98th Entry Halton Apprentices

 
 
I have acquired 2 good quality prints of our prize winners. Previous copies were lifted from the Halton magazine whereas these are better original prints. The top photo proves that apprentices can sleep standing up.

 
There once was an Aircraft Apprentice
Of a most unusual kind;
(They say he was quite compos mentis,
With a perfectly balanced mind).
He would always be smart and impressive
And though it seems hard to believe,
He thought all snoops were fools
So perhaps he was not so naive.
 
He never indulged in drinking
Or smoked Players or Woody fags
His crime sheet comprised [...]

I am escaping to foreign climes for a few weeks.  Away from the doom and gloom and off to a completely different environment. We are travelling to Kuala Lumpur for 5 days and then we fly on to Karambunai, Sabah, Borneo. On the list of ‘things to do’ during the trip will of course be to see the [...]

Thanks to all of you who have confirmed hotel rooms with the Holiday Inn. Currently, we have 32 entry members safely booked in and one additional 98er travelling from home to the venue each day so that he can be on parade with the rest of us.  With the lovely ladies added in, we have a grand total of [...]

Our investigators have traced the 72nd entry member to be found. Bill Steel was discovered living in St Neots and we are delighted to have successfully traced him and we extend to him a warm welcome to the 98th Entry website. Bill was very pleased to be tracked down and is interested in attending the reunion in [...]

There was an Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman, they they were discussing family names.
“Well,” said the Englishman, “My son was born on St George’s Day, so we called him George.”
“Fancy that!” said the Scotsman, “My son was born on St Patrick’s Day, so we called him Patrick!”
“Why, what an extraordinary coincidence!” exclaimed the Irishman, “Just wait until [...]

You can see from the photo above that 98er’s have got together before at Halton. Here at the airfield we have, Left to Right : Andy Folliard, Chris Cho-Young, Barry Donovan and the photographer was John Burgess. They all met at a Halton reunion over a decade ago in September 1998. We are still looking for Barry Donovan and [...]

In  1963 a number of the Entry spent a summer holiday in Sestri Levant, Italy,  located on the Adriatic side of the country. The trip was organised by Pilot Officer Clive Rainbow in order to keep the lads occupied during the long 6 week leave period. I understand getting around was difficult because of a public transport strike at the time.  Names [...]

  L to R: Mick Hall, John Burgess, Dick Gurr, Pete de-Claire, Jim Coombes.
A nice photo of the Inst (Nav) boys at Halton in 1961 provided by John Burgess. Taken in No 3 Wg outside Barrack Block 14 .
 
 

 
I was delighted to receive the news from Ron Gardiner earlier this evening that Haggis had called him in answer to his letter. The saga has ended happily and for that I am extremely grateful. On behalf of us all Haggis, can I wish you a warm welcome to the Entry Website and we very much [...]