ARBORFIELD
- Friday 20th to Sunday 22nd July 2007 inclusive.
The following report contributed by Trevor STUBBERFIELD (52A)
Photographs are by the contributor, unless otherwise attributed.
Friday
Sitting in the car, awaiting the arrival of a friend
flying down to Luton Airport from Edinburgh,
I turned on the radio. A severe
weather warning was being broadcast. “A freak storm has hit Reading and the town is experiencing flash
flooding in the centre and surrounding areas.” Not a good omen for the reunion at
Arborfield, but even that warning didn’t convey the full conditions that we
were to experience.
Friend duly arrived and it was off home for a few light
refreshments, collect the navigator, and then set out on the journey. No use using the motorway network on the
start of the school holidays so it was to be a cross-country route. Within a mile we descended a hill to a
roundabout which resembled a lake, the kerbs were hidden. Safely negotiated, the route then took us
alongside the start of the river Lee.
Luckily the river was still within its banks but the road was flooded
from the deluge. These were the
conditions for the next few miles through the various areas of the town yet,
within ten miles, we were enjoying brilliant sunshine, although looking out
across the Vale of Aylesbury, menacing banks of black clouds could be seen on
the horizon.
We began to make good time, passing through RAF Halton
without attracting any rude comments from the school there, the scene of many
contests with Arborfield. Towards the
end of the journey it all went wrong.
The driver opted to finish the last stage on the M4 motorway, after
all, it was only one junction to go.
Standstill. All the information
signs kept flashing up a 40MPH Limit, or perhaps it was meant to be a target
speed. It might have been more use if
it had flashed up that, a few miles further on, the motorway was flooded and
one section had experienced a landslide.
Three lanes of traffic inching along and yet still the motorway
muppets kept lane hopping in the hope of gaining a yard or two on the other
cars. Ninety minutes and we eventually
reached our turn off for our first stop at Winnersh. The navigator was to spend the weekend with
old friends so, with her settled in, we set off for the last stage.
Winnersh to Arborfield.
Fifteen miutes? Not today. Nearing the village we spotted cars going
the other way, lights flashing and hands making strange gestures. Then we ran into a long line of stationary
traffic. A smart three point turn and
we went back to the last roundabout and cut across to Barkham where the
reason for the next holdup became apparent.
At the hump backed bridge the river Lodden, a normally placid stream,
was now a raging torrent, filling the valley it runs through. Traffic was inching through, one lane at a
time. It wasn’t so much the depth that
was worrying, more the pressure of the water flow across the road. So near yet so far. But then the homing pigeon instinct took
over, we were determined to reach base at all costs. Up to the door sills we inched through
safely and then carried on to enter Biggs
Lane for the camp. Barriers were across the road but luckily
we could get to the camp gates where water was running out from the camp,
down the slope and into the road.
The security guard directed us to the Bailleul
Sergeants Mess via a back route through the camp and it soon became obvious
why. The ornamental lake now resembled
the Black Lagoon and had covered the road and flooded the adjoining
grassland. The photos below by Neil Graham, 72, show the level that
the lake had risen to. The car in the
first photo, up to its bonnet in water, stands by the Sergeants Mess Annex,
which was to have been our accommodation block. The second photo is of the lake flowing
over the road to the Sergeants Mess.
Reaching the Mess we were allocated our rooms, which
had been hastily re-arranged because of the flood, meaning a trip back
alongside the lake to one of the blocks.
Within the last half an hour the water had started to recede and the
centre of the road was now visible.
Clean and refreshed we met in the bar of the Sergeants
Mess where numbers were down and there was plenty of room. It became clear that the road conditions
had delayed many of the Old Boys. The
scarlet tunics of the Chelsea
Hospital members
brought colour to the surroundings.
One very popular figure was CSM Duggie
Huxley who had charge of C Company at one time. A Chelsea Pensioner now but with a mind as
bright as a button and a great pleasure to talk to. He made a surprising admission that,
throughout his long service career, the happiest times for him were the years
he spent at Arborfield, training the young lads and preparing them for their
future life in the army. Very
rewarding. I’m sure that many of his
old charges will thank him for his attentions, which will have had an effect
on them, long after their Arborfield days.
This photo of Duggie
Huxley and friends is contributed by Alan
Algy Morton 51B
The numbers were growing and tales were being told of the
problems encountered on the journey to the reunion. One great improvement in the bar atmosphere
was the lack of tobacco smoke, many of us normally affected by the usual smog
could now sit in comfort and chat to friends without wheezing and spluttering. It must also be a great improvement for the
staff working in the bar.
The extended journey had taken its toll and it was time
for me to retire. Tomorrow would be a
long day, filled with excitement and no doubt a good deal of emotion, so
making my excuses, it was off to my bunk.
Published: 5th
August 2007
 
Saturday
|
