Heaven
A Memory of Calne.
Arrived after the August bank holiday in '62, I was 16. What a time, wine women & song - I'll never forget sleeping with WRAF in billet whilst the other 15 slept! Skiving morse class, nicking a motorbike to fetch bacon sarnies from Smokey Joe's. Of visitng Bonnie in the PBX for a warm-up, evading snoops to get in the WRAF block and passing out early to be posted to ElAdem! It really was one of the best times of my life.
Add your comment
You must be signed-in to your Frith account to post a comment.
Add to Album
You must be signed in to save to an album
Sign inSparked a Memory for you?
If this has sparked a memory, why not share it here?
Comments & Feedback
The place was always hopping! and (strangely for the time) females chose males for partners. I sat at a spare space at long ancient oak table and opened conversation with the person next to me. "Any beer here?", I asked. "No, tea and coffee only but the bacon sannies are incredible". I ordered a bacon sandwich and tea and received a pint mug of tea and a bacon sandwich with multi-layers of local bacon, smothered in white pepper and liberally doused with HP sauce. I received change from a shilling and returned to my table. After sharing my tea and bacon with the WRAF girl I had initially sat beside, she invited me to dance.
Needless to say, I returned to Smokey Joes as frequently as was possible and never met that girl again - but there were so many lonely females that I never ate alone again.
Forty years later In 2002 and I returned to the site of Smokey Joes. And that's all there was - a site. Smokey Joes had disappeared and an empty paddock occupied the space. So, too, had RAF Compton Bassett gone the same way. No crowds of young airmen and airwomen flooded the roads chattering away as they left or arrived at Smokey Joes. No loud juke box played rock and roll music and the floor of that old Nissen hut no longer reverberated to the beat of popular songs. All gone. I think a whisper of the past stole up on me and I shivered in the June air.