I was commissioned into the QARANC on 5 July 1976 and posted to Tidworth Military Hospital, Hants, some three weeks later. Lovely posting, but the hospital was due to close and consequently I was posted to RAF Wroughton until I left in October 1977 for Hong Kong.
I duly reported to RAF Brize Norton on the appointed day and boarded a VC10 for the flight to ‘pastures new’. It was my first experience of flying with the RAF and sitting facing rearwards – much better for you if the aircraft crashed!!!!
I was lucky enough to have a window seat and as the day turned to early evening the aircraft crossed the North African coast and there in the distance but perfectly visible was a very wide strip of ‘green’. It was in fact the Nile Delta and the fields irrigated on either side.
The first stop was somewhere in the Middle East but I am afraid I cannot remember where. As we disembarked, all passengers were given a stern warning not to board the ‘wrong’ aircraft when the flight was called. Apparently, a returning flight from Hong Kong en route to the UK had landed shorty before ours, and in the recent past a passenger had managed to board unnoticed and found to their consternation that they were now flying back to UK and not onward to Hong Kong.
Next stop was Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). We landed in the middle of the night and all the shop keepers in the airport terminal awoke from their various places of slumber and promptly opened their shops in the hope that we may buy something.
The flight arrived in Hong Kong the following morning and the two QA’s aboard were met by Jackie McLaren (now sadly no longer with us) I had met Jackie at Tidworth and followed her to RAF Wroughton and now I followed her to Hong Kong. She whisked us off to the BMH and showed us to our respective rooms with the most fantastic view across the harbour to Hong Kong Island. I had to pinch myself that I was really there. Jackie showed us around the Mess, where to pick up our post and where the dining room was located.
The following morning after a reasonable nights rest off we went to report to Matron (Anne Healy) and learn of our allocated wards. I was to work on Ward 5 ITU/Recovery and the other QA went to the Children’s Ward as she was Paediatric qualified.
The weather in Hong Kong in October is lovely, rather like a beautiful summer day here and at the weekend I joined a group of QA’s and spent the day lazing on the beach and enjoying the sea – I do confess to getting a little sunburned and consequently the skin peeled off my nose.
Life settled into a balance between work, leisure and exploring Hong Kong. After supper it was easy to wander off into one of the numerous night markets and enjoy browsing the stalls and making the odd purchase. Colleagues took you to the hairdresser – Francis and Bambi being where I spent my time in Hong Kong having my hair cut, the tailor, where any style, colour and shape could be accommodated, the linen shop and of course to the jewellery shop. A couple were permitted to visit the Mess and the name Peter Chai springs to mind. Ocean Terminal was also a favourite shopping experience and on one occasion the Canberra and the QE2 were moored on either side of the dock.
The rules concerning the ‘leave scheme’ were explained and my first trip to somewhere ‘exotic’ was to Penang Island – very beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable. I also visited Pattaya Beach in Thailand and upon arrival realized that the US 7th Fleet was on leave!!!! When the US Navy visited Hong Kong the BMH provided any , medical treatment required and it was not uncommon for the Shore Patrol to arrive and ‘collect’ some AWOL sailor and haul him back to the ship. When the Canadian Navy arrived, it was a little more civilized and out came the cocktail dresses off we went to the Captain’s cocktail party. Not quite so civilized was a Mess junk trip one weekend, when Rada Rawat’s sari draped across the rails to dry, was taken by a gust of wind and sank into the depths of Hong Kong harbour never to be seen again.
Transport in Hong Kong was pretty good with cheap fares on the buses that took you to most places including Hong Kong Island, Stanley Market and Aberdeen Harbour where the famous Jumbo Restaurant was moored. A must place to eat, especially if you like fresh sea food. A day trip on the outlying districts ferry to Lantau Island with a picnic lunch was a lovely way to spend a day off, and spending nights off on Stonecutters Island (not open to the public) was a pleasant and inexpensive way of ‘getting away’ from it all. A car was not really necessary but with three other QA’s we purchased a Triumph Herald soft top and named it AJ because of its letters on the registration plate. However, if we decided to take a trip into the countryside and climb Route Twisk, we always had to have at least two empty gin bottles full of water aboard to top up the dodgy radiator. On returning from a lovely Sunday afternoon trip one weekend, I drove down the whole of Nathan Road completely oblivious to the fact that only buses and public light vehicles were permitted!!!! However, my travelling companions entertained the crowds on the pavement by standing up and waving in a very regal manner from the sunroof!!! Quite illegal, but no one stopped us.
At the end of 1978 I was asked by Matron ( Margaret McDermott) if I would like to go to Nepal on leave relief. Needless to say it didn’t take long for me to say yes. Off I went with a midwife named Angela (cannot remember her surname) to Kai Tak airport and discovered that we would be aboard the first flight by Royal Nepal Airlines to fly out of Honk Kong to Kathmandu. There was the crew, pilot, co-pilot and an US engineer, me, Angela and 21,000 pounds of freight for company. What an experience eh?
Upon my return to Hong Kong some 2/3 months later, I asked Matron if I could work in the operating theatre – yes was the reply and I then spent the remainder of my QA career working in various Military Hospital Operating Theatres.
I thoroughly enjoyed the two years I spent in the Far East – never did a stroke of washing or ironing the whole time I was there. Such luxury never experienced again I am sorry to say. Finally learned to swim properly having signed up to adult swimming lessons at the USRC Club just down the road from the BMH, attended an RYA Elementary Sailing Course at Gordon Hard in the New Territories and enjoyed the friendship of other QA’s who were there to enjoy themselves too.
I duly reported to RAF Brize Norton on the appointed day and boarded a VC10 for the flight to ‘pastures new’. It was my first experience of flying with the RAF and sitting facing rearwards – much better for you if the aircraft crashed!!!!
I was lucky enough to have a window seat and as the day turned to early evening the aircraft crossed the North African coast and there in the distance but perfectly visible was a very wide strip of ‘green’. It was in fact the Nile Delta and the fields irrigated on either side.
The first stop was somewhere in the Middle East but I am afraid I cannot remember where. As we disembarked, all passengers were given a stern warning not to board the ‘wrong’ aircraft when the flight was called. Apparently, a returning flight from Hong Kong en route to the UK had landed shorty before ours, and in the recent past a passenger had managed to board unnoticed and found to their consternation that they were now flying back to UK and not onward to Hong Kong.
Next stop was Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). We landed in the middle of the night and all the shop keepers in the airport terminal awoke from their various places of slumber and promptly opened their shops in the hope that we may buy something.
The flight arrived in Hong Kong the following morning and the two QA’s aboard were met by Jackie McLaren (now sadly no longer with us) I had met Jackie at Tidworth and followed her to RAF Wroughton and now I followed her to Hong Kong. She whisked us off to the BMH and showed us to our respective rooms with the most fantastic view across the harbour to Hong Kong Island. I had to pinch myself that I was really there. Jackie showed us around the Mess, where to pick up our post and where the dining room was located.
The following morning after a reasonable nights rest off we went to report to Matron (Anne Healy) and learn of our allocated wards. I was to work on Ward 5 ITU/Recovery and the other QA went to the Children’s Ward as she was Paediatric qualified.
The weather in Hong Kong in October is lovely, rather like a beautiful summer day here and at the weekend I joined a group of QA’s and spent the day lazing on the beach and enjoying the sea – I do confess to getting a little sunburned and consequently the skin peeled off my nose.
Life settled into a balance between work, leisure and exploring Hong Kong. After supper it was easy to wander off into one of the numerous night markets and enjoy browsing the stalls and making the odd purchase. Colleagues took you to the hairdresser – Francis and Bambi being where I spent my time in Hong Kong having my hair cut, the tailor, where any style, colour and shape could be accommodated, the linen shop and of course to the jewellery shop. A couple were permitted to visit the Mess and the name Peter Chai springs to mind. Ocean Terminal was also a favourite shopping experience and on one occasion the Canberra and the QE2 were moored on either side of the dock.
The rules concerning the ‘leave scheme’ were explained and my first trip to somewhere ‘exotic’ was to Penang Island – very beautiful and thoroughly enjoyable. I also visited Pattaya Beach in Thailand and upon arrival realized that the US 7th Fleet was on leave!!!! When the US Navy visited Hong Kong the BMH provided any , medical treatment required and it was not uncommon for the Shore Patrol to arrive and ‘collect’ some AWOL sailor and haul him back to the ship. When the Canadian Navy arrived, it was a little more civilized and out came the cocktail dresses off we went to the Captain’s cocktail party. Not quite so civilized was a Mess junk trip one weekend, when Rada Rawat’s sari draped across the rails to dry, was taken by a gust of wind and sank into the depths of Hong Kong harbour never to be seen again.
Transport in Hong Kong was pretty good with cheap fares on the buses that took you to most places including Hong Kong Island, Stanley Market and Aberdeen Harbour where the famous Jumbo Restaurant was moored. A must place to eat, especially if you like fresh sea food. A day trip on the outlying districts ferry to Lantau Island with a picnic lunch was a lovely way to spend a day off, and spending nights off on Stonecutters Island (not open to the public) was a pleasant and inexpensive way of ‘getting away’ from it all. A car was not really necessary but with three other QA’s we purchased a Triumph Herald soft top and named it AJ because of its letters on the registration plate. However, if we decided to take a trip into the countryside and climb Route Twisk, we always had to have at least two empty gin bottles full of water aboard to top up the dodgy radiator. On returning from a lovely Sunday afternoon trip one weekend, I drove down the whole of Nathan Road completely oblivious to the fact that only buses and public light vehicles were permitted!!!! However, my travelling companions entertained the crowds on the pavement by standing up and waving in a very regal manner from the sunroof!!! Quite illegal, but no one stopped us.
At the end of 1978 I was asked by Matron ( Margaret McDermott) if I would like to go to Nepal on leave relief. Needless to say it didn’t take long for me to say yes. Off I went with a midwife named Angela (cannot remember her surname) to Kai Tak airport and discovered that we would be aboard the first flight by Royal Nepal Airlines to fly out of Honk Kong to Kathmandu. There was the crew, pilot, co-pilot and an US engineer, me, Angela and 21,000 pounds of freight for company. What an experience eh?
Upon my return to Hong Kong some 2/3 months later, I asked Matron if I could work in the operating theatre – yes was the reply and I then spent the remainder of my QA career working in various Military Hospital Operating Theatres.
I thoroughly enjoyed the two years I spent in the Far East – never did a stroke of washing or ironing the whole time I was there. Such luxury never experienced again I am sorry to say. Finally learned to swim properly having signed up to adult swimming lessons at the USRC Club just down the road from the BMH, attended an RYA Elementary Sailing Course at Gordon Hard in the New Territories and enjoyed the friendship of other QA’s who were there to enjoy themselves too.
Brings back great memories Pat. Those were the days!
ReplyDeleteI loved Hing Kong and your reminiscences brought back so many memories. I loved reading your account.
ReplyDeleteGreat story to read. Thank you.
ReplyDelete