Unofficial Christ's Hospital Forum

Are they wearing white coats, Neill?

NO ! but they keep quoting the Official Secrets Act ----- !

My Tube memories consist of – making distilled grapefruit juice alcohol (disgusting); making a fur coat from rat skins (disgusting); smoking and putting coins in the light sockets to fuse the lights so it was harder to be spotted smoking. Naturally I also explored the network and of course we used the trunk room for our trunks

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:There were, and possibly still are, excavations which were still being used in the 50s (When I was in the businass of Explosives !) to store Army explosives, Ammunition, etc. The term for the controlling Depot was a C.A.D( Central Ammunition Depot.) It appears that Chalk was the preferred Medium.
They are, of course situated at ---------who are these strange men visiting me ? AAAAARGH !

During the cold war there were two organisations on call should the Russians invade.
One was Civil Defence with its own equioment stored all over the place and the other was a trained "home guard"/ resistance with its own equipment stores, all hidden and close by.

I went over one of those underground bunkers (4 miles from me) a couple of years ago - it was very nostalgic seeing all the equipment and uniforms we used to train with and the survival manuals giving details of expected survival times should someone be exposed to varying degrees of radiation.

my dad was in the observer corps as he was a trained gpo technician who had done cadets and each post had to have a telecoms guy to maintain the comms frame. I have memories of being about 6 or 7 and going down the 4 man bunker on top of Den Hill in Horsham. I recently found some pictures of it on the web and the photo looking back up to the hatch from the bottom of the ladder is exactly the same as my memory.

As for the tube I was at Ch when it was closed off and boiler rooms installed - I remember a dustbin lorry going through the roof between Maine & Barnes when it drove over a skylight and also the smell of the drying rooms

All the Tube was blocked with sandbags, during the War, between Houses, and in 1940 Juniors slept down there.
The sandbages had not been removed in 1946 when I left.

Apropos HE crystals ------ VERY dangerous. I was once (A VERY long time ago) called out into the Sahara to a wartime Italian Airfield, which had a stack of FUSED bombs sitting in the sun.
My Boss and I decided not to attempt to move them as they had crystals appearing around the fuses.
We placed charges all around the pile and, retiring to a "Safe" distance "Lit the blue touchpaper"
After an ENORMOUS BANG the area was littered with bits of bomb and also some STILL un-exploded ----
What to do ???

We stole , silently, away ----- and as far as I know they are still there -- and Colonel Gaddafi's problem !

NEILL THE NOTORIOUS wrote:All the Tube was blocked with sandbags, during the War, between Houses, and in 1940 Juniors slept down there.
The sandbages had not been removed in 1946 when I left.

Apropos HE crystals ------ VERY dangerous. I was once (A VERY long time ago) called out into the Sahara to a wartime Italian Airfield, which had a stack of FUSED bombs sitting in the sun.
My Boss and I decided not to attempt to move them as they had crystals appearing around the fuses.
We placed charges all around the pile and, retiring to a "Safe" distance "Lit the blue touchpaper"
After an ENORMOUS BANG the area was littered with bits of bomb and also some STILL un-exploded ----
What to do ???

We stole , silently, away ----- and as far as I know they are still there -- and Colonel Gaddafi's problem !

Shouldn't you have taken pot-shots with your personal weapons, á la Dad's Army?

wurzel wrote: and also the smell of the drying rooms

ah, yes. and the coal cellars...

michael scuffil wrote:

wurzel wrote: and also the smell of the drying rooms

ah, yes. and the coal cellars...

.... and so handy for a crafty fag on a rainy day. The thick aroma of sweaty feet and damp rugby shorts used to mask the aroma of tobacco smoke.

Personal Weapons --- Mine was a .38 Smith and Wesson Pistol, which when actually NEEDED proved to be practically useless at any range over about 50 yards !! Hence I would have wanted to be about half a mile, from the bombs !!

Having been "Caught out" under such circumstances, in a "Personal" confrontation, I threw it into a trunk, and drew a Stengun -- which when fitted with Lanchester Magazines (50 Rounds) although similarly inaccurate, had a LOT more fire power !!!

When CH was built at Horsham, there must have been detailed architect's drawings, which would have shown all the tube system. Does anyone know where they are now? Indeed, who were the architects? and are their offices still in existent. If so they may have a copy. Itshould be safe to consult the plans now if the system is secure.
PS They were Aston Webb and Ingress Bell.

Just discovered this forum.

In about 68 or so, a group of us - misfits in the various houses - set up a sort of amateur telephone system in the tube. We could send music back and forth, as well as talk to each other rather than do any actual homework during the evening.

We were eventually discovered, and thought the end would come, but whoever master it was said he rather admired our initiative, to my everlasting astonishment.

Roland Mid A

Did anyone go down the tube on OBs day or was it cancelled?

I should think the school must have detailed plans of the tube... maybe the museum has it?

Great Plum wrote:Did anyone go down the tube on OBs day or was it cancelled?

I should think the school must have detailed plans of the tube... maybe the museum has it?

It was cancelled.
One of the people responsible for the tour had problems returning to CH caused by the flight problems at that time.

At the Leigh Hunt end of the tube, there was a wall, there was a gap and you could look over the top and this was called the 'Gym Tube' I think. There was a rumour that one of the maintenance staff AKA 'Bogwasher Bill' hanged himself there. As a result the tube is said to be haunted by 'Bogwasher Bill'

Roger Martin cleaned out one of the rooms, put in some printing equipment and called it 'The Gallows Press'

The trunk room was always a good place to smoke,being in the Royal Signals I got the job as Stores Wallah, the Army used to deliver field rations, and they still put cigarettes in them in those days,these were liberated along with matches. The prep block roof was always a good place to smoke, as were the upper floors of the Infirmary.