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21187954 Apprentice Sergeant Cliff CHARLESWORTH
AAS Arborfield, Intake 47B
circa 1948 -
Cliff Charlesworth with his sister (left) and
mother (right)
[Close
inspection of the photograph suggests that he was, at this time, an
Apprentice L/Cpl]
“I
wasn’t your usual Arborfield entrant as I was actually too old (12 days to be
precise). I was 16˝ years old when I came down the hill and entered the
gates. I was never really accepted by my intake as I came into the middle of
the intake and had to pick up the square bashing etc. The reason for this was
because I had two years fulltime Technical
College education
behind me. I had the equivalent of ‘A’ levels in Science, Mathematics and
English before I came to Arborfield, that’s why they rushed me through.
You can
imagine my predicament on the square every morning with Tara
screaming out unintelligible orders. The bollockings
I got. I collapsed one morning in workshops in November 1949 and after 9˝
months sanatorium treatment was invalided out P8, unfit for further military
service, so I never passed out of Arborfield (except on the workshop floor
that morning in November 1949). So in 1947 I was just what the Army wanted
and in 1950 I was on the scrap heap. They offered to teach me how to cobble
shoes or mend watches.
I took
up nursing because of my admiration for the male nursing staff at Aldershot
and the Sanatorium at Hindhead, Surrey.
I qualified in three branches of nursing, and coming up to 72 years of age I
am still doing a 42-hour week in nursing homes looking after old people, many
of who are younger than me. I have memories of Arborfield, the most vivid was
when I was Apprentice Sergeant of the guard of honour provided by `Champion`
Company which was `B` Company at that time - I think it was Brigadier General
de Casinove - and calling the whole battalion up
from the main gate. It was amazing to see the ripple action of movement as
guys came to attention as your voice carried down the main drag. I think
those who were right down at the bottom opposite HQ Company never actually
heard it - they just responded to the guy next to them.
So I was never enlisted with an intake to
Arborfield, and I never Passed Out, and I never served with REME or any other
regiment. The only advantage to me was that I was on full Private`s
pay by about my fourth or fifth intake (4 or 5 Division). My total
military service was about 2˝ years, all at Arborfield. My Arborfield
experience toughened me for the struggles later in life and it taught me how
to `bullshit` my shoes, which I still do.”
In 1986 aged 55 years, as a Registered Nurse Cliff
CHARLESWORTH was a staff member of a cardio-thoracic intensive care unit in Johannesburg, Republic
of South Africa. He was
working closely with Professor Marius Barnhard,
brother of the renowned South African heart surgeon who carried out the first
successful heart transplant at Groote Schur in Capetown in the early 1950s, and moved on that year to
become Night Superintendent of Morningside Clinic in Johannesburg, a 158-bed hospital specialising
in cardio-thoracic surgery.
Cliff - 2003
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