RAF Real Estate
And I'm not sure that this will actually improve things... https://www.gov.uk/government/news/m...supply-base--2 As soon as someone says vision and programme of major projects you know it's going to be a cluster.
The description of RAFC Cranwell is a sad tale, but Whittle Hall was in a poor state in 2014 last time I visited. But it is the same across the estate (apart from the new gin palaces, but how long have they actually been built to last for?!).
The description of RAFC Cranwell is a sad tale, but Whittle Hall was in a poor state in 2014 last time I visited. But it is the same across the estate (apart from the new gin palaces, but how long have they actually been built to last for?!).
Having stayed at both in recent times, I would say that Halton is in better condition than Cranwell - guess which one we are planning to close? You know the one that trains 2,000 personnel a year versus the one that trains 800 (if you’re lucky)? Couldn’t make it up...
If I recall correctly we predominantly use Personnel Support personnel to do Infrastructure? Not surprising then, surely civil engineers would be a better choice?
If I recall correctly we predominantly use Personnel Support personnel to do Infrastructure? Not surprising then, surely civil engineers would be a better choice?
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One of the first things I bought was a fan heater. It came in very useful year after year when heating was switched off at the official season change dates regardless of how cold it was. With everyone else i knew having theirs on full blast, the electricity cost must have exceeded the central heating
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That was pretty standard on many of the stations that I was on, for both officers and airmen. I was in surplus MQs on several occasions and loved it as a change from mess accomodation: all the joys of living out without the costs and commute.
If I recall correctly we predominantly use Personnel Support personnel to do Infrastructure? Not surprising then, surely civil engineers would be a better choice?
The system has never been perfect (and often far from it) but it remains to be seen whether managing spending priorities from HQ AIR will have the impact that people seem to be looking for.
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My wife was moved out of the WRAF wing of her Mess in 1980 due to overcrowding and infrastructure issues. Her intelligent stn cdr designated an empty MQ as a Mess Annexe for her use, which we would both occupy a few months later as our/her MQ. Thanks, Boss!
Thought police antagonist
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Always thought that myself, they put some single people in empty quarters at Brize due to lack of single accommodation, ( the ones past the service station ) and naturally they turned the heating full on 24/7, visited my mate and he was controlling the room temp by opening the window, needless to say that experiment ended shortly after the station got the bills for the electricity and gas.
Avoid imitations
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In the late 1970s I was in MQs at RAF Odiham. The garden backed onto that of another MQ on a parallel road. It was empty for a while then allocated to three single officers (the infamous, now sadly late, Scotty Weir being one of them).
Shortly after they moved in I noticed a large grey horse with its head over my fence, eating my flowers and the near edge of my lawn. The singlies had borrowed it from the Boss's wife to "mow" their back lawn and it obviously decided the grass was greener.....
Shortly after they moved in I noticed a large grey horse with its head over my fence, eating my flowers and the near edge of my lawn. The singlies had borrowed it from the Boss's wife to "mow" their back lawn and it obviously decided the grass was greener.....
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In the late 1970s I was in MQs at RAF Odiham. The garden backed onto that of another MQ on a parallel road. It was empty for a while then allocated to three single officers (the infamous, now sadly late, Scotty Weir being one of them).
Shortly after they moved in I noticed a large grey horse with its head over my fence, eating my flowers and the near edge of my lawn. The singlies had borrowed it from the Boss's wife to "mow" their back lawn and it obviously decided the grass was greener.....
Shortly after they moved in I noticed a large grey horse with its head over my fence, eating my flowers and the near edge of my lawn. The singlies had borrowed it from the Boss's wife to "mow" their back lawn and it obviously decided the grass was greener.....
Was that one of the horses that used to reside at the end of the lazy runway as you wandered round the peritrack to the OCU? I used to give them the odd apple on the way to work.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Fortissimo, IIRC all works costed and the wush list forwarded to Infra where they were categorized A-D. A was sub-divided along the lines of H&S and operationally essential. The higher command would then divide the cake much as you describe.
Category D was 'never in a month of Sundays after a blue moon'
However if the pot was large enough you might 'lose' a Category A works (change of requirement) and move that door that the new Stn Cdr didn't like
. Then there was that annual end of year surplus; spend it or lose it. The footpath across the MQ sports pitch at Lyneham for the 5th Nov bonfire springs to mind.
Category D was 'never in a month of Sundays after a blue moon'
However if the pot was large enough you might 'lose' a Category A works (change of requirement) and move that door that the new Stn Cdr didn't like
. Then there was that annual end of year surplus; spend it or lose it. The footpath across the MQ sports pitch at Lyneham for the 5th Nov bonfire springs to mind.
Managed decline of quarters
A couple of weeks ago we visited some friends in SFA (quarters) near London. The gas hob had been condemned and a small roof leak- where the flashing had moved because the mortar on a chimney had failed - had not been replaced or fixed after 7 weeks. The small leak has got bigger and now the ceiling in a bedroom will need replacing. It transpired that the helpline call handler didn’t know what roof flashing was, so didn’t assign a priority to the job. With the gas job similar ignorance was displayed. The call handler said you can use the other three gas Hobbs if you wish. It never dawned on the eu staff rhat you can’t use acondemned gas appliance. I’m so pleased that we broke away from quarters years ago.
Last edited by Whenurhappy; 10th Nov 2018 at 12:46.
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
WUH, same with an electric hob at Halton a few years ago.
But with contract maintained housing you have some strange anomalies. At Shriv one patch had roof tiles and ridge tiles falling off H&S didn't seem to apply. At an adjacent patch maintained by Servo they painted the dummy grey plastic chimney pots clay red.
But with contract maintained housing you have some strange anomalies. At Shriv one patch had roof tiles and ridge tiles falling off H&S didn't seem to apply. At an adjacent patch maintained by Servo they painted the dummy grey plastic chimney pots clay red.
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As I haven’t set foot on Defence estate aince 1995, I can only say that it all sounds a total tragedy.
Apart from the familiar mis-match of curtains, carpets, paintwork and loose covers I can’t really recall anything bad about the MQs we lived in since 1980. (Locking, Waddington, UXB/Swakeleys, Northolt and Bracknell.)
Apart from the familiar mis-match of curtains, carpets, paintwork and loose covers I can’t really recall anything bad about the MQs we lived in since 1980. (Locking, Waddington, UXB/Swakeleys, Northolt and Bracknell.)
ORANGE.
ORANGE
OMQs at Rheindahlen c. 1976.
Carpets.
Loose covers for chairs easy.
Curtains.
And when one went on a safari supper round the patch
ORANGE.
We have hated orange ever since.
ORANGE
OMQs at Rheindahlen c. 1976.
Carpets.
Loose covers for chairs easy.
Curtains.
And when one went on a safari supper round the patch
ORANGE.
We have hated orange ever since.
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They moved a course of Kuwait or Omani Airforce trainees into a block during the hols at Halton and when they checked up on them after the hols they'd had some contractors in and had fitted out a full white goods suite and TV's range etc, including hard wiring and plumbing the lot in.
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MQ maintenance
Marching in to our quarter at the REU,as it was then, I enquired of the families officer the possibility of redecoration, "no funds Paul, got plenty of paint, you can do it yourself if you like". Which I didn't.
Fast forward a month or so and the FO's car appears in my workshop for routine maintenance.
I place 5ltrs of oil, and a set of filters on the passenger seat and instruct the MT controller to return it to the FO, with my compliments, he's welcome to to use a bay to do the work.
Phone call 10 minutes later, "Touche, send J (SWMBO) round to look at some colour charts"
Quarter redecorated and a terrific ongoing relationship with the FO for the next 8 years
PM
Fast forward a month or so and the FO's car appears in my workshop for routine maintenance.
I place 5ltrs of oil, and a set of filters on the passenger seat and instruct the MT controller to return it to the FO, with my compliments, he's welcome to to use a bay to do the work.
Phone call 10 minutes later, "Touche, send J (SWMBO) round to look at some colour charts"
Quarter redecorated and a terrific ongoing relationship with the FO for the next 8 years
PM
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Hate to break it to you, Tedderboy, but CHOM was having heat and hot water problems when I was there a quarter of a century ago! I was told it was character-building.
You might want to pay a visit to the WO & Sgts Mess, where junior ranks, candidates and even Air Cadets have been dining because the kitchen for their messes are knackered. (And, for a long while, SNCOs were eating at YHOM while their kitchen was renovated.) The WO & Sgt’s Mess also has problems with heating in at least one wing or another for years.
You might want to pay a visit to the WO & Sgts Mess, where junior ranks, candidates and even Air Cadets have been dining because the kitchen for their messes are knackered. (And, for a long while, SNCOs were eating at YHOM while their kitchen was renovated.) The WO & Sgt’s Mess also has problems with heating in at least one wing or another for years.
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The WOs & Sgts Mess is what used to be Trenchard Hall Officers mess. The original NCOs Mess is now the Stn Education Centre.