David Foot contacted us to relate some tales told by his father. Victor George Foot, born January 1919, was a Shipwright Apprentice during the 1930s where he met his wife who also worked in the Dockyard. He had grown up in Gosport and travelled to work...
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This programme for Royal Dockyard School Centenary Prize Distribution at the Kings Theatre held on 27th March 1943 (at the height of WW 2) indicates the status in which the Dockyard Schools were regarded. At least one full admiral and several rear-admirals were present. The Admiral Superintendent...
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An Open Competitive Examination for the entry of Apprentices in HM Dockyards, and Artificer and Air Apprentices in the Royal Navy, was held in or near Belfast, Cardiff, Chatham, Chester, Devonport, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Ipswich, Leeds, London, Pembroke, Portsmouth, Rosyth, Sheerness and Weymouth, on 17th and 1...
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It is a fact that the vast majority of us ‘Dockies’ had little or nothing to do with anything work related that went on outside the walls. It is also true that for some management within them came responsibility for facilities outside.
A point in...
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After my initial 2 years in Flathouse Training Centre I entered the ‘Yard via Unicorn Gate for the first time on January 10th 1966. From the stories among apprentices, warnings from instructors and the fact that a brother and an uncle had already trod similar paths I...
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The start of 1966 hosted the beginnings of real working life for me as I entered Unicorn Gate to start the 3rd year of my ‘time’, having completed the first 2 years of basic training in the Flathouse Apprentices’ Training Centre opposite Brompton Road, off Mile End...
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I sat alongside my father at one side of the desk in the headmaster’s room and the Education Department’s Careers Officer occupied the other. “So what sort of job have you got in mind young man”. I hesitantly suggested a Sign Writer and...
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An example of the Apprenticeship Entrance Exam from March 1939
Factory at Greenock and Artificer and Air Apprentices in the Royal Navy
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