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Monday 12th January 2004

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THE FINAL ROLL CALL

Arborfield base to close by 2008

THE last post is about to sound for Arborfield Garrison which could be beating a retreat within four years.

If plans for its closure are rubber-stamped it will mark the end of more than 100 years of
military presence on the site, which currently houses hundreds of soldiers with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) HQ, the School of Electronic and Aeronautical Engineering and the Army Technical Foundation College.

It is not clear what will become of the 600 homes the Army owns at the garrison and no planning application has been made to develop the land, which is classed as countryside on the Local Plan rather than suitable settlement for housing.

Part of the land has already been sold to Reading Football Club, which is building a training centre there. The garrison started life as a Remount Depot in 1904 when it was one of the army’s main training centres for cavalry and gun-carriage horses.

It became home to REME during the Second World War in 1942 at which time Arthur Lowe – Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army – was serving with the engineers.

The base is home to hundreds rather than thousands of soldiers. Wokingham councillor Gary Cowen said: “I think it probably will close but officially it will not be announced for a couple of years. As a council we need to watch the position very carefully because of the impact on our community and what will happen to the land – we’re concerned more houses will be shoehorned in.”

The army college will be the first casualty of the proposed closure when it stops taking recruits in August and closes fully in March next year. The redundancy terms for college staff will be revealed later this month.

Some have already left but many are expected to transfer within the MOD when the Rowcroft Barracks-based college is scheduled for complete closure in March 2005.

A senior college source, who wishes to remain anonymous, said the news was a “bolt from the blue” just four months ago. He said: “We put a really good case forward for the college but it didn’t make any difference – it’s a fait accompli. Staff have been told, ‘You were in the wrong place at the wrong time’.

We all knew it was going to happen one day but it’s the way it happened – we have been railroaded.”

Government ministers have rubber-stamped proposals and are waiting for the outcome of consultation between the Army Training and Recruitment Agency and trade unions before final arrangements are announced this month.

The college was formerly known as the Army Technical School and officially opened on May 1, 1939.

(Contributed by Trevor STUBBERFIELD)

Arborfield Garrison, which is due to close in 2008, has played a large part in the local community for the past century. Here TIM HOBDEN takes a brief look back over its long and proud history.

FROM the time it was established to train horses for the cavalry to the present engineers corps, there has been a military presence in Arborfield for 100 years.

At the moment, hundreds of soldiers live on the site, which is home to the Royal (Electrical) and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and the Army Technical Foundation (College).

The base started life in 1904 as one of the army’s main training centers for cavalry and gun-carriage horses.

Hazel Crozier, from the REME museum, has traced the history of the garrison and the influence it has had on the area since the rolling fields of Barkham were replaced with a mini-military town.

For the first 10 years the army had little impact on the day-to-day life in Wokingham, but by 1914 the garrison sprawled to more than 100 acres of land.

During the First World War 1,000 horses from Ireland travelled to Wokingham railway station and on to a depot at the garrison.

It was a welcome boost primarily for local blacksmiths and heralded the start of a new relationship between local people and the base.

Until it closed in 1937, the depot was home to 500 horses at any one time and, with 150 people working there, it was the area’s biggest employer.

In 1942 the land was taken over by army engineers and even boasted uniformed luminaries such as Arthur Lowe – Captain in Dad’s Army – who served with the engineers during the Second World War.

Garrisonites had already picked up a reputation for providing great entertainment in the area.

A group of soldiers known as the Zepps, dressed up as Zeppelin airships and performed for local villagers in the church hall.

The Army Technical College opened in May 1939 for engineering apprentices and could train 1,000 people. It’s now the Army Training (sic) Foundation College.

Towards the end of the Second World War the garrison was used as a medical centre and for accommodation for troops before the Normandy Landings.

After the conflict REME remained stationed at the barracks, building up a relationship with local people.

In October 1978, the corps was granted the status of honorary townspeople of Wokingham after a 36-year association.

Until 1989 REME paraded through the town each year to celebrate the honour, although this was stopped due to cutbacks with such parades reserved for special occasions.

Ms Crozier said: “The corps retains its warm relationship with the people of Wokingham as shown by its 60^th anniversary march past in 2002.”

Community leaders will be keeping a close eye on developments at the garrison in the hope that this military heartland is not buried beneath housing estates.

ARBORFIELD Garrison might not be closing its doors and will “almost definitely” become an army catering college, The Wokingham Times can exclusively reveal.
Contrary to popular belief, the 101-year-old army base is actually looking to strengthen its position as a barracks and could become home to an army catering school by the end of 2006.
The announcement at a meeting of Barkham Parish Council was described as a “bombshell” by chairman Cllr Pam Stubbs, because many residents assumed the garrison move was still going ahead.
In January 2004 proposals for the closure had been rubber-stamped by Government ministers and an MoD official confirmed it would close by 2008 to “provide fewer, better resourced centres dispersed across the country under defence training rational proposals”.
But at the parish council’s annual meeting last Tuesday, Major David Goldsworthy told councillors that £3.8 million had been spent on the garrison’s infrastructure in the past 18 months.
And he cast doubt on whether the closure would go ahead at all.
He said: “We are not going anywhere in the short term. We have 700 soldiers training at any one time and that remains constant as long as we can get the recruits in.
“The way things are going it’s changing daily – no-one knows whether it will close or not.
“The commandant is keen that the local people are well aware of what’s going on which is why I’m here tonight.
“In the short term the barracks will remain. £3.8 million has been spent on infrastructure and I would like to think because that sort of money is being released for the infrastructure if we don’t stay then somebody else will.
“Until we hear otherwise this is where we’re going to be.”
The garrison is the HQ of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) and is also home to the School of Electrical and Aeronautical Engineering.
Until August last year it was also the base of the Army Technical Foundation College, but that moved to Harrogate, compounding rumours of its closure.
But Captain Tom Ash, adjutant at the garrison, told The Wokingham Times the space left by the college would probably be used for a catering school.
“The garrison will definitely remain open for the foreseeable future”, he said.
“No decision was ever made to say the whole barracks would definitely close – all we knew for definite was that the army technical foundation college would move to Harrogate.
“It’s almost definite that the army school of catering will move in the latter half of next year which suggests it’s going nowhere.”
At the parish council meeting Cllr Stubbs said it would be “interesting” to see what would happen in terms of housing that was unofficially earmarked for the site.
She said: “There are a fair number of people who think the garrison is going to go and if it’s not it makes things somewhat different.
“It’s difficult to know what to make of it. All the reports we’ve had have been saying almost the opposite.
“Now all of a sudden it’s all about face. What was said at the meeting was a bombshell – we had no idea this was coming.”

22/4/2005 - Catering college plan for garrison

Joy: 'they are starting to expand'

JUBILANT army chiefs have expressed joy at plans to shift the force’s catering college to a new home at Arborfield Garrison.
The Army School of Catering (ASC), currently based in Aldershot, is due to move into the unused Army Technical Foundation College (ATFC) site towards the end of 2006.
Villagers and staff were disappointed to hear the whole garrison might be completely axed by 2008 after the Evening Post exclusively revealed the ATFC closure last year as part of a Defence Training Review.
The college, which was based at Arborfield’s Rowcroft Barracks, combined with the Army Foundation College in Harrogate last August.
There were fears that the rest of the garrison, which includes the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers HQ and the School of Electronic and Aeronautical Engineering, would also eventually end its 101 years of military presence.
But garrison spokesman Captain Tom Ash said the plan to get the ASC into the old ATFC site was a “firm favourite” among proposals being floated, which included selling off the land for
development or moving British Army units from Germany to set up base.
Formal confirmation of the ASC move has yet to be rubber-stamped.
Capt Ash said that although this still meant the long-term future of the Biggs Lane garrison was uncertain, the ASC arrival would boost usage of the site in the meantime.
He added: “Arborfield has been home to REME for some time and I’m pleased to see the garrison going strong.”
Councillor Gary Cowan, who represents Arborfield and is Wokingham District Council’s executive member for planning, said: “It was not as everybody anticipated – we thought they would start to withdraw but they are starting to expand. “They are looking at it now.”
“The view is it would all be done and dusted by 2008. Now they’re saying they won’t take any decision until 2010.”
Cllr Cowan heard the news when garrison community liaison officer Major David Goldsworthy spoke to the parish council on Tuesday.
Major Goldsworthy said they wanted to boost engineer apprentice trainees by “a couple of hundred”.
“He gave the impression that with the amount of money spent in the garrison (£3.8 million over the last 18 months) it would stay for some years to come,” he said.
But Cllr Cowan said although Wokingham District Council saw it as a “prime site” for future development the authority was also “erring on the side of caution”.
“You can never tell with military establishments but we continue to work with the MoD and if sections become available we would look at that but it’s very dangerous to put all your eggs in one basket,” he said.
He added: “It might be handy if 200 catering trainees were there – we might get some decent meals.”

Local News in Reading

Garrison camp to close

Arborfield Garrison is to close following a decision to relocate its training facilities to South Wales, it has been announced.

The camp is set to lose hundreds of soldiers and civilian defence staff when the School of Electronic and Aeronautical Engineering and Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Arms School moves to RAF St Athan in a shake-up of training.

It will mark the end of more than 100 years of military presence on the site.

Arborfield councillor Gary Cowan said: “From the village perspective it’s a bombshell.

“Although expected, it was not expected to be quite so hard and quite so abrupt.

“Arborfield has had a very close link between the civilian and Army population – a lot of people come to the garrison, serve their time, come out and remain in the village and quite a few are working on the garrison.

“They will have to move to South Wales and leave family and friends they have established in the community.

“The other concern is the impact on the local businesses – to lose its support in the pubs, shops and schools would be quite a lot.”

The Evening Post exclusively revealed almost three years ago to the day that Arborfield Garrison could be beating a retreat by 2008 if plans for its closure were rubber-stamped.

The Army Technical Foundation College was the first casualty when it closed in 2005.

The Defence Food Services School, formerly called the Aldershot-based Army School of Catering, is due to move into the unused buildings under the Phase 2 part of the Defence Training Review (DTR).

Defence Secretary Des Browne announced Arborfield’s shift to South Wales on Wednesday this week as part of a phase one DTR announcement, revealing Metrix Consortium had won a £14 billion contract to provide training for the MoD.

This initial phase over five years from 2008 would concentrate training at two major sites – RAF St Athan near Cardiff and HMS Sultan in Gosport.

If chosen to carry out the second phase, Metrix will provide training for 4,500 people currently spread across 18 sites in the UK at St Athan and smaller facilities at Leconfield and Wethersfield.

The 1,500 students attending Arborfield every year will now learn from St Athan, with 300 military staff, 111 civilian workers and 420 contractors forced to choose whether to relocate or change jobs.

But Defence spokeswoman Susan Coulthard said: “Nobody is going anywhere at least until 2011 – it’s a new build which is going to take some considerable time.

“We don’t just say, ‘You’re going’ and they go, there’s a lot of preparation work to be done with relocation, families and schools.

“Part of the package is caring for our people so ensuring the transfer is seamless.”

She added training for ground crew for the Apache helicopter would remain in Arborfield.

Of phase two, Miss Coulthard added: “Arborfield may be affected – some training establishments could move to Arborfield.”

But Cllr Cowan said his other concern was the fate of the site by this second phase.

“The other problem in terms of housing is the MoD has put the land forward for mixed use (business and housing) of 2,000-3,000 houses on a 171-hectare site so they’ve worded it very vaguely,” he said.

“The problem is the MoD has decided they will retain the garrison and no decision has yet been taken on its future.

“It will close by 2011 to 2013 but they haven’t said, ‘We’ll release it’, so it puts us in limbo on when they will let us have it.

“Until we have a commitment from them to release the land, it’s difficult to plan any development.”

But he added: “The MoD did say they would make another announcement in the summer so they may decide by then.”

First printed in: Reading Evening Post 19th January 2007

Contributed by: Trevor Stubberfield (52A)

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