Married quarters, the damning film.
 

Married quarters, the damning film.

About time it was highlighted.

https://www.forces.net/military-life...out-uk-illness

Roll on the FAM.

In that case, the targets must be set very low and have little to do with quality of workmanship if my daughter's quarter is anything to go by. Son-in-law tells me that in the RAF, living in quarters is no longer encouraged.

I can tell horror stories of my time in quarters and since then, while the quality of quarters may have improved, it has not kept pace with modern standards.

Anyone remember being posted to Germany in the 70's and finding the married pads being complete luxury compaired to he cr** in the UK ?

I read the thread title, and assumed it was about the RAF plod who was watching a porno film and recognised the furniture and architecture, triggering a heavy duty investigation that led to Marham...

...Allegedly

Sorry for salacious thoughts.

Metal framed windows were unspeakable.

Back to the crossword

Especially if you got one that had been built for the German market rather than an on-base quarter.

Best quarter I ever had was at Innsworth which were bought off plan rather than designed to meet the parsimonious MoD requirement.

Worst quarter, hard to say but I would single out Halton for special mention, My first quarter in Halton had metal framed windows, no insulation and a spare front door in the lounge which should have been a window. It had an open fireplace that we were not allowed to light as no-one knew the state of the back boiler. Twenty years later I returned to Halton to find the same quarter now only had one front door, the fireplace issue had been resolved and it was double glazed. Unfortunately, the perks of a higher rank meant I was now allocated a much bigger version of first version, the only differences I recall were there was no spare front door and the open fire place now had a painted piece of hardboard in it. There may have been double glazing and it was impossible to keep warm but at least it didn't have fleas, which the first Halton quarter did.

My daughter has had some real doozies in her time though, far worse than any we had.

[QUOTE=Wetstart Dryrun;11133071]I read the thread title, and assumed it was about the RAF plod who was watching a porno film and recognised the furniture and architecture, triggering a heavy duty investigation that led to Marham...



Burnthouse Crescent if my failing memory still serves me, made the "News Of the Sc**ws" as was.
first posted tp Marham and straight into Grange Crescent, small did not cut it, bad windows and damp,
just some of its better features, went back some years later but it had been pulled down.
the inlaws drove up from Devon with a cabinet on the roof of the car and took it back with them as there was
no room for it. we moved out asap to Swaffham and into a new build opposite Brocks Fireworks.

You mean like our OMQ at Monchengladbach in 1973 - as below:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0da891fb53.jpg
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e7839a8304.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f900ef6586.jpg
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....17d6901e91.jpg

Middle Wallop 1985. Because students on the Army Pilot course were viewed as temporary and treated worse than recruits we were allocated an end of terrace on the "patch". The lino tiles in the kitchen were nailed to the floor but because they were on concrete they protruded by about half an inch. There were two floorboards missing out of the main bedroom upstairs. Two missing panes of glass had been replaced by plywood sheets nailed to the mildewed wooden frames. The front door lock was one taken from a toilet door and held in place by carpet tacks.

We had two young sons, one of whom was at crawling age. They had to be watched 24/7 in case they hurt themselves. Mrs NEO had her hands full while I slogged through the course, a year of constant alertness keeping the kids safe. Never got a single thing repaired/replaced.

My son joined up in 2003 and the stories he told me about life in barracks, no heating or hot water, doors entirely missing, smashed windows etc. Nothing had changed.

NEO

Nothing improved by 88. Daughter neatly opened the web of her hand between thumb and forefinger on the exposed edge of the sink. Previous occupant had found a couple of tins of Pusser's Battleship Grey and applied it liberally around the house in order to fill gaps and cracks. Lounge window held in with wooden chocks.

Looks like a useful thread on the CURRENT state of service accommodation has very quickly started the steady decline into a bore fest of stories about MQs past.

Ok current - Daughter has had scaffolding around her house for a year while the outside of the quarter was allegedly refurbished. She has had a contractor bring down part of the ceiling while attempting to fix a leak. The upstairs electrics were apparently unsafe but she did not know until a man turned and started lifting floorboards, When she moved in to the previous version, unbeknown to them, the quarter had been empty for 18 months. The water in the header tank had been sitting there all that time and was contaminated with a nasty bug,

Current conditions
 

Ask the single living in staff at Leeming how long they have been without hot water in the blocks.

[QUOTE=cliver029;11133085]I remember the Fg Off Equipment Officer (Charles C) who was tasked with going into Lynn - the town not the lady- in civilian clothes to locally purchase some blackout material to cover the windows in a room in Admin Wing so that a few of the 'wheels' could view the film !

Did they bring popcorn?

on a serious note a poor kid at Saints in 76 ran down the stairs tripped and went through a glass panel that was plain glass that should have been toughened, if I remember rightly the poor blighter had lots of stitches and was in a bad way.

I see you had a fitted carpet warmtoast…

Oh Yes! Any colour you like so long as it is a shade of orange. Portadown Way JHQ, two tours, two different houses, Agent Orange all the way.
And German crappers with shelf for display and inspection of.

FAM is coming, and by rumour, those in the South East are looking at £1000 buck shee, towards mortgages or rentals. Happy days.

Excellent news, just need the FHTB to get extended and I will more than likely be retained!

If that was Monchen Gladbach it looks remarkably like one I lived in as a kid in 64. Marrienburger Strasse by any chance?

Nimrod
 

I have to agree that this could be a good place to talk about current issues without just sharing stories of MQs past.

I watched the video and was genuinely saddened that there are people in charge of the quarters that clearly think it is acceptable to place families in such appalling conditions.

My abiding memory of the MQ experience will always be the heartless and unhelpful staff at the regional HQ that you have to deal with during the whole process.

Many people in such jobs seem to forget they are dealing with real people and have no humanity it seems.

Stn/base/garrison Cdrs need to be made aware and refuse to let their people live in such accommodation.

I currently live in service families accommodation (4000 miles from the UK though!) and although we have our problems one thing I will say is that when we report stuff it gets fixed (to varying degrees!) almost immediately. It actually puts the UK system to shame.

BV