RAAF Radschool Association Magazine Vol 60. Page 3

Vol 60

Page 3

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Page 3 Girl.

Our lovely Page 3 girl this edition is Alison Cridland.

Alison says: “Growing up in Maryborough Qld my ambition was to leave and see some of the big World, so in 1971, at the age of 18, I joined the WRAAF as a trainee Teleprinter Operator. I did rookies at Edinburgh and one of the girls I became friendly with was Di Walker, (now married to Brian Webb), she is still a close friend today.

I enjoyed Radschool and passed out in July 71 and was posted to Penrith. While being cleared from Laverton, I walked from point to point while this male who was doing the same, drove everywhere. Never offered us girls a lift, but I did get even later on when I married him.

HQOC, for the uninitiated was a ball. The officers lived at Glenbrook and about 100 young airmen and women lived on the base at Penrith. Social life was great as we went everywhere together. The boys had a successful Rugby League team and the girls were the cheer squad. Nature took its’ course and in 1973 there were seven weddings from this group.

John (left) and I were married on the base at Richmond and had our reception in the Sergeants Mess at Penrith. Wonderful day where we were able to have all of our RAAF friends as guests.

In 1974 I was offered promotion if I accepted a posting to Frognall. This was a test case as up until then, married couples were posted to the same locality. We knew it was stupid as operationally it had to change, but as girls married to civvies had been guaranteed local postings was also unfair. I took grievance action (the fabled 12A12) and lost many battles over the next months as we were knocked back at unit, command and finally DEFAIR. I lost count of the number of airmen’s friends (appointed officers) who folded under the heat, but one person supported me from start to finish and that was the Late Rex Ralph, (right) who at that time was a Warrant Officer at Opscom. After it was over I was promoted to Corporal and posted to Richmond.

Some great friendship from those days still exist.

Following the birth of our twin boys in 1978 I made the difficult decision to take a discharge and became a stay at home mum. We moved back to Brisbane in 1982. When the boys started school six years later they walked out one door and I immediately followed looking for a job. So started my last career at AAP. Originally, I worked on the trading floor of the Stock Exchange entering sales data then after the Exchange became fully computerised, I became the office manager in Brisbane. It was a job I really enjoyed until I accepted a redundancy package in 2008.

In 2002 I accepted an invitation to join the committee of the Djinnang Association. Up until that point the members were all male ex Telegs or Sigsops. John had been on the committee for nearly 20 years at that point and they had decided to widen membership to include all members of the Communications musterings. After 10 years and with travel in mind the following year I thought it was time for some new blood so I resigned from the committee.

Now happily retired I am kept busy by my granddaughters and as part-time social director for the local chapter of the Red Hat Society, and being the “Mrs” at my husband’s many community functions.”

Mid 1991 ENGOFF Basic

Standing L-R: Ian Falconbridge, Col Armbrust, Warren Dennely, “Pud” Dahlmeyer.

Seated L-R: Simon Watts, Geoff Kimmins.

As beer is now cheaper than petrol, you can now drink and don't have to drive!

116 Radtech Course.

Back Row L-R: Mark Murray, S Jackson, John Hill, Ian Robson, Michael Coleman, Dick Van Dyke.

Middle Row L-R: David Brown, Doug Brown, Shaun O’Driscoll, Chris Chasling, Gary Hanfling, Fred Stromhier.

Front Row L-R: Geoff Kimmins, Roger Graham, ? Bryant, Owen Rawlins, Frank Martin, Simon Watts, Stephen Hayes.

No 13 WRAAF NCO Course.

Edinburgh

1^st – 26^th March 1965.

(Sorry – not all first names, if you can help, please do.)

Standing L-R: Cpl Robinson, Cpl Dare, Cpl Wynne, Cpl Williamson, Cpl Neelie Kuiper, Cpl Smith, Don’t know, Cpl Stockbridge, Cpl Grimshaw.

Seated L-R: Cpl Wayne, Cpl Mary Harte, Cpl Stewart, FlgOff Beryl Gibbney (OIC WRAAF Edinburgh), Cpl Cully, Cpl Harrison, Cpl Calder.

WRAAF at 1SD Tottenham, July 1962.

WRAAF at Williamtown – 1968.

I wonder why that correspondence course on "Mail Fraud" that I ordered never turned up....

A gathering of 28 Scorpions at Harrigans Drift Inn.

The sign was for Fred Montefiore who is currently battling health issues. Fight like hell Fred and see you back with us soon.

L-R Peter Sharp, Chris Nielsen, Anthony Lindsay, Peter Hall, Charlie Sandham, Greg Bennett, Frank Cooper, Pop Saari, Brad Gannon, Dave Hayes.

671 Rookies Course.

We don't have any names for the following 2 pics - can anyone help??

688 Rookies Course.

Appy Land Wagga.

Terry Martin sent us these pics – memories???

Terry in his immaculate ’49 TC. (Bet he wishes he still had it.)

Wagga – as she was in 1957.

A new employee was invited to the boss's house for dinner, as a way of welcoming him into the company. After they had eaten a large meal, the new employee leaned sideways on his chair and broke wind quite loudly at the dinner table. The boss, with a look of disgust, turned to the man and said, "How dare you fart in front of my wife?!" The guy replied, "Geez I’m sorry, I didn't realise it was her turn!"

Tony Thompson, who was Waggaised back in 1964, sent us the following:

A spot of POOL.

(Only about 1,000 to go!)

Linda fell for her handsome new dentist like a ton of bricks, and pretty soon had lured him into a series of passionate encounters in the dental clinic after hours. But one day he said sadly, "Linda honey, we've got to stop seeing each other. Your husband's bound to get suspicious." "No way, sweetheart, he's dumb as a post," she assured him. "Besides, we've been screwing for six months now and he doesn't suspect a thing." "True," agreed the dentist "but you're down to one tooth!"

Laverton – the Blocks, 1966.

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