MILITARY SERVICE RECORD & CIVILIAN CAREER

RIDGE, A. Joseph

1952

PERSONAL DETAILS

Date and place of birth: 19^th May 1934, Risca, Monmouthshire

Next of kin address: Coventry, Warwickshire

MILITARY SERVICE

Date and place of enlistment: 07 Sep 1949, Coventry, Warwickshire

Regimental Number: Restricted

G.S.C. Sep 1949 – 25 Jul 1952:

Company: 'C' ● Trade: Armourer ● Rank: Apprentice Tradesman

Education: Army Certificate of Education Class 1

Trade Qualification: Armourer Class 3

R.E.M.E.

Posting: wef 29 Aug 1952: 18 Command Workshops REME, Bovington Camp, Dorset

Posting: 1953: 1^st Grenadier Guards, London - Berlin

Posting: 1954: REME Workshop, Delmenhorst, near Bremen, BAOR

Posting: 1955: REME Workshop, Fayid/Fanara

Posting: 2^nd Grenadier Guards, Port Said – Pirbright – London – Windsor

Posting: 1957: 1^st Royal Fusiliers, Dover

Posting: 1958: 14 Command Workshop REME, Ashford

Note: He should have been sent to 25 Regiment RE, Maidstone, soon to relocate to Christmas Island for the Atom Bomb tests, but he was delayed by a clerical error. He joined the rear party and waited for 6 months for the return of the unit to UK, and moved to Osnabrück, BAOR.

Posting: 1959: REME Workshop, Künsebeck BAOR – Bielfeld BAOR

Discharge

Date & place: July 1964 by purchase at own request.

CIVILIAN CAREER

1960’s: Employed as clerk/translator by Massey-Furguson Export Division.

1967-1970: Teacher Training at Hockerill College, graduating with a Distinction. Declined a further year’s study at Cambridge.

Taught at Junior School in Norfolk; English at a Mittelschule (Middle School), Höxter-an-der-Weser, Germany; multi-handicapped children at Little Plumstead, Norfolk; English at Grammar School, Amstetten, Austria.

Retired from teaching to become a Carer, working with old people in their own homes, first in Norfolk and currently in Bedford.

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

Associate, Institute of Linguists

MARITAL & FAMILY STATUS

First marriage: Lena. Second marriage: Jennifer. Four daughters, one deceased.

Two grandsons.

IN RETIREMENT

Hobbies: writing for pleasure; and I have spent much time, energy and cash promoting the notion that single-occupant cars for commuters would make sense.

Alan’s ‘Single-occupant car’ project can be accessed from HERE.

In Memoriam A.J. Ridge.

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