Download REHIS Journal 20/2 (Summer 2008) - The Royal ...

Environmental Health Scotlandby J Barrie SheardNational Service Reminiscences ProjectAt the kind invitation of your Chief Executive I havebeen asked to write a short article relating to the projectI am currently running from my home in Derbyshirein England.Known as the National Service Reminiscences Projectit revolves around those Environmental HealthOfficers (EHOs) who, like myself, had to undertaketwo years of National Service immediately we hadqualified as either a Sanitary Inspector or Public HealthInspector in the period 1948 until 1962. My wish is tobring together reminiscences and memories of thoseof us who have been retired for a number of yearsand to create a database of all these. The whole ideastarted when I was privileged to be invited to theheadquarters of the CIEH in London to officially receivefrom the then President, Alan Higgins, and the thenChairperson, Janet Szlamp, my 50 years’ continuousmembership certificate.It so happened that within that room I foundseveral 50 year recipients like myself (including myold Squad Corporal - Corporal Denis Pickles fromthe RAMC Army School of Health at Mytchett)who had spent their two years in the RAMC. Thisgot my grey matter working overtime and the resultwas the Project. Starting out in a very small way withjust ten ‘old soldiers’ getting in touch has, at the timeof writing this article, risen to a staggering 43 retiredEHOs, 42 of them ‘old soldiers’ like me who had allbeen Hygiene Assistants within the RAMC and oneRAF person who was in the equivalent trade calleda Hygienist.They do say ‘from little acorns an oak tree can grow’;whilst we shall never get that large it has pleased meno end to find they all want to tell their story:1. Firstly, by putting in writing, a summary sheet,the basic outline of their service. For example -dates, service number, rank and post achieved,postings in and around the UK and abroad.2. Secondly, a short story on another sheet, tellingof some of the highs and lows of their serviceparticularly with Environmental Health in mindbut not, of course, without the other things thatmade up their service, remembering that sometimesthe lows can be just as interesting as thegood times.My job is acting as a sort of editor and gettingthe contributions in some sort of relevant order.In addition, as we are in the 21st century with all its‘IT’ abilities, we have certainly eased matters withwell over 75% of the contributors having accessto e-mail facilities which has allowed quick andeasy communication.Motorcycle training course for RAMC staff - 1956.Since starting way back in June and July of lastyear, an unasked development has been the collectingtogether of many black and white photos of themen in their squad, in their uniform, men partakingin barrack room duties and, more importantly, on anarmy exercise or on duty. This has certainly helpedbring the project to life and will form a good part ofthe final project.May I take this opportunity of asking if there areany retired EHOs who are members of REHIS andwho did their National Service either before or afterqualifying to please get in touch with me? Details aregiven below of how to contact me and, in conclusion,may I also say if you should know of a colleague thatI could also write to, please let me know and I willsend them an invitation to participate.Contact detailsJ Barrie Sheard, FCIEH, ex-Sergeant 23290615 RAMC.Service from March 1956 to February 1958.Postal address: Holden House, 1 Canal Bank, Shardlow,Derbyshire, DE72 2GL.E-Mail: jbhygiene@supanet.comTelephone: 01332 79237922