www.tinyurl.com/hmsfiji www.tinyurl.com/hmsfijiassociation _____________________________________________________________________________ \\\\\___H.M.S. FIJI ASSOCIATION___\"-._ /////~~~ we will remember them ~~~/.-' _____________________________________________________________________________ Survivor's Story - R.M. Musician - Norman Lewis _____________________________________________________________________________ "My Life as a Band Boy 1936--1940" It was 1935, at the age of about 13, I had made up my mind to join the Royal Naval School of Music in Deal, Kent, to pursue a career in music. My 14ht birthday on March 30ht 1936, was the time to start the ball rolling and it wasn't long before I had taken and passed the necessary tests, had been accepted and was to join that small body of music making boys on July 6ht of that year I had never been away from home for more than one day so the thought of leaving home was sad, but also exciting.I would be leaving mum, dad and my three brothers and three sisters behind and would certainly miss the fun and laughter we enjoyed together. Leaving Portsmouth Barbour station with another lad, we were off to Deal via Waterloo, to join many other recruits to the ENS of M. This training lasted approximately until one reached the age of 18 when, automatically, one became a musician and the pay increased. Talking of pay, we received, as boys, 4 shillings and 9 pence per week. more than I had ever seen but, from that, we had to buy toiletries needed, blanch for our equipment, both green and white and boot repairs, which meant little for other more interesting things like the cinema which cost 4 pence. When one reached that old age of 18, the pay went up to 18 shillings a week and, at the age of 21 we received 21 shillings Wow!!!!!!!!! Arriving at East Barracks, we were taken aback at the size of the place as the building looked more like a prison or hospital. We were taken to Room P3 on the third floor and inside looked very strange. ----- every bed looked the same, just like peas in a pod! There were about seven or eight beds along each wall, a steel bed in .two halves so that one half was pushed under the other. On top,was the strangest mattress I had ever seen as it was doubled over and, around the middle was a strap to hold it together and,of course,it would be released to its full length and on this ,one was supposed to sleep.On top of the passel ( mattress) there were three folded blankets and two sheets arranged in one blanket, one sheet, one blanket, one sheet, one blanket and around this was another blanket all very, very neatly folded and each bed presented the same image.There also was a spare sheet which would be changed every week with the bottom one from the bed. In the center of the room, were a table and trestles with two lengthy stools and, a little further along, an iron coal burning stove, alongside of which, were two coal bunkers- polished One of the corner beds was different as it was laid ready for bed and,one of the corner beds was not folded as the others. I was to learn very quickly this was the bosses bed-- the corporal in charge.This group of recruits, and others, were to form No 55 squad as we were called and, would remain so until our passing out parade. One of the first tasks was to be kitted out ( collect our kit etc) which we loaded into very large kit-bags -- they seemed very large to me--- with the boots laced together and around our necks as we staggered back to P3. We Were shown where this and that would be stowed as everything seemed to have its place by our beds and that's how it would always be. Never out of place!! The squad commander was one, Cpl Marsh, a real disciplinarian but also very fair. He expected a 110% effort every time we found ourselves on parade and that was often. Every morning, we would parade with the rest of those in barracks and that must have numbered 200 or more and we would be inspected by various officers These inspections were pretty thorough so, the cleaning of brasses and the polishing of boots had to be spot on. The boots were sort of oily, and to get a shine took some time and elbow grease. One put polish on the leather-- more like Hippo skin-- and, with the end of a toothbrush, rub the polish into the leather. This took ages before one got the shine needed and , if not, one would get a stiff reminder when on parade. Remember the hob-nailed boots? After a while it was evident to me, these were far too heavy for my little feet, and I had a chat with Cpl Marsh who suggested reporting sick with the result I was excused wearing those hob-nailed boots and was able, instead to wear sea-service boots, which had just the plain sole and that cured the problem. We were awakened at 0600 by a bugle call and if this did not do the trick the Cpl would tip the bed up and out one would fly. A rude awakening.! We would dress,not in our parade uniform but more casual and, then the fun began. That highly polished floor had to be polished again and every morning except Sunday.The corporal would slowly step backward along the length of the room sloshing polish down as he went and , when finished, we would get on hands and knees with a large cloth in our hands and a line of about six boys across the floor, swinging from side to sid would rub that polish into that mirror-like floor, until the whole floor had had its coating of polish.Then the polishing began with a long handled polisher which one would swing from side to someone else took over. This was hard work but, boy!!!did that floor shine!!! By this time it was to the wash- house provided. There were some twenty or so hand basins arranged in a semi- circle , plenty of hot water but,if you happened to be one of the earlier groups to wash. If not, then hard luck. Wash in cold water as there were some 200 or so to wash. It was time for breakfast at about 0700 which had to be brought across the parade ground and, on particularly cold days by the time the meals were served -- you've guessed it!--- they were cold, but, we were hungry youngsters and were ravishing so, no problem.The food was usually pretty fair and of ample proportions so I don,t remember going hungry. There was also washing up to be done and we took turns to do this job but, again, it had to done so that the place was spotless after each meal Toilet facilities were, like the galley, across the playground, so during the day, there was no problem and at night, toilets were available in each block but were usually locked during the day. There were also washing and ironing facilities opposite the hand basin block but pretty primitive. I had never had to do my own washing before so this was to be for me , a learning curve and learn, I did. All those jobs Mum use to do, like sewing , darning and ironing, etc we had to do so that it did,nt take long for most of us to come to terms with these new skills. Some lads , of course, found them difficult and we helped them out as best we could. Our next port of call was to pay a visit to the Musical Director for interviews-- musical test--- This was aural and we were sort of marched in to stand almost hidden behind the piano.I stood about 4FT 9" SO was almost hidden. Firstly, I was asked to sing the note played on the piano- several of these,then hum this short tune followed by singing two different notes-- intervals-- and all this seemed ok but very strange to me-- Why, I thought?-- After a few minutes thought, the MD said," I think you will make a good Solo Clarinetist!" and out I was marched. I had no idea what the man was talking about as I had never seen or even heard of a clarinet. The following day off to the Musical Instrument store we were marched to collect our instruments. i was handed a box about 15 inches long and some 6 inches in width and inside was my B flat clarinet. When back in P3 i opened the box to glimpse this longish sort of pipe but, in pieces. I can understand now why that instrument is called a liquorice stick. We dressed in our every day clothes for the first time, just plain dark trousers, shirt and those boots to attend parade and then off to music practice in room M3 if my memory serves me right. Here I met my instructor, along with about half dozen others for the first time. His name was Bandmaster Carter, quite a chunk of a man and in his hand he held a short piece of cane. Firstly, he showed how to put the clarinet together-- easy when one knows how- and then the reed, a small length of special cane which was clipped on to the mouthpiece. He made special mention of that reed as they are fairly delicate and needed to be treated with care. As I became more efficient on the Clarinet, reeds became an important part of my performance and, those supplied were often like tree trunks so, I bought my own at 4d each--that was expensive!!!! Also, very important were clean hands and nails which are always on show when performing. We were reminded of this by a flick of that cane if hands or nails were dirty. We practiced five hours a day. Three hours, a,m, and two p.m. and some of us would practice in our spare time which, over a period, paid dividends, After about six months I found my name on the Boy,s Band list for Church parade and that proved interesting as it meant marching whilst playing in a large band of perhaps 50, and for a fair distance. Something new to me but another experience. Saturday morning meant fatigues and we lined up on parade to be detailed for the various jobs and there were many.One such task was, in winter time, to coal each room, both in East and North barracks. The coal yard was adjacent to the Galley, just across the parade ground and if detailed for that job,one knew it would be tiring and some times, exhausting. Each block had six rooms on three floors and every room would receive four large containers( metal) of coal, with handles. So, five boys would carry the four containers ,one behind the other and off they would go coaling each block in turn.. There were, I think, four boy blocks and one for NCO,s and in each block there were six rooms so this meant the boys had a very heavy task to perform especally as some, like myself, were tiny lads. After the rooms came the many offices and that was followed by taking a flat- topped cart over to North barracks and coaling the rooms there This was sometimes fun as we traveled at speed with the Corporal in charge going bananas. Sometimes,the cart would begin to get the better of the boys and begin to run away, but we enjoyed the challenge.It really was good fun but we were always pleased to get the job done. School was once a week when we studied for the 3rd Class certificate and somehow or other , I passed. Then it was certificate No2 and following the HEC ,but I did,nt get that far. There was plenty of opportunity for sports as we played rugby, soccer, cricket boxing (stupid for a musician) but we all had to box for three minutes each year and I,ve often wondered why? There were portable tennis courts on the parade ground in the summer time but, my memory reminds me these were not used much. Also, in the canteen there were snooker and table tennis facilities and,across the main road, was the swimming pool. On every Wednesday afternoon in summertime, there would be cross country running--- well that's what it was called--- unless one could dodge it, We would gather on the green on the sea-front and off we would go on a circular run of about six miles on towards Kingsdown, across the fields and back to barracks. This, often,was a good time to mess about and take one's time but all in all, it was great! The reader will,perhaps, remember the palliasse which was straw filled and wonder who did that job? We did!!!!!!! One Autumn day, farm trucks. Trucks would arrive, filled to the gunnels with bales of straw and these would unloaded into the NCO'S washroom and, at a given time, each room of boys would present themselves at the wash-house and collect a bale of hay, a mattress cover.and this would be taken back to that room with a highly polished floor.The straw had to be jammed into the cover to make a hard,solid shape and, if not, the corporal would empty the straw and one would begin again until the job was done. When finished, the mattress would appear like a very large,out of shape sausage and one would be exp[ected to sleep on that. The reader will also remember the mattress was also doubled over-- bent in halves---- and this needed lots of kicking, thumping ,or anything else which would do the job. Sometimes, we get a bigger boy to help. Once done, there was the question of the mess in the room and. this had to be spotless when finished. Every blade of straw would have to be cleared before we were on our hands and knees polishing that floor. It was hard work and tiring, too, but come 1400 , we were back at practice as though nothing had happened. I wore specs and had done so since the age of about five, and if one needed an eye test, new specs or whatever, it was necessary to travel to Chatham Naval Hospital. This meant a long ride in an ambulance and would take all day. It really, was a good day off and over the three years, I enjoyed several of those. Moving from the second to my third year,my ability on the clarinet was moving forward quite quickly and more and more I would find myself detailed to join a senior band for practice and this, of course, gave me added experience and confidence towards the time when I would be detailed to join a ship's band. March 30th 1940 arrived and I had reached the age of 18. Wow!!!! This meant that I automatically became a musician and would move to North Barracks, which I did and, others of my squad moved on, too, one being Doug Elmer. We had been mates for some time and this frienship lasted for some 50 years. I have often wondered what had become of those other lads in 55 squad? Many would have perished during the war, which was to come. My three and a bit years at the RNSof Music as a Band Boy had come to an end I had achieved part of that I had set out to do and, now it was time to move on into a man's world. Indeed, that is what it proved to be in no uncertain terms as come the latter part of the previous year , we were at war with Germany and I would be serving aboard HMS Fiji, but that is another story. I am now reaching my 90th year and often think about those days as a Band Boy , wondering sometimes if had achieved what I set out to do.? My answer, is Yes! I enjoyed the hard work, the fun ,the countless friends and my music for which I shall ever be grateful as it has filled my life with so much pleasure. Remembering all those of the RN of M past and present" Norman Lewis RMB X961 _____________________________________________________________________________