And beer was also available.
|
|
'Oh, aye, we used to go and have a drink, but I never saw anyone drunk! I think it was specially brewed. The first night we went in they had this draught beer but, oh, it was bloody awful! And they had these bottles of Newcastle Amber Ale--not Brown Ale, Amber Ale. Why it was a woman's drink that! Anyway, we used to drink it. Why, you could drink ten bottles of it and it had no effect on you!'
|
|
‘There was a detail used to go up in the lecture room every night. And so you used to have to go and "read detail" and see what your programme was for the next day and remember it--the times. And then you started your training. Drill, PT--that was usually the first period that. Used to put on your white vest, blue shorts and Army socks, grey like, and PT shoes and run up to the gym--they had a big gymnasium up there--and do your PT for about an hour and back. And then you'd go on weapon training or marching. Different periods you know, just like a school, gas training, things like that.’
|
|
The basic training lasted for over three months. 'Fourteen weeks. Oh aye, you could go out if you wanted, within a certain area. I think you could go as far as Langley Moor and as far as Willington.'
|
|
But only in uniform.
|
|
'Oh, hell aye! And carrying your respirator, or you'd be on a charge. You used to have to wait till you got home to get your civvies on. But you used to have to have a pass to get into Durham, even though it was only 20 minutes on the bus!'
|
|
NEXT: a Photograph of the Physical Training Instructors at 4 ITC Brancepeth, including Charley Curry of Wheatley Hill.
|
|
