大象传媒

Blackpool was No 3 School of Technical Training and I was in 39 entry. The School, often referred to as Squires gate, was just beyond at Stanley Park, North East of the town. It was part of a factory with a Wellington bomber assembly line.
We arrived at Blackpool at the end of October/ November. There was no camp but the RAF had taken over many buildings. Blackpool was seething with airmen who were accommodated in boarding houses. I was in a boarding house Silverdale, Napier Avenue, South Shore with six other airmen. The proprietor, Mrs Roper, was very pleasant and we were well looked after. We were taken each morning to the school in double decker busses, brought back to the boarding house for a midday meal, and then transported back to the boarding house at the end of the working day which was 1630 or 1700 hrs. We did not attend school on Saturdays, but some Saturday mornings went to a cinema to get paid and have lectures and see instructional films. When on a course you did no other duties.
The course started with a precision filing job, a male and female 鈥淰鈥�. I did fairly well on that and was given a mark of 68 per cent. There were also some scraping exercises. The next part of the course was the stripping, viewing, overhaul and rebuilding of engines, carburettors, airscrews and magnetos and lectures on testing, not practice. Also, maintenance forms and manuals colour coding and inspection and running faults.
Lectures on metals were in a low ceilinged room which had little ventilation, and many of us found it hard to stay alert and awake. The lecturer, a civilian, was a studious looking little man with horn rimmed glasses. In the lecture room were rows of long tables and folding wooden chairs. On the first table in bold block capitals were the words :- 鈥淎BANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE鈥�.
On the second or third table was a well drawn cartoon of the lecturer splitting the atom with a large hammer and chisel, and debris flying all over the place. Like all courses hardback notebooks had to be compiled which every so often were checked and signed.
At Blackpool we would go to the public baths once a week. Laundry went away one week and came back the next like all RAF units. There was, of course, plenty of entertainment and we had Christmas in the boarding house. On some Saturday nights and almost every Sunday night we would go to the Tower. On Sunday nights there was always a singsong with the organ. The most popular song then was 鈥淵ours鈥�. There were also shows and films and sometimes boxing in the Tower Circus arena. If you so wished, you could play football on a Saturday afternoon. Some nights I went to dancing lessons, but I never considered myself a good dancer.
On Saturday February 21st 1942 at the Bloomfield Road ground, the RAF played the Army at football. All the players were professionals from the big clubs and Stanley Matthews played for the RAF. The result was a draw 1-1.
The course ended sometime in March. We had our final examination, a trade test, and were then given seven days leave. At home in Surrey I received instructions and a railway warrant to proceed to Skegness on the day after the end of my leave, the 18th March 1942. With a train load of airmen I arrived at Skegness in the late afternoon.

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