"My first day on the Island: In 1956 all young men's lives were affected in some way by 'National Service'. I opted to serve for three years in the RAF and at Locking, near Weston-super-Mare I received training to become a Radar Fitter. By the happiest of chances, on passing out in June 1957 I was posted to the 'Early Warning' radar station at Ventnor and thus my life was changed irrevocably.

The aged asthmatic paddle steamer and clanking locomotive which conveyed me to and across the Island were novelties to me, as was the diminutive RAF camp at Lowtherville. This domestic site was set in one side of a green valley at the side of the Wroxall road. I reported my arrival at the Guardroom and they directed me to my 'billet'. I found that the neat brick hut located at the far boundary accommodated about a dozen beds and these were distributed within three rooms: luxury indeed compared with the RAF standard of 22 beds in one large hut. During my short walk I had passed the tiny 'cookhouse' which catering for no more than one hundred mouths, should surely provide decent properly cooked meals. On that sunny afternoon I realised that RAF life might offer more than gratuitous discipline and the assorted privations of my previous experience.

A chattering group of lads returned to the hut from their afternoon shift at the 'Top-site' located on the summit of St. Boniface. I received a friendly welcome and was invited to a demob party being held for the man I was replacing so later we ambled down the shute and the steep road to the Prince of Wales. The party went well, but feeling a stranger, I left them and explored the sea front, eventually climbing back to the camp and an early bed. Around midnight I was wakened by a hubbub and found a Service Policeman quizzing my inebriated new friends.

The County Press records the 'disgraceful behaviour' observed and reported to the police by a worthy burgher. It seems a water battle ensued on the boating lake and an attempt was made to move a mechanical excavator parked on the beach. However, the routes back up to Lowtherville are several and various so the combined civil and RAF police (about four in number) apprehended very few of the revellers. The unlucky blokes up before the CO in the morning received only mild punishments, but I thanked my lucky stars that I was not amongst them: what a start that would have been at my new camp!

I remained at RAF Ventnor for six idyllic months until Christmas when I was posted away to an icy Yorkshire. During my stay I came to love the Island and also met my future wife. After spending my working life on the mainland we have now at last been able to settle here. I would be happy to exchange Email with anybody who also remembers the RAF at Ventnor and if requested would provide more anecdotes of life both domestic and technical, from my time there.