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Inverness Youth Clubs


JIMFURD

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I know that they've been mentioned indirectly on other occasions in other posts  but here's your chance to bring back memories of any youth clubs that you went to in the past in old Inverness. In my teens I went to the Crown Church YC  and also to the 50/50 Club - Doc Hays Club - at the top of the Raining Stairs. Yes enjoyed the weekend dances with live bands but got up to other things as well. I have great memories of making a canoe from a kit at Doc Hays and then using it on the river especially up the Islands and then "shooting" the rapids. There were a few of us doing the same thing. Transported it around on an old bogey. Needless to say it used to annoy the anglers on the river who accused us of scaring away the fish. Were you a member of a youth club and if so what did you get up to?

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Life Boys 1st Company, then the BB's,

Same organisations, same Companies.... slightly different generations though! St Columba High Church, like Crown, also had a Youth Club which I also went to.

I was never a member of the QOCH Boys' Club (latterly the Cameron Youth Club) but that was pretty vibrant when I was a lad. I think there was also a club (50-50?) at the top of the Raining Stairs. Into the 70s the Spectrum also opened and the harriers used to use that for training in the late 70s.

Jim - I am interested in Doc Hay's Club. Do you happen to know if it was Dr Andrew Hay who was I think a gynaecologist at Raigmore. He had a son who was a year above me in school but I think you are possibly talking about a little earlier than the later 60s. 

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Charles - Doc Hays YC was indeed the Dr Andrew Hay, Gynaecologist at Raigmore- I was there in late 50s and early 60s - the canoe building I mentioned was about 1958 I think and incidentally on the subject of National Service I managed to just miss out as my birthday in June 1960 when I was 18 was about 6 or 8 weeks after the last call up

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National Service--6 months training and then 18 months of relative boredom or trying to sleep on an airfield in Germany when the U.S. Super Sabre jets were taking off for night flying. The racket was just incredible. Like thunderclaps all around you.Help, murder, polis. :ohmy:  :clapoverhead:

 

 

Or spending half your life  underground or not having the price of  a cup of coffee in the NAAFI--Or getting 7 guineas evey two weeks  for pay? For the younger lads:-  a guinea is one pound and one shilling. Passing rich, like. :laugh:

 

Oh but in training they taught us how to shoot .22's and then .303's--does that count? :clapoverhead:

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National Service--6 months training and then 18 months of relative boredom or trying to sleep on an airfield in Germany when the U.S. Super Sabre jets were taking off for night flying. The racket was just incredible. Like thunderclaps all around you.Help, murder, polis. :ohmy:  :clapoverhead:

 

 

Or spending half your life  underground or not having the price of  a cup of coffee in the NAAFI--Or getting 7 guineas evey two weeks  for pay? For the younger lads:-  a guinea is one pound and one shilling. Passing rich, like. :laugh:

 

Oh but in training they taught us how to shoot .22's and then .303's--does that count? :clapoverhead:

I made a comment about national service being for old timers (me being a young 57) but must have used the wrong emotion as Charles gave all the details about it which I did already know.  I know many who did their service enjoyed it and enlisted for longer but it was very hard for many who served just because they had to.  The nearest I got was in the Army Cadets where I was also taught how to shoot with the .22 and .303 which I mastered very well after the initial bruising on my shoulder!

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Yes, IBM, I do remember the recoil on the .303 which I had been told to expect and to hold on tight so I did whit ah wuz telt an' all.

 

I can't say that I didn't enjoy it altogether:

I got away from home and to learn to stand on my own feet which I relished. I was also posted to England and then to Germany which was an experience although our mingling with the  population was  very minimal indeed. Mostly because the local town was quite a ways away and we didn't have  any money in our pockets anyway; so ...go figure.

It wasn't really a hard experience because once you were posted to your regular air force base then regimentation was very minimal. I can't remember on parade that we had to do. But the thought of enlisting after the end of our two years was rarely seen as an option, or even desirable in anyway, for the majority of us lads at that time. On my home station in North Germany we did have  a swimming pool on the base which we enjoyed diving into in the darkness and moonlight after midnight in the summer.

Otherwise it was sleep go on duty, return to base and study for your future career or go and have  a game of snooker in the NAAFI etc. No women around though  until the local town had a Schutzenfest (shooting festival) or something like it. Then the locals welcomed you because you bought their beer and the young girls in the town also found us somewhat intriguing which was a mutual  feeling although it never led to anything other than a wee dance since us youngsters at the time were every innocent and

chaste.  Bughtmaster claims he ,met me  at an inter base soccer match on our airfield at that time and I doi remember  meeting up with some h=guy who was better looking than me bu

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By pure coincidence I happen to be reading a book about National Service just now and there is definitely at least one common theme - the 10 week basic training where groups of young lads in huts etc were mercilessly bullied by foul mouthed regular NCOs whose sole training technique seemed to be shouting at people. (It seems that these Military Training fitness wallahs you see these days adopt similar methodology.)

If your kit was a centimetre out of line on your bed, the whole lot could get thrown out of the window. Other activities ranged from painting coal tips white to cutting lawns with nail scissors. Pay at the start of NS in the 40s was 28/- (£1.40) a week and the food was often awful.

After that the experience of most people improved and indeed many eventually thought it beneficial.

Another common theme is that Glaswegians and Geordies frequently couldn't make themselves understood to the rest!

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so I don't remember him...smile! :lol:

 

To sum up: -  to be quite honest it probably was the best thing that happened to me at that age because it opened me up  and broadened my horizons and self-confidence. Then they did away with it which was good for their bottom line but not good for the youth of Britain who since then probably have never been subjected to much discipline and training like that.

 

Per ardua ad astra , eh Bughtie? :clapoverhead:

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Charles - Doc Hays YC was indeed the Dr Andrew Hay, Gynaecologist at Raigmore- I was there in late 50s and early 60s - the canoe building I mentioned was about 1958 I think and incidentally on the subject of National Service I managed to just miss out as my birthday in June 1960 when I was 18 was about 6 or 8 weeks after the last call up

The last call up seems to have been 31st May 1960 so you JUST missed it! And yes, definitely the same Andrew Hay.

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RAF Schleswig, We had quite a team in those days, Got to the BFPO Germany final, I was demobbed three weeks before the final was played and never have heard what the result was.  :cry:

Yeah Scarlet we did meet up, Twas the accent that gave us away and as I remember we had a beer together at the customary post match ''**** up''

 

For me they were great days, I learned more than I ever did at school, I was super fit, I played table tennis, squash, cricket and anything else that would excuse me from duties down the dungeons where the radar screens were housed. When I did have to go on duties we did hourly shifts with half hour intervals when we played bridge.

 

'Square bashing' was hard I admit and my first encounter with the Corporal i/c was when we arrived at Bridgenorth laid our kit out on the bed for inspection, he picked up my razor examined it very closely then hurled it to the back wall of the billet shouting rooost. ,when I moved to go and collect it there was a loud scream of ''stand still'' which in a flash I did.After humiliating 90 percent of the other lads he, much to our relief, left the building. I asked the lad standing by the next bed to me what it was about my razor he didn't like he said I think he meant it was rusty!!!   He, a lad who's head it had just missed and had brought it back to me looked closely at the razor couldn't find anything wrong with it so we decided if it had been rusty then the best way to get rid of rust was to throw the item against a stone wall.

 

Next day 7am after washing and shaving in cold water we turned up for p. t. in shorts vest and gym shoes. OK fine, shorts and vest but it was raining so we had to put on our boots and double quick at that. After breakfast then it was on parade and if these boots weren't gleaming on parade then you were in big trouble.

 

Route marches, cross country running in boots were common place. Then the real training started when we were put to test by the RAF Regiment.  Gas attack routines, bayonet practice, unarmed combat,  shooting, rifle, Bren  and grenade practice.  You were ready for anything by the end of these weeks believe you me!

 

Life was much easier after that and full marks to them they did make you stand on your own two feet.

 

My two postings were Middle Wallop for educational training and then Germany, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed.

 

We had the Vulcan bombers on our airfield, noisy beasts but thrilling to watch take off and land. Fortunately we were only about five miles from the town so to walk that and stagger back after a few beers was nothing to what had gone before.............and yes Scarlet the girls were there at the dances in the beer houses.

 

Reach for your own stars Scarlet !!

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When I read some of the posts and responses on here it never fails to amaze me how they can take on a life of their own. Here I start a thread about old youth clubs in inverness and we end up discussing national service and some of the memories it brings back to those who endured or enjoyed it. Ah well - next time I'll start a thread/post on the Inverness cinema/matinee and see where it takes us. I enjoy the national service memories and thanks to Charles know that I just missed out by a couple of weeks or so.

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Jim --glad you liked the reminiscences.

 

If it wasn't for the National Service I would never have met Bughtmaster who, incidentally, is a fine landscape painter as well. AND he can paint some nice pictures with words too. 

But I can hardly credit the misery  that they put him through 'cos I didn't have to put up with that much  horror. The worst we suffered in training was to be sentenced to the "Tinroom" --where the dishes were washed and everything was greasy  and smelly and thus not  a pleasant experience. Once the rat of an instructor with the name of corporal Stewart singled me out  and smashed my mug on the roadway. Why? To this day I haven't got a clue--obviously he didn't like my face or something. 

As for National Service itself,  it's like most things in life,  has positives and negatives, boredom and excitement from time to time and it teaches us to experience things that I would not have, had I not been press-ganged into it. Thus it does broaden your horizons. Personally, I am still in favour of it for all young men about to step out into the big, bad world, but perhaps 18 months would be quite enough for anybody rather than 2 years.

On the other hand it sounds as if Bughmaster did much less work than I did and spent his halcyon days  playing games and visiting other airfields, the lucky sod.  :smile: After all, Shleswig Halstein is cow country and the pace of life was probably very slow there  and  that's why these guys were  predominantly playboys? Brylcream boys, like .....? :laugh:

 

Did you get up in  any of the aircraft on your  base Bughtie? I never did, I just saw the Americans getting better food than us and had much finer-looking uniforms than us but otherwise it was  duty and dullness really. I used  my spare time to study for my eventual exit from the RAF an getting  back into  a regular job.

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 Once the rat of an instructor with the name of corporal Stewart singled me out  and smashed my mug on the roadway. Why? To this day I haven't got a clue--obviously he didn't like my face or something. 

I always thought they were far too soft on Sergeant Major Shutup at the end of the last episode of It Ain't Half Hot Mum. Although the series was set in WW2, a robust farewell for the Sergeant Major by the demobbed Concert Party would have gratified not a few ex-National Servicemen. On the other hand, there is a more subtle revenge since it also becomes clear that, with the war over, the SM is a lost man.

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I get side tracked so easily Jimfurd, 

Hope this will get your thread back on track, Youth clubs :-

Cub scouts in Thurso................ Life Boys /  Boys' Brigade 8th West Church Inverness ( sadly I found it had been demolished on my return up here) Cameron Boys club behind the Central School. The latter is where I learned to play table tennis which became my second favourite sport ( no prizes for guessing my first favourite.) Got up to a reasonable standard and played in Inverness league, gave up with the arrival of the thick sponge bats which I feel ruined the game. Victor Barna  and Johnny Leach were the big UK favourites who gave an exhibition in the Drill Hall ???? around 1955 but could have been earlier, They certainly inspired me.

 

 Cinemas:-

Palace, Playhouse, Empire Theatre and La Scala the latter being where the threepenny matinees were held, Batman and Robin serialised was the biggest attraction for me, that would be around 1951. 

 

footnote,:  couldnt afford the Brylcream on my pay Scarlet, I needed the money for fags and beer...oops sorry Jimfurd !!

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Life Boys /  Boys' Brigade 8th West Church Inverness ( sadly I found it had been demolished on my return up here)

 

 

an exhibition in the Drill Hall ???? around 1955 but could have been earlier, They certainly inspired me.

 

 

BM.... the West Church hasn't been demolished as such but it's no longer a church and has been converted into flats. However I'm trying to remember if the West Church Hall was separate from the church building and whether that might have been demolished??

 

And are you thinking of the Margaret St Drill Hall or the nearby Rose Street Drill Hall? It's likely to be one of these. When I was very young I remember for some reason being at a British Legion Standard Bearers' competition and the most abiding memory was the very, very loud stamping of feet!

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The hall was adjoining the church, with an access door into it just inside the hall door itself. There was also a short stair way up to an anti room where the BB bible class and other small functions were held such as the junior Sunday school which followed on after the Bible class finished

The Hall was fairly large and boasted a raised  stage area. P T equipment was stored to the side of and underneath the stage, Parallel bars ,  vaulting horse and coir mats etc.

The only functions held in the Hall were Church related, Christmas dances  parties and occasional concert.

 

I didn't notice if there was anything left of the Hall my attention was taken up by the missing impressive Church front doorway I was quite shocked at the time.

 

Thanks yes it was Rose Street Drill Hall for the table tennis.

 

Back to Jimfurd's thread now   :happy:

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Scarlet and Bughtie - thanks for the memories of National Service . I think I'm still glad I didn't have to do it. And the memories of youth club Table tennis are very similar to mine although I was admittedly a Ping Pong player rather than a TT player and could never aspire to playing in a league . I did play later in life in the Crit darts team in one of the leagues in Inverness - does that count as a league player?..... or just a miss spent youth?

Your memories of the matinee at 3d downstairs and 4d upstairs  were also appreciated. I will maybe have to start a cinema/matinee thread to see who owns up to throwing stuff from the balcony "over the top"  onto the stalls below.also  enjoyed Batman and Robin but Flash Gordon was my favourite.

Anyway back to the youth clubs - anybody any other memories?

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