Army Apprentices School, Harrogate

Introduction

The Army Apprentices School, Harrogate (AAS Harrogate), established in 1947, was sited either side of Penny Pot Lane, outside Harrogate ... utilising Uniacke and Hildebrande Barracks. The School was renamed the Army Apprentices College, Harrogate (AAC Harrogate) in 1966 (in line with other such establishments) and thus remained so until its eventual closure after the Final Graduation Parade on 2 August 1996.

The Early Years

*Trade TrainingThe trades taught at the school in the 1950s, divided into categories according to which Corps the apprentices would join on completion of their course, (each course usually lasting three years at that time) were:
**ROYAL ARMY SERVICE CORPS – Clerks (two year course) (Moved elsewhere in late 1955 -- certainly by 1970 the ROYAL ARMY ORDNANCE CORPS were training All Arms Clerks in their Depot at Deepcut, Camberley, Surrey)
**ROYAL ARTILLERY – Artillery surveyors
**ROYAL ENGINEERS – Architectural draughtsmen - Bricklayers – Carpenters and joiners – Electricians – Land surveyors and map makers – Painters and decorators – Plumbers and pipefitters – Quantity surveying assistants
**ROYAL SIGNALS – Mechanics (Line, Radio, Telegraph) – Operators (wireless and line, Keyboard)

*RedeploymentThe RE Survey wing (Royal Engineers land surveyors and mapmakers) moved from AAS Harrogate to AAS Chepstow over a period of a year between 1960 and 1961. Survey apprentices were trained there until Chepstow Army Apprentices College (as it had become in 1966) was finally closed in 1994.

*After Harrogate
**RASC apprentices
**RA apprentices
**RE
***RE Survey apprentices: RE Survey has its own self-contained units within the Royal Engineers and therefore the Army-trained surveyors (including field surveyors, cartographic draughtsmen, printers, and so on), whether they were trained at the Apprentice schools or were direct entry to the School of Military Survey at Hermitage near Newbury, were usually posted to specific survey units after training. This meant that they formed a fairly close-knit community throughout their service, knowing, serving with or hearing of the other surveyors in the community. Many of them have kept in touch with each other since leaving the Army, both through personal contact and by being members of the Royal Engineers Association (REA) and in 1999 the Military Survey (Geographic) Branch of the REA was formed.

*Updates
**RE
***RE Survey apprentices: In January 2006 the Survey Branch REA website www.survey-branch-rea.co.uk was launched and already contains many articles and photographs, contributed mostly by the surveyors themselves, of the history and achievements of British Military surveying, mostly post World War II. The site covers the training units (Apprentice schools at Harrogate and Chepstow and the School of Military Survey at Newbury) as well as the production units: 13 Field Survey Squadron, 14 Field Survey Squadron, 19 Topographic Squadron, 42 Survey Engineer Regiment, 84 (Field) Survey Squadron, 89 Field Survey Squadron, 1 Air Survey Liaison Section, 1 Radar Air Survey Liaison Section, 2 Army Field Survey Depot, 47 GHQ Survey Squadron, 135 Survey Engineer Regiment (TA). These units served in, and in many cases mapped, the following places (post WWII): U.K., Aden Protectorates (now part of Yemen), Cyprus, Egypt, Germany, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Malaya, Oman, Sabah, Sarawak, Singapore, United Arab Emirates (Trucial States), as well as sending detachments to Christmas Island in the Pacific and the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean and other places throughout the world.

Trivia

In 1968 under the stewardship of S/Sgt Alan Dobison the AAC Harrogate football team became the 1st AAC team to retain the Army AAC's FA Cup. In a thrilling final in 1967 they defeated Phillips Sqn of Harrogate 7 - 6 in a mud bath after being 6 - 1 down at half time. In 1968 they defeated AAC Arborfield 2 - 1 in another exciting final. A feat which was remarkable because Harrogate "lost" 8 members of the 1967 team who had passed out from the College.

During the Royal Corps of Signals tenure at the Army Apprentices' College, Harrogate, the camp held two major forms of squaddie competition. The main one was the 'Champion Squadron' competition, that was held annually and usually in the prior to the Easter break. It was contested between the four Squadrons that resided at the college. They (the Squadrons) housed the different apprentices' trades and were rivals in terms of trade identity. The trades were (in no preferential order) 1. Radio Telegraphists and System Operatives (Rawson Squadron). 2. Technicians (Scott Squadron). 3. Linguists & Special Comms (Penny Squadron) 4. Junior Leaders (Bradley Squadron). The trades were only separated into specific squadrons after 1988, before that the trades were equally split between the squadrons.

Incidentally - and for information purposes only - the above numbered Squadrons 1,2 and 3 were referred to by Bradley Squadron as 'handbags'. Bradley squadron were referred to as 'cabbages' by the other 3 squadrons. This was in respect to the difference in training that each Squadron underwent. For example, the handbags were "always in the classroom", whilst the cabbages were "always in the field".

The secondary form of competition but equally as important was the 'Triangular Games', which was an athletics and indoor sports event that was hosted annually (in rotation) by the three co-existing Army Apprentices Colleges of the Royal Corps of Signals, The Royal Engineers and the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, respectively.

The Champion Squadron competition was a physically punishing event. It's most feared (in case of selection) was the CBT event where a team of 6-8 squaddies had to do 1.5 miles (in full SOP) around the camp road circuit whilst carrying the equivalent in weight of an injured soldier on a stretcher. This was always measured using three full jerry-cans of water.

For the record, Scott Squadron (Technicians) held the most amount of victories in the Champion Squadron event and were always regarded as the team to beat.

The Triangular Games was a much more 'fun' event, and The Royal Corps of Signals had an impressive share of victories in the competition.

I was a participating winner of 'Champion Squadron' in 1990 (Rawson Squadron: intake 89B) and it was a very good feeling having competed in the CBT event!

ee also

The Association of Harrogate Apprentices which also includes general History etc. of the site.

The Army Foundation College, Harrogate which now occupies Uniacke barracks.

External links

* [http://www.army.mod.uk/afc/index.htm Army Foundation College, Harrogate]
* [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/UNIACKE.shtml Lieutenant General Sir Herbert Uniacke KCB KCMG]
* [http://213.249.157.194/cunningham/abr.htm Brigadier General Arthur Blois Ross Hildebrand CB CMG DSO]
* [http://www.haileybury.herts.sch.uk/archives/roll/KOREAN%20WAR%201950-1953.htm Col James Power Carne VC DSO was once Commandant of AAS Harrogate]
* [http://www.survey-branch-rea.co.uk Military Survey (Geographic) Branch of the Royal Engineers Association]
* [http://www.jao.delboys.com/Harrogate.htm John Oakley's time at AAS Harrogate]