution .

Many others have also played their part in the undoubted success of the 98th Entry during the year and my thanks go out to you all for your support and help.  I know many of you have greatly enjoyed getting in touch with old pals from UK and around the world once again and both Peter and myself have very much enjoyed being able to provide the facilities to enable this to happen.  On behalf of us both, can we wish you and your families a very happy Christmas and an equally happy and successful New Year. We will be taking a break from the website during the festive season but it will remain open for those who may wish to continue using it. We look forward to being back with you all again in the New Year.

Since my involvement with the Entry website I have wondered who came up with the original idea of Entry stained glass panels in St. George’s Church  and when the project started. I have now discovered the background to the project.

The replacement of the original plain glass windows was initiated by a former Padre of St. George’s Church, the Rev Richard Lee. Padre Lee had clearly ‘seen the light’ and mused that there were sufficient window panels (approx. 140) to accommodate a stain glass window for each entry and that it would make a truly colourful display and tell a little of the history of the RAF Halton Apprenticeship scheme. It would also be an appropriate and lasting tribute to all the “Trenchard Brats” that had passed through Halton.

And so it was, in 1997, that Padre Lee formally invited the RAFHAAA to encourage Aircraft Apprentice Entry’s to have stained glass windows produced and installed in the church to commemorate their time at RAF Halton. It is now a magnificent sight and those who have not seen the widows before will, I am sure ,spend some time during the reunion looking at the many wonderful entry windows.  A very good link to see a close up of all the windows is shown on the 75th Website at: http://7t5.co.uk/Church%20Windows%20page.htm

On our behalf Bill Bailey has been busy arranging accommodation for the reunion weekend 18/19 Apr 09. He has decided upon the Holiday Inn, Aston Clinton, as our venue. The hotel is situated on the outskirts of Aylesbury conveniently located on the A41, yet within easy reach of the M25, M40 and M1 motorways. Only 32 miles from Heathrow and with easy access to the Motorway and Rail networks. We hope that it will be a good location for everybody including our international travellers. The hotel is also only 2.5 miles from RAF Halton. Good facilities are available and free to guests: 

Indoor heated pool

A specially negotiated room rate has been agreed:

£75 dinner, bed & breakfast per night, for Single Occupancy

£95 dinner, bed & Breakfast per night, for Double Occupancy

Bill has provisionally booked 35 rooms for the Saturday night which have been reserved for us.  Those attending will be asked to contact the hotel before the 21 Mar 09 to confirm the booking and leave their credit/debit card details against the event code BRE (Bailey REunion). Payment of hotel bills will only be required at check out. No prior payment or deposit is necessary. Your contact for the hotel is:

Bill has also booked the Broughton Suite in the hotel for our evening meal which has dining facilities for up to 100 guests. I will publish menu arrangements at a later date along with all the other details you will need to know about. If anyone has any particular requirements please let me know. A link to the hotel website: http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hotel/aylbk?_requestid=172187 

I am taking a significant risk publishing the photo above and I am sure I will get some flack! It was taken Christmas 1995 at the Flamingo Theatre Club, Akrotiri during my last performance as the Pantomime Dame. I was the ‘Queen of Hearts’! My acting days are now over. Oh! yes they are!  The RAF theatre groups were great fun and I have had many happy times treading the boards over the years. The audiences may well have had a different opinion of course. It was OK if folk got up from their seats and walked out of the theatre during a performance. It was when they got up and walked threateningly towards the stage I became worried!  Where did I put that lipstick?