Off to work I go !

 Hi there campers,

The next day I was up early to get ready for work, so after getting washed and dressed I walked over to the airman's mess with my steward's jacket to have by full English breakfast, which is what the mess served every day.

Now I was used to just having a bowl of cereal and a slice of toast with a coffee, but fatso here couldn't resist all this cooked food, every day. This made me pile on the pounds quite quickly. When I was at Swinderby they told us that the No.1 uniform couldn't be exchanged for at least 18 months. Well guess what the next time I was required to wear it was the following November for the Remembrance Day Parade, and guess what? the uniform was too small so I had to get another one fitted before the big day.

So back to my first day of gainful employment. My stewards jacket was in a cover on a hanger so after eating I made my way to the carpark. I got there and waited for the bus to arrive....and I waited and waited. Where was it ? I was starting to panic a bit now. I looked at my watch and I had arrived at the designated time so where could it be. I was about to walk up to the catering office to check I had the right time. I saw two airmen walking towards the carpark so I asked them if they knew what time the bus to Portreath would be coming. Fortunately they knew about it as they were stationed at Portreath. Yes mate you've missed it today, sometimes it goes early.

Great I thought, now what am I supposed to do ? Then as they got to their car, turned to me and said " Do you want to come with us"? Well of course I said yes I would. So we all got in and started on our way to work.

One thing I noticed was they were in No.1 uniform, and they noticed that I wasn't. One of them, called Jay, turned to me and said " Why are you in No.2 uniform"?

I replied " why shouldn't I be"?

His reply came as a bit of a shock , " Well its the Annual Station Inspection from Air Officer Commanding 11 Group, Air Vice Marshall Ken Hayr, every one is in No.1 today."

I came back " Nobody told me especially as it's my first day at Portreath today".

AVM K Hayr inspecting the Guard of Honour at RAF Vaxa Vord ( another Radar Unit) the following year

We drove around the edges of Newquay and onto a B Road which directed cars towards Redruth and Truro going through some villages with some very Cornish names, such as Rejarrah, Goonhavern, Perranzabuloe. I was starting to make a note of these place names, and the route that we took. We eventually came to a roundabout and joined the A30 towards Redruth, then we joined the Redruth by-pass before coming off it a followed the signs for Portreath. I was becoming quietly excited about getting to the camp. After driving up a steep hill with wooded embankments we pulled out at the top to a cleared area, and there was the main gate with a guard hut in the middle of the road.

I put my beret on as the other guys had replaced their peaked hats. After driving to the carpark we got out. The guys worked in the Ops room with the fighter controllers and their building was next to the combined mess, where I was headed. we arrived at the mess and I said I would see them later no doubt.

As Portreath was quite a small unit there was only one mess, which catered for all the ranks. There was a central kitchen with a servery for the the Junior ranks and Senior NCOs to collect their meals, with three separate dining areas. The largest room was for the junior ranks as there were more of them. The SNCOs had smaller room, and the Officers had a nice carpeted room and a separate ante room, where they would go to for tea and coffee after their meals and read the news paper etc. The Mess also had an all ranks bar, which only opened at lunch time and only sold a limited number of drinks  and snacks. For the living out staff if they wished to eat in the mess, this was where they bought their meal ticket.

 

So this was where I was going to work. But on this day I had to meet the Mess Manager and the rest of the staff and get used to my new routine. So far my RAF career had gotten off to a shaky start. First I was told I was going to work somewhere I wasn't expecting, then find out my first day was an annual inspection and I was in the wrong uniform. Lets hope it wouldn't get any worse.

Fortunately it didn't, but for now I had to make my known to the new boss. I walked in and met a Civvy Mess hand called Mel. I told him who I was and he took me down to the mess manager's office at the back of the building. Mel knocked on the door and showed me in. Inside the office was my new boss, Sgt Brian Macaulay, and an SACW called Shirley Carter who was going to be my co-worker for a while.    

The Sgt looked at me and then asked why I wasn't in best blues. I replied that nobody had told me as I had only been posted in a couple of days before. So he said " Oh well you wont be going on the parade so you can get ready for the lunch service once Shirley has shown you around the building

Photo taken in 2009 of the Combined mess before it was demolished

The Officer's Ante Room prior to demolition 

Shirley took me on a guided tour of the building and introduced me to the rest of the staff. In the kitchen was the chef, Cpl Mick Vincent with his two SACs Bobby Galloway, and John Davis. They were helped by a handful of mess hands , Mel, who I had already met, Dick, and Malcolm.

In the dining room was a civvy steward, called Jack Small, and in the bar was the final member of staff was another SAC called Pete. ( Pete was due to return to St. Mawgan once I had settled in to the mess life). Once I had met everyone, we went back to the staff room for a quick cuppa, then Shirley and I grabbed our stewards jackets and collected some crates of gold-band crockery and silver pots to serve the Station commander and his guest of honour, the AOC drinks in his office as the AVM arrived for the beginning of his inspection. 

We walked a few hundred yards to the station headquarters building, and looked for the Chief  Clerk, Sgt Gurney , who showed us the room that we had to set up. We then set up the hotplate to keep the pots warm and made the tea and coffee and set out the crockery waiting for the officers to arrive.

The station commander was called Sqn Ldr Livingston who was a Fighter Controller. There were another three officers on the unit. Another two controllers and the engineering officer. The mess membership numbers were made up with the chief engineers of the Property Services Agency (PSA) who were responsible for maintaining the buildings and structure of the Station.

After Shirley and I had served drinks, we went back to the mess to finish of the preparation for the Top Table Luncheon which was to be held later on. So this was going to be an easy job, if all we had to do was serve a maximum of five of six people at lunch every day from Monday to Friday with the occasional small function I had nothing to worry about and I think despite my initial misgivings about my posting I now realised I had landed on my feet here, and now I understood the words of Sqn Ldr McAllister - I will send you to Portreath for six months, and if you like it you may stay there a bit longer. Well I did like it and eventually stayed for three years ! Initially I was on the strength of St. Mawgan, the following year I had a paper posting to Portreath, although as there was no accommodation there the single personnel lived at St. Mawgan.

Back to the annual Inspection, after the AOC had been to the mess for the lunch and after we had cleared up afterwards, all the service personnel were summonsed to outside SHQ for the formal photograph.

The AOC and officers sat at the front of the group along with the Senior NCOs, behind them stood the remaining Airmen and Women, all in No.1 uniform, and standing at the back and on the edge, was me in my No.2 uniform with beret. My first and only time I wore the wrong uniform to work in fifteen years.

Next time I will chat about a few of the things I did while serving at Portreath.

Rob