I left the RAF in 1989 and the rot was setting in even back then. Messes seemed to be run more and more for the convenience of the staff rather than mess members.
So called H24 stations offered sweet FA to those working weekends or late and meal times got earlier so that staff could get home because stewards, cooks etc were increasingly civilians and had to be paid over-time for dining-in nights, and other official mess functions.
Batting services became virtually non-existent and most of the perks of bothering to get a commission went out the door for JO's and for SO's things were just as bad!
At Wattisham in c 1984 the staish, T*** P**** had about 15 feet cut off the end of his garden to reduce the area so that it was below the cut off area to qualify him to have a gardener or an allowance for one. How cynical a ploy is that!
Jumping ship was a fairly simple step with "Options for Change" being the final shove.
MB