Redvers Chown No. 2 Radio school Yatesbury 1955. AWF72

From Yatesbury on a cold November morning went to RAF Syerston on my Ambassador (197cc) motorbike with James Marsden.

Here is a picture of Red's Ambassador. The ride from Yatesbury to Syerston was bitterly cold, on a foggy day. I remember Red's bike complained by coughing violently when attempting to run at high RPM. I remember also being driven by Red up to Eaglescliff and being introduced to a beauty queen, Miss Billingham,  Red's Girlfriend at the time. (Jim Marsden's note)

RED's BIKE

 We spent a year in the signals service section, a hut just under the control tower.  We watched piston engined Provosts flying with their Navy student pilots.  We serviced VHF radios and the "beam" a crude ILS device.  Mostly we listened to the radio, played draughts and played volleyball.  Our team even won a bronze medal at some inter station sports event!

I took advantage of a scheme which allowed farmers sons to take a few weeks off to help with the harvest.  By the time I returned about late October 1956 it was nearly time for demob.  At the time our home was in Eaglescliffe, my father never lived on the farm.

I worked on my fathers farm for a few weeks then decided to go my own way and got a job in a TV shop as a repair engineer.  I wasn't very good at it.

Early in 1958 I decided it was time to see a bit of the world and I emigrated to Canada arriving 1^st April after a week in New York.  Jobs were not easy to find.  I worked as a gardener on the estate of an American millionaire named Billy Baird at Crystal Beach near Niagara Falls.

Got itchy feet again and returned to Toronto.  Got a job as a car salesman for a Ford agency on Bloor Street.  Commission only.  I wasn't very good at it.  Then a Saturday working in a car wash, got laid off mid afternoon when the number of cars queuing got less.  New job working on a building site, after 2 hours someone slid a concrete block down a plank on to my hand and cracked a bone.  I had to hitch hike back into the city to get it seen to.  Next job with a furniture removal firm.  I slept in and decided to use a car belonging to a friend who had gone to England.  Got a mile down the road and was hit by a car which went against a red light at Yonge and Bloor.  Spent 12 days in Toronto General Hospital with head injuries and the car was a write off.  The two accidents set me up financially and I decided to travel further.

I picked up a 1956 Chevrolet in Detroit and delivered it to Seattle.  The dealer paid for the petrol.  I spent 6 days on the 3000 mile journey and slept in the car at night.  Saw the emptiness of the mid West for the first time and the mountains and Yellowstone Park.

Took the Greyhound bus to Vancouver, San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Oklahoma and back to Toronto in about a month.  A few weeks later I sailed back to Southampton on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

I had met Clare before I went to Canada and we married in November 1959.  I was back on the farm now, running it myself as my father now lived in Rhodesia.  We had 5 children, Alastair, Nicholas, Andrew, Jonathan and Joanna.  In 1965 my father returned from Africa with plans to start a window manufacturing company.  He sold the farm, less 2 acres he gave to me and I started learning about woodworking machines and production methods.  I built a bungalow on the land and we moved into it in 1968.  James Marsden visited us there.

My father died in 1970 and I found myself running the factory with an older man who was experienced in wood manufacture.  He retired in 1976 and I was on my own with my house pledged to the bank and personally guaranteeing to pay the rent to the local authority.  After a few years I became more financially secure but was knocked back when Clare died of cancer after a year's illness.  9 months later I met Val and 6 months after that we were married and I was happy once again.  Val has 2 children, Martin and Robin so the family grew.

Now we have 14 grandchildren (all from my children) aged 17 down to 7.  Val's two have not reproduced yet, though they are both over 30 one married and one living in sin.

Shortly before Clare died I took up flying light aircraft.  I bought a Cessna 177 in 1983 and on my first date with Val I took her to see it!  I later owned a TB20 Trinidad and did about 800 hours before giving up when I lost my medical at the end of 2001.

The company prospered (most years) and I retired in 1998 with a good pension.  Val worked in the office for the previous 10 years and also has a small company pension.  The company is run by Alastair and Jonathan and I get roped in sometimes.  Val and I travel extensively.  We have a condo on the beach in Sarasota Florida, we have driven all over the USA. I have skied in Colorado about 10 times.  Visited Australia twice, Zimbabwe, China, Egypt and Tenerife (36 times - we had an apartment there).  We go cruising 2 to 4 times a year, mainly on Cunard and we did the QM2 maiden voyage as well as her maiden Westbound to New York.

That brings us up to date.  It dos not seem much to fill 50 years!  Val's mother just died aged 92 and we feel free to travel for longer periods at a stretch without feeling guilty.

I have happy memories of Yatesbury.  It was a unique experience to live and work with the same group of guys for 9 months.  At Syerston people came and went and we did not all work in the same section.