A Visit To RAF Akrotiri 22nd MARCH 2010 - Ray Burrow 29th

    Harry Trumbell (29th) and his wife Jane stayed with me in Cyprus for a week during March this year. During that time we embarked on a pre-arranged visit to
    RAF Akrotiri where both Harry and I were stationed during our service careers. Myself from 1959 to 1962 and Harry from 1960 to 1963.
    Our guide and escort for the day was Flt.Lt.Trev Down the OC P.Ed.Flt and he proved to be an excellent choice.
    We met at the main gate on the Monday morning and went through the usual preliminaries before setting off to see what the place looked like now, 50 years on.
    For a start the new main gate is 2kms from the old guardroom which is still there with the dog section still attached.
    First stop was the Akrotiri Museum. They have collected a lot of information here and we could have spent several hours just poring through all the memorabilia
    that is kept here.
    103MU (Noddyland) was closed in 1975 although a lot of the old buildings are still there but occupied by the Army Logistics people.
    A lot of the buildings that Harry and I remembered are still there but utilised in a different way and many of the older cawood accommodation blocks have been
    demolished. The original NAAFI and Airmen’s Mess have gone and have been replaced in a different location.
    There are a lot of new single accommodation blocks being built although if they continue to cut our forces numbers it seems difficult to know how they will all be
    filled.
    When Harry and I were at Akrotiri there were something like 5000 personnel stationed there. Now I think there are around 900 with a lot of Army people included.
    The Lady Lampson Club is still in the same place and we were treated to lunch there. The quality of the Eggs and Chips has not deminished through time.
    We visited the Water-Ski Club which Trev had arranged to be opened and we were given a comprehensive tour of the premises by Flt.Lt.Chris Turner. He even
    opened the trophy cabinet to let Harry see how the competition trophies had multiplied.
    We were also treated to a visit to the Rugby Club which wasn’t in existence in our day. All “après-rugby”celebrations were carried out in the Old Naafi.
    After lunch we had a look at the new hospital which Harry assures me was opened in 1962, although my knee operation was done at the “old” site which was
    old cawood buildings in the airmens MQ Area at the time.
    Then a look at Dreamers Bay where we could look across the water towards Submarine Point and Hospital Beach which we used to reach by walking across
    the Bondu behind the hospital and climbing down the cliffs. Elf and Safety will probably have banned this pastime by now.
    All in all, a very satisfying day but it is sad to see how cut down the RAF is in Cyprus.
    Harry, Jane and Myself thoroughly enjoyed the day and would like to thank Flt.Lt. Trev Down  for looking after us so well during the visit and also Flt.Lt. Chris
    Turner for opening up the Water-Ski Club especially for us.
Harry Trumbell and Ray Burrow Enjoy Their Visit To RAF
Akrotiri Accompanied By Their Guide Flt Lt Trevor Down
Royal Air Force
Administrative Apprentice Association
RAFAA
A
Multam A Parvo