I've experienced a few examples of closing-down oddities over the years.
1. When it was announced that my station was to be closed, quarters tenants were offered the chance to buy the furniture. I (actually my wife, because I was away on detachment) paid a few quid for the full contents of our house plus a few choice items from barrack stores. As it rapidly became apparent that the station would be handed over to the army, the offer was withdrawn. But I had my receipt, so kept the lot.
2. While trying to equip a new officers' mess, I visited the storage depot at Stafford. I was shown the lockers full of silver, and invited to take anything without unit markings, in case that unit might reappear. I took an estate car full of silver candelabra.
3. On the closure of a station where I had served, I contacted the closure team, seeking to buy a particular item. It was a nice old tankard from the 1940s, engraved with "RAF Coltishall - OC Flying." It had sat unused in the silver room for a couple of decades before I brought it out and added my name to the engraved list of users. So, I thought that I had a fair claim to entitlement to purchase. However, the team member I spoke to thought that this item should be kept in case it should be needed at another unit.
