At the age of 18 years and one week I was called to the forces.I exchange my black Police uniform for a similar one in khaki. I was not overjoyed at the prospect. The war had not ended and I had no wish to take part in it. If I had to do so I wanted to do it as a military Policeman. I boarded a train at Oxford railway station and into a carriage which was already occupied by someone of my own age who was carrying a similarly shaped cardboard box to the one that I had slung upon a piece of string around my neck. These contained a gas mask and, since very few people carried them at this time, it made me aware that this fellow was also destined to join the army with me at Warwick. His name was Chris Timings and he was to become a close friend. And what followed was a six weeks of initial army training. The training consisted of marching up and down the barrack square and shooting the rifle. I saw nothing of Chris during this time. When the time came to leave this barracks and to be allotted to various regiments, there was just one other person amongst the several hundred there given a similar posting to my own. It was to an Officer Training Unit based in Derby. This person was Chris Timings! It was made all the more surprising by the fact that Chris whilst he had attended a public school, I had left school at 14 years of age. I found this all very puzzling. I did not want to join the army and I did not want to be an officer. My thoughts went back to an interview with a selection officer. He had asked me what I wanted to do in the army and I had replied “Military Policeman”. To which he said there were no vacancies but “did I want to take responsibility”. I hesitated to which he said, “well do you want to?” I said “ yes”! I lived to regret this. The next 10 weeks were sheer hell! We shared a hut with others who were also destined to become either officers (Chris and I) and others as Corporals or sergeants. Whilst there Chris and I attended the War Office Selection Board WOSB Where we passed to NY 6 Months. After six Months Chris and I discussed this and he decided to apply and I not to. A further period of harsh training was not to my liking. Most people will have seen films of the bullying that takes place during army training. I don’t think any of them adequately depicts the type of bullying that took place at that Derby training centre. I would rather train others than go through another. I then joined the “Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry”, as a “weapon training instructor”.
Oxford and Bucks Lt infty training instructors. I am third from the left.
I was meant to become one of those bullies similar to the ones who had carried out my training. A quite impossible task for me but never the less I did this for two years.I was asked if I would take over the control of Officers Mess at the Headquarters of the Southern Command on Salisbury plain. Given a train ticket I found it in a ex hotel with Italian prisoners as the staff. A civilian in charge. Apparently I was to take over from her! I saw the adjutant (Oxford and Bucks) and he said he would arrange for my posting. It never came!I was then asked if I would take over the officer’s mess at the Regimental depot at Oxford. This was a job that entailed running the equivalent of a first-class hotel with the traditions of an ancient Regiment. I asked myself. “What qualification did I have to fulfil such a role?” Previous experience – Telegram boy, police cadet and weapon training instructor. None whatever! I travelled from Cove in Hampshire to Cowley barracks in Oxford to meet the Adjutant who instructed me to learn all I could from my predecessor who was to leave the army in four days time. Four days to learn how to manage a hotel?
In the photograph below, the block to the left was the mess. The lower windows were the kitchen and preparation rooms. On floor above, the window to the left was my room which I never occupied. Overnight I went home which was just around the corner!
I had not even seen inside a hotel. I knew nothing of cooking, waiting at table, accounts, staff management or any of the many of the requirements of this task. Why me? I asked myself? The regiment had regular soldiers responsible for catering, much more qualified than I. The one saving grace for me was that my home was 200 yards from the barracks and I could sleep at home in my own bed. The officer’s mess at a Regimental headquarters is the place of tradition. Everything that is done within the walls can be traced back to an event in the past. Some of the officers can even trace many of their ancestors to past officers. Dinner evenings were particularly important. The officers and myself would be in dress uniform and the waiters would be in evening dress (Tails and bow ties). There was much silverware and candelabra in evidence. The Regimental band would be playing themes from the musicals and everything in accordance with tradition. The Port passed one way (clockwise) and the cigars another etc, etc. My duty was to ensure the smooth running of the evening and to check, the wine and cigar consumption so as to add the cost to the Bill. One of the extra functions I had been asked to carry out was preparing the mess bills. When I look back to this period and wonder how it was possible for me to do these things at the age of 19 or 20 without the necessary previous knowledge, or (I would say it ability) I can only think that it must have been because I was completely naïve, and thus being so, did not understand just what I was being asked to do. However, this was only the first of many more times when I was asked or instructed to do a job for which I had no qualification or knowledge. It would seem that, in public service, there was no requirement for education or expertise.
http://www.headington.org.uk/history/war/general/barracks.html
Tradition
Despite the shortages of the wartime and immediate post war the traditians of the County Regiments were continued.
I had been a weapon training instructer for some two years when I was asked to take on the Sargents job, catering for the needs of the officers. I was 20 and had no experience that could help me in such a position. The stone built buildings at Cowley had been used as the Regimental Headquarters for a very long time.
My staff consisted of Batmen, waiters, wine waiters a chef and a cook about whom and what they did I knew nothing. I also had to prepare the mess bills.
Despite this, with the help of those experienced staff the traditions continued as they had both in peacetime and wartime.
I liken it to a top class Hotel except everyone was in uniform and all male. The other exception the dinner evenings.
Preparation for the meal started early. The dining room had a long mahogany able upon which was put two, even longer, table cloths. Each folded lengthwise and placed along each side leaving a long mahogony strip down the middle. On this strip were placed silver candleabra and various silver ornaments and cigar boxes. Some of which had been donated by previous Colonels of the Regiment. The waiters left to don dress suits, tails and waistcoats. The wine waiters differed. Their waistcoats were blue stripped; the others white. The Officers arrived.
The Regimental Colonel sat in the middle at one side. When the various courses were over waiters stood at each end of the table, grasped the ends of the table cloths, lifted them high, took two steps to one side over the heads of the officers and took them away. The candles were lit and the Port and cigars were passed around the table. Clockwise in the one case and anticlockwise for the other. Meanwhile the Regimental Band had been playing music in the next room during the meal. I, who had been standing supervising procedings, made note of the number present (usually around 30)and who took a cigar or a Port, to enable me to prepare the mess bill at the end of the month. If the Colonel was happy with the music he would usually ask me to invite the Bandmaster to join him for a glass of Port.
This just left me and my staff clear up just as is the case in any typical good class Hotel.
The end of a very long day. All the staff (including the batmen) had been paraded at 6 am and dinner seldom ended before 11 pm. It was as well that dinner was held on only two or perhaps three evenings a week. The rest were supper evenings without all the trimmings.
Fred's Memories 