Tales from Halton

Stories and anecdotes from the 69th's time at RAF Halton, between 1951 and 1954, and outside in the wider world. Dates shown refer to when the story appeared in the 69th Association's newsletter.

Now it can be told, by Frank Sheppard - February 2004

Recently there has appeared some items in the "Haltonian" about the Halton Scouts. Here is my contribution, written here prior to possible "Haltonian" publication.

After arrival at Halton I joined the senior troop of 1st Halton (RAF) Scout Group. We met in a hut over by 1 Wing. On passing my 18th birthday I moved on to the Rover Group. They were having a little problem regarding accommodation. This was resolved by allocating us part of an end bit of the disused old Polish NAAFI. The Polish NAAFI was a collection of inter-connecting wooden huts down the hill between 2 and 3 Wings.

Halton Scouts - Dick Hollis, Red Tidman, Jock Kemp and Ron Downing - before setting off for Oxford University Rover Crew weekend, early 1953

Now half a but is not very big, but too big to be cozy. At the end of our bit was a locked door leading to the remainder of the hut. The door was opened. We found a short corridor, with three or four large "bunks" leading off. At the end of the corridor was a medium size room - potentially nice and cozy. Passing through the next locked door was a very large room - no we must not be greedy: we relocked the door, and barred and bolted it.

Now if you think about it, the chances are that a disused building is not on the rounds of COs or an AOCs inspection, so we reckon we had won our expansion. As members of the Scout group we were granted a 36 hour pass once a month to go hiking and camping or to Rover / Ranger socials in Chesham, etc. For these we needed food. Therefore armed with a suitable "chit" we presented ourselves to the appropriate cookhouse to collect rations As sometimes happens, when routine changes, people change. The cookhouse staff were always most generous and we were often turning food down.

But with our expansion we now we had somewhere to store surplus food!

The message went out to the Senior Scouts - do not turn down any food. Meet us and hand over all the surplus you will find out why when you come up to the Rovers!

So armed with the excess food the Rovers went to their suite of rooms and unloaded the surplus into the "bunk" that had been designated to be the pantry. (Yes, shelves had appeared). With lightened rucsacs we went off on our weekend.

Now food needs to be cooked - the adjacent bunk was designated to be the kitchen. (Yes, cooking equipment had appeared).

Come the next week or so, if you had a key (as I did), certain people could leave their billets to participate in rather nice suppers, I wonder how long this enterprise continued after we left Halton?