`The ORIGINAL 63B Intake!`

On that 'never to be forgotten day' (for some of us, anyway!) of Tuesday 30th April 1963 some One Hundred and Ten 'bodies' arrived at various times during the said afternoon on the platform of Harrogate Railway Station.  Young lads, in various states of dress & with hair at similarly various lengths and fashionable styles.....  (If you ever watched the TV Series "Get Some In!" from the late 1970s, the relatively recent "Lads' Army"  and its clones --- or even the opening sequences of that, from a much earlier 1950s age, classic film "Carry On Sergeant" --- then perhaps you'll `get the picture`!)  .....disembarked (or was it 'detrained'?) from the various trains, carrying an assortment of luggage & baggage (they'd never heard of the word KIT then; lucky lads!!) 

Awaiting their/our pleasure was a 'duty' representative of the School Permanent Staff --- in the shape of a smart, businesslike yet surely a 'kindly soul' wearing three chevrons on his right arm and carrying a Drill Cane or Pace Stick (carriage of which depended upon whether that worthy had ever known the sweet `ecstasies` of attending and passing a Guards Course at Pirbright!  Again, the  innocent lads concerned ... aged between just 15 and a half to 17 years at the time, ... were then blissfully unaware of the distinction!!)  The Platoon Sergeant (for such he was, of course) escorted each bunch of new 'brat' arrivals to an olive drab painted coach that awaited them in the station forecourt whilst another such PS Sergeant took post on the station platform to await the next batch ....

By the time my own train smoked it's way to a noisy halt, I thought that one famous member of the 1950s TV Series "The Army Game" was on the wrong set .... because it was Sgt `Snudge` Lewis, complete with waxed moustache, kindly grin & Pace Stick who stood patiently on the platform when my contingent gathered itself together.  (The 'lucky lads' had not yet heard of the command "Fall In" yet, either!!)  His manner of welcome can be imagined by some(!) ... but I'll describe it for others later in these chronicles!!

Having hopefully 'got my reader into the right nostalgic mood' there follows a list of ALL those personnel (yes, apparently some 110 of us!!) who arrived at Recruit Coy 'spiders' on that infamous day some forty four years ago now (as I write)! This list was provided by ex B Pl & co-63B member, Chris Sherlock, {in turn finding it in the current copy of the A.O.H.A Magazine "The Gate" at the time.} who, not too long ago comparatively (June 2001), retired from serving 'full time' in Her Majesty's Service!  (He still puts in a few hours with his 'head in the clouds' though ... see below!)  Many thanks, Chris.  If any of YOU can tell me anything more about ANY of the following, fellow ex Apprentices of our Intake that may interest others, please do so in order that I can update this page where and when necessary.  Many of you have answered the aforesaid plea, for which I thank you here.  My thanks in anticipation of further, welcome updates nevertheless:

Not all the abovenamed 'rooks'(!) stayed together until our planned, forthcoming Graduation Day (in March 1966) regrettably; some recruits purchased their discharge within a few weeks, some changed trade or were relegated ('regulated'!) a term or three, some managed to leave the Army completely (free of charge too!) within the first 3 days of arrival (not that most of us were told we could until the 4th day, naturally!) whilst others went off to Boy Soldier establishments better suited to their personalities such as the Junior Tradesmen's Regiment at Troon, Scotland and AAS Carlisle etc ... as per the PSO (Personnel Selection Officer, remember?! ... Probably 'Human Resources' these days!!) decisions 'agreed' with those concerned.  Let's hope they all survived well in their chosen paths of life and, again, perhaps YOU know what ever became of them?  The rest of us would surely be very interested.  It would be terrific to have an up-to-date 'Parade State' here!!

Incidentally, the coloured rows above denote the shoulder 'flashes' of the parent Companies/Houses/eventually Squadrons you may remember that our Platoons (of Recruit Coy) belonged to: A, being Rawson , B, being Phillips, C, being Scott & D, being Penney.  As Recruits ('Rooks'!) we, of course, wore the dreaded White (to be 'Blancoed'!) flashes till after Recruit 'Pass Off' Parade.)

So far, about twenty of the abovenamed have managed to regain contact ... by the 'magic' of 'phone and Internet etc.  At least four of us have physically met up again during the period 1999 - 2004.  

Remember, won't you, that 30th April 2003 was the 40th Anniversary of our initial meeting, i.e. 40 years since those events mentioned above!  Accordingly we would have liked to stage a Re-union of as many as possible members of the original Intake 63B, AAS Harrogate back in around April 2003 .... but sadly although many of us seem to be in (mainly) electronic contact to date it is, even now, obviously STILL not yet destined to be!  Still, any time from now on will always be ideal so if YOU would like to partake ... or know of any other ex 63B who can be contacted in this regard ... PLEASE contact me.  Otherwise, we'll just have to plan for the 50 YEAR mark!!  Whichever, if you're of our Intake and only just reading this .... All the very best to you for surviving this far!!! --- and hopefully we'll still manage to meet again, somewhere, one day.  Please make contact!  I thank you in anticipation.  Please don't forget to visit the AOHA website to avail yourself of further useful information and memories.

John Oakley

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This section last automatically updated: 13 October 2007 23:01 hrs.

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