RAFA Worcester & District Branch
The Royal Air Forces Association, Worcester and District Branch, meets on the second Wednesday afternoon of each month at the Methodist Church Hall on Bromyard Road in Worcester. They welcome former servicemen and women, including those who completed their National Service. John Mason, President of the local branch, tells us more.
In 1939 at the start of the Second World War and for the next 21 years until 1960, the young menfolk of this country of ours were conscripted to serve in the nation’s armed forces.
When I was called up, I was 21, already professionally qualified and was also engaged to be married; so the next two years would mark a major disruption to my lifestyle whether I liked it or not. I chose to serve in the RAF following a family tradition and my love of aviation, and I was very fortunate to be trained on RADAR, the trade for which I had asked. My technical training was near Swanage before being sent to serve abroad in NATO at a secret radar station in North Holland.
I can honestly say that this intervention in my life made a man of me, and looking back now at the age of 90, those two years of national service were some of the most memorable in my life. It was only many years later when life had moved on and the family had all grown up and gone their own ways in life, that I came to realise just how much I missed the fun-times and fellowship of those years when serving my country with my colleagues who were all in the same boat.
If you served your country in the armed forces and perhaps have a secret yearning to re-live some of that close bond and comradeship you once had and now miss, why not come and meet up with like-minded folk, male or female, who have served at some time in ‘The Mob’.
We meet regularly once a month at a local venue for a get together with a chat and hot drink, as well as getting out and about with our smart gazebo at as many public functions as we can manage. Come and meet us! We would love to hear your stories and if you have any ‘gongs’ then pin them on, including your National Service Medal if you have it. Tell us the stories about your memorable times as we would love to hear them, and perhaps have a laugh along with you.
This year we will be at Mapp Fest on Malvern Link Common (15th and 16th June), Armed Forces Day in Malvern’s Priory Park (30th June), Worcester Carnival (6th July) and the Alfrick and Lulsley Show (7th September). Alternatively, send me an email via jm34powick@btinternet.com