Never Go Back – Grahame May (25th)

I recently discovered an old photograph of four young men casually posing in front of a derelict four engined aircraft. On the back of the photo is scribbled Me, Ralph, Alan and Paddy at Wroughton October 1957. I soon placed the one in uniform as Paddy and the location as being the perimeter of the airfield, which was just a short stroll from the RAF Hospital where we were all patients. I have no idea who took the photo but, If my memory is correct, then the aircraft was an Avro Lincoln which appeared to be in quite a reasonable condition. However, I recall that we soon gave up trying to access the plane and headed for the nearest pub. Many moons ago I submitted a full article on how, why and when I finished up in the Isolation Ward of the hospital and outlined the treatment of daily injections of streptomycin and a one off operation to drain fluid from my left lung. I do not remember any discussions or advice on our futures from any of the medical staff so, for the last two months, we just relaxed and enjoyed listening to the wireless , watching some evening television, playing darts or reading books and magazines . The only chore was to note and record which buttock had to have the daily strep injection so as to avoid the pin cushion effect. There were, of course, some new arrivals in the ward and we enjoyed putting the wind up a few of them just to fill in those odd days when bad weather stopped us from going out.

We had been among the first to be relocated to the light and airy top storey of the East Wing of the Main Hospital in early June 1957 and by October the four of us were now presumably all cured and ready to be discharged. I recall that we indulged in a number of ” what to do” discussions but the consensus of opinion was that we would have little choice and in my case this proved to be correct. I consoled myself by recounting that, after leaving Hereford, I had endured a pretty dismal and fruitless three months at RAF Middleton St George, and that my subsequent seven months in hospital would not be advantageous to a future career in the RAF Pay Accounts. My memory as regards farewells, getting home etc, is still a complete blank.

Over the years I have learned the hard way not to get too sentimental about the past, as going back to old haunts has nearly always been a bit of a letdown. There have, of course, been exceptions such as seaside’s, castles, mountains. lakes and moors etc but as for the rest I became rather cautious. However, about ten years ago I almost slipped up when the wife and I were visiting friends near Marlborough. We passed close to Wroughton and I very nearly went to have a look around. Boy, was I glad I didn’t as later I checked up on the hospital and found out that it had closed in 1996 and was subsequently demolished to provide a housing estate and a conference centre. I also discovered that the airfield closed as a maintenance unit in 1978 and was now partly occupied by a science museum group and several acres of solar panels. A few old buildings and a remain but that is all hanger.