Bury St Edmunds

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[strike][strike[/strike]]March 1964 just turned 17 and working in a petrol filling station. ( Fuel was 4s and 10p a gallon ) The night supervisor was a 20 year old Saxaphone player who spent most of his time in the office practicing while i did all the work. Anyway i decided that as i was doing the work i would keep the t[/strike]ips.

The trouble was i wasnt very good at maths ( Left school at 15 with no exam qualifications ) and in the morning the tills were down. The manager of course was not best pleased and i was sacked over the telephone.

Unbeknown to me the night supervisor had decided to pocket the nights takings and bugger off with a customers MINI which was worth about £400. ( Well it was new ) Needless to say the old bill turned up and turned the place over but nothing ever came of it. ( Or so I thought )

I had brought the old bill to my dear old mums doorstep and before i new it i was at St Albans recruiting office saying hello to Sgt Noddy Caroll and a Major who was about 150. I had a Medical and sat an Exam ( which i was confident i had failed ) and then the Major said sign here and gave me a shilling and said welcone Christopher heres a train ticket to Bury St Edmunds. No one called me Christopher again for some considerable time.

Futher installments to follow.[strike]

Spoiler:

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[]By todays standards they would have been called Meet and Greet Officers or staff but in 1964 it was oi you whats your name, Chris I said well chris he said do you have a surname Avieson I said AH he said and pointed to a army truck, get on. There were four of us and once he had rounded us all up he ( An RP lance jack ) proceeded to brief us on the rank structure of thr British Army and people with a V on there arm should be addressed as corperal etc etc. He spent the next 10 minutes blowing his own trumpet until we arrived at the camp.



Reception building ( Guard Room )on the left as you go through the main gate and admin buildings on the right ( Orderly Room Etc ). This was followed by accomadation huts on the left and a large expance of concrete on the right ( You Know ). The road followed down the side of the square with more admin and accom and then the Naffi. The cookhouse,QMs Armoury were somewhere next and the Assault course was at the back of the camp.



]We were met by Cpl Mossy Groom and shown our accomadation which was a wooden hut which housed 8 and was split into a 2 man room and a 6 man room.as I was the first to arrive I moved into the 2 man room. As far as I recall there was no heating but there may have been a black stove in the large room.



Others arrived in our Hut during the afternoon which consisted mostly of people from Leicester( Savage and Ireson are two names i remember) and a small Irishman called Mcginty who moved into the two man room with me. Eventualy everyone had arrived ( 3 Huts ) and cpl Groom got us all together and told us what would happen the next day. He then took us out to Tea. Actualy He pointed across the square and said that’s the Cookhouse, go eat but do not go across the square.


]The next day Sgt Leatherland and Cpl Groom arrived bright and early and introduced us to Army life the noisey way and at the double. Groom was a poacher and Leatherland was a Viking and Lt Winkler was the Plt commander who had a perminant snarle on his face. ( He never said one word to me the whole time I was there) I wont venture to say what Bn he was from.


]That day went Food---Kit_--- Tailors ---Food--- Haircut—Kit--- Bedblocks ---Food---Kit and all the time they were filling our minds on Army life and what was expected of us. Paddy was brilliant he had been in the TA so he taught me a lot about Bulling boots and little short cuts which helped a lot.
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]Each time I got a bollocking for something he would show me what to do and how not to get caught. There a canny lot the Irish. I can remember other names in the platoon and one other member of the perminant staff which was the RSM Jimmy Jenks who later joined the 3rd Bn as QM Tech.

Brings back old memories Chris?

I must say that you have a brilliant memory to remember back that far I cant remember what happend yesterday, must be old age????????

By the way it was a coke burner in the middle of the hut that kept us warm:santa:

I was trying to edit the first part but it turned into a scroll so just ignore it.
It looks like only Terry and Wally remember Bury. Surly not.

The rest of my time there is pretty hit and miss, i remember Thetford, standford and the Norfolk Broads (canoing), drill weapon trg and the assault course . Not a lot else

And that coke burner wally was not very warm.

There was one other thing, i was to young to go abroad to Berlin so i spent two months at Bury working as the RSMs (Jenks ) lackey.
My main task was the reproduction of camp SOPs and by that i mean running off pretyped stencils on a hand operated ink roller copier.

Each SOP was printed on different coloured paper then bundled together one copy per Dept.
Anyway it was better than area cleaning.

Then in september 1964 it was Berlin and a whole new experiance

The thing i remember most about Bury is the assault course out the back of the camp,and bayonet practice, charge, stick it in twist pull it out and of course scream?

and whoever will forget the bathhut, a wooden shed with a row of baths and NO heating, we used to freeze our bollocks off, and i joined up in the worst winter in living memory?????????

HAPPY DAYS?
Wally

A great source of amusement to my plt and instructors was the sight of me charging and screaming at a sack of straw. No matter how much i tried my screams always ended in laughter and coughing fits. Leatherland was not amused.

I remember the baths wally and they were cold even in the summer.

Happy days NAH.

Do you remember the pub just down from Blenheim barracks i cant remember the name Chris?
many a happy hour was spent in there.

Yes I do wally significantly because it was the first time i had ever been well and truly plastered. I believe it was on sherry but dont ask me why because all i remember is waking up in the guard room.

You were in Berlin at this time supping the delights of the corner bar.

yes i probably was Chris?

I have been to bury quite a few times since i came out of the army and it has changed a lot since our days there,the old camp is a housing estate now.
the castle is the Royal Anglian H Q now.
my wife likes to go shopping there most weeks, its not too far from where i live.
I see from your platoon photo that you still had the old pompadours hat on, were you in Berlin for the change over.

The castle you mentioned wally is that the one now known as the keep and located by the park.

As for the hat i arrived just before the change over and got a new hat straight away

Yes i believe they do call it the keep these days, and it is near the park.

It is the home of the Royal Anglian Regt Association i believe.

In one of your posts you mentioned Leatherland was that sgt because the name rings a bell.?

I will put Bury on my trip list i think its about due another visit.

Leatherland was the plt sergeant hes on the left of centre FR.

Groom was the plt Cpl hes on the right of centre FR.

Lt Winkle or Winkler is in the centre FR

Thought i recognised the name Chris.

Taking another look at your photo and i am sure that cpl Groom was there at the same time i was?
Not sure about Winkler though.
Ihad another e-mail from Terry Bakewell and he sends you his regards Chris.
I cant understand why he doesnt come on the site himself????

Wally

I think he went on to become rsm 1RA.

Please pass on my best to terry when you next speak to him.