Probably The Daftest Thing I've Ever Done!

A Memory of New Waltham.

I lived in Waddingham Place, off Enfield Avenue, with parents, from 1963, (aged 8), until about 1978. Joined RN in 1973 for 5 years. Me and my best mate Andy, from Humberston, also RN, after one Saturday night on the town in Grimsby, (1976 I think), decided to climb the tallest of the masts at the RN radio station on Station Road. We'd heard they were being pulled down to make way for House's. So, as they'd been a part of our lives since toddler's, we thought we'd have to do it before they're gone. Quite a large spread between rungs with connected hoops about every 20 feet or so. It was terrifying, but at the same time, as we got to the top after about half an hour......
"Yes!!! We did it". Andy got to top first, through a grated hatch in the floor of the cage at the top. The railing was only about 4 foot high. Not to be outdone though, as Andy got to the top first, I decided to scale the 'mini' pylon in the middle of the cage which was a good 7 or 8 feet higher than the top of the cage, and mount the aircraft warning light on the top with both feet at 45 degrees either side of the red glass. Good job the light wasn't flashing! After about 15 minutes at the top, we thought we'd better get down before we sobered up! It was about 5 a.m. on the Sunday when we finally got down, and little did we know that another friend of ours, Kevin, although didn't believe us when we said we were going to do it, trained his telescope on the mast in the dark but moonlit night, and he said he could just make out the 2 of us on our assent. Biggest regret??????? Forgot to take a camera with us. The picture would have been a bit grainy, but we could have got something.
Cheers
Tony Slade & Andy Taylor.

---

---