RAF REUNION
Although RAF Wythall was originally a barrage balloon site, it was later a clerical training centre. Then between 1952 and 1957 it was part of the Joint Services School For Linguists, catering for all three services by teaching servicemen Russian, Chinese, Polish, Czech, and German, though parts of some of these courses took place elsewhere, such as Crail on the Fife coast, or Kidbrooke (now site of Thomas Tallis School) near Greenwich.
A ceremony to mark the work of the RAF Linguists at Wythall was held on Friday 26 June, when a plaque was unveiled at the entrance of Wythall Cemetery. This was followed by a buffet at the Museum, accompanied by 'The Antique 6' jazz band. It was originally planned to erect the plaque at the Museum, but it needed to be freely accessible at any time throughout the year.
We ferried the participants (about 100) from the Museum to the Cemetery and back; they consisted of past and present RAF officers, plus local dignitaries. We chose the Cheltenham Bristol RELL as a suitable vehicle due to its low step height, but as it turned out, a number of visitors picked up on the Linguists' association with GCHQ in Cheltenham.
Dave Taylor was the driver, while Malcolm Keeley was the main organiser at our end, ably assisted by Yvonne when it came to manning the café. A few of the visitors actually served at Wythall and we were pleased to be able to show them our display to mark the site's history.
Dave Taylor & Andrew Gardner
PS - Proper linguists, of course, would have translated "bell" into German as "Glocke", unlike our effort in the last edition!
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