I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety

Norman aka Lofty is far left, second row from back When my dad first joined the Royal Navy in October 1942 he was sent for initial training to H.M.S. Royal Arthur. This was a naval shore base at the Butlin's Holiday Camp in Skegness, Loncolnshire which the Royal Navy had taken over for training purposes at the start of the war. My dad was just over eighteen and a half years old when he signed up as a wartime volunteer. He was almost 6' 1" tall and for that reason was nick-named "Lofty". Recently a friend has been doing some delving into his own father's World War II story; he's found that his father trained at H.M.S.Royal Arthur too. However his dad met a local Skegness girl and the rest, as they say, is history. There's a great Pathe News clip of some new recruits at H.M.S. Royal Arthur if you follow this link:  http://www.britishpathe.com/video/hms-royal-arthur If you want to read more of the book follow either of these links to read a fre

In my dad's service records it says that he finally left the Fleet Air Arm in July 1946 and his pension records show that he went back to his pre-war job as a clerk before starting a course of study at Bradford Technical College. This photo is dated September 1946 and was taken at Filey. There was a Butlin's holiday camp at Primrose Valley, Filey, Yorkshire so presumably he'd gone there for a holiday before starting college. Strange to think that his war service started at the Butlin's at Skegness. I wrote in  I Think I Prefer the Tinned Variety: The Diary of a Petty Officer in the Fleet Air Arm during World War II that "on 15th October 1942 Norman had arrived at H.M.S Royal Arthur, a shore establishment of the Royal Navy at Skegness . Previously a Butlin's holiday camp it was commissioned as a training establishment in 1939 for new naval recruits. The holiday camp had opened in April 1936 and was the first of the camps designed by Billy Butlin to pro

       H.M.S. Royal Arthur H.M.S. Royal Arthur was a shore establishment of the Royal Navy at Skegness . Previously a Butlin's holiday camp it was commissioned as a training establishment in 1939 for new naval recruits. Norman is standing at the left end of the next to back row as you look at the photo. From H.M.S Royal Arthur, Norman went to two more shore bases for further training to become a radio mechanic: H.M.S. Shrapnel (Walthamstow) and H.M.S. Ariel (Warrington).