One of the first questions that I asked my father when he came home from work and told us that he had been posted to Khormaksar in Aden was "Is there a scout troop there?". Little did I realise that his one word reply of "Yes" only painted a marginal picture of the true setup.

In addition to the various local troops in the Colony RAF Steamer Point had a sea scout group and RAF Khormaksar had an air scout group. My father worked in Air Traffic Control at Khormaksar so the air scout group was the one that I was destined to join. The group was sponsored by the RAF, which meant that a substantial amount of equipment and facilities were readily available to us. All manner of tents, cooking equipment, transportation to the Sheikh Othman and Little Aden camp sites plus the very popular flights in the squadron aircraft that were based at Khormaksar meant that the Group was able to provide unrivalled facilities for its members.

The Group boasted membership of all four sections (Cubs, Scouts, Senior Scouts and Rover Scouts). On arrival, I was 16 years old and this meant that I joined the Senior Scout troop(age range 15 – 18 years). Each section adhered to the same set of rules that applied to UK groups but, because of the location and climate, the methods of achieving the various badges and awards were different.

It wasn’t long before I had my first taste of camping in Aden at Sheikh Othman. On the day of departure, the RAF duly supplied the requisite number of open topped, sand coloured Bedford 3 ton lorries. In those days it was still permissible for Scouts to travel in the back of the lorry and, in addition to the fun of being able to ride in this manner, a welcome cool breeze would soon be created as the lorry increased speed.

Sheikh Othman and Little Aden were close enough to be ideal spots for weekend camps. They were considerably different in the facilities that they provided however.

Sheikh Othman was the proverbial oasis with running water, green grass, trees, storage huts and many of the local Arabs would be on site as wardens. Little Aden however had virtually nothing. We would sleep on the beach under the stars and rely on the nearby Stim bar for water supplies. One of the most fascinating memories that I have of Little Aden is the abundance of huge crabs that would come burrowing out of the sand just as you dropped off to sleep. They literally ran sideways over you and I can still recall the screams of horror as each of us woke up to the feel of sharp claws running over our faces.

Being scouts, we would invariably carry out night hikes and on one occasion at Little Aden our scouting activities caused some grief to the leader who was with us. Our evening camp fire had attracted the attention of some Army soldiers who were at the Stim bar. They took our campfire singing as the cue for something more raunchy accompanied by oodles of tins of amber nectar. To us (innocent?) teenagers it was a bit of a laugh but the leader wasn’t amused and was brave enough to say so. The Army soldiers left begrudgingly but, come the night hike, they had their revenge.

The "guard" that we had posted fell asleep so the camp was unguarded. During our absence and without waking the sleeping "guard", the leader was dragged from his tent and buried in a deep hole of sand right up to his neck. When we returned we were shocked and surprised to find the camp site a little dishevelled, the leader in a similar state and to our amusement the still sleeping "guard". No real harm was done and on the names front, I believe that the leader was Peter Ellis but the name of the lad who was the "guard" escapes me.

I’ve attached several pictures of the camp site at Sheikh Othman below and some of the activities that we pursued. The faces are a little distant but I wonder if anyone recognises themselves or anyone else in the pictures?

To illustrate the sort of tents that the RAF could supply and to have a go at identifying some names, I’ve attached a group photo below :

Back row left to right:

unknown, Jim Kimber, Charlie Sims, unknown, Malcolm Griffiths, Bob Bolton

Front row left to right:

Hassan(Somali lad), Self(Geoff Burns)

Two of the local Choki Da’s at Sheikh Othman. They did everything – helped to unload the vehicles, ran the Stim shop, guarded the place at night, maintained the irrigation ditches etc. and helped to load the vehicles at the end of the camp

The Group Headquarters comprised a collection of wooden huts that were adjacent to a concrete building which the RAF let us use as the main Headquarters. The complex was situated next to the Khormaksar Police dog compound and opposite the AFBA radio station. The building in the photo below was a stores shed …..

….. that the Senior Scouts were building as one of their projects. After school had finished at midday we would return home, get changed and then spend the afternoon hammering and banging whilst singing the then Beatles current singles "Love me do", "I want to hold your hand", "I should have known better" etc. Needless to say, the people living in the flats behind were not amused and we received many a ticking off for spoiling their afternoon siestas.

The Rover Crew had converted an old radio shack that used to be on the back of a lorry(honest!) into their "den". The next pictures show this ‘mock tudor conversion’ with Norman Killeen and the Cub Leader whose first name was Cliff but whose surname escapes me now. I also forget the reason for their dressing up but it must have been some sort of fancy dress do.

Cliff in topee and Norman Killeen                     Cliff with Kukri and topee

The Wolf Cubs(8-11 year olds) were always active as illustrated by the accompanying photos:

Pack game in 1963 (AFBA is in the background)

1^st Khormaksar Wolf Cubs again - Any faces recognised?

A trip to the top of Mount Shamsan was always popular and the following pictures were taken when the 1st Khormaksar Seniors scouts went on one of these treks. What a welcome relief the trip was. Setting off from Crater with its distinctive smell of raw sewage and the deafening bustle and noise that we all came to associate with Crater, we would soon be sweating buckets. As we walked higher and higher along the trail though the air became cooler, sweeter smelling and it was so much quieter!! The cooler air will have been because we were going higher all the time and it was sheer unadulterated pleasure that nobody could match anywhere in the Colony. It was far better than any air conditioning and it was a pure testament to the abilities of Mother Nature to maintain her delicate balance on life.

One of the locals with his pack mules en-route to the summit of Mount Shamsan.

Crater from the top of Mount Shamsan.

Khormaksar from the top of Mount Shamsan.

On the summit of Mount Shamsan.

Charlie Sims is on the right, the other two are unknown. Can anyone help?

The journey back down wasn’t half as good as the journey up. The air became hotter and much more fetid. The noise level as we approached the outer environs of Crater rose to an oppressive level and, on one trip, we were stoned by the locals as we made our way through the town. Not a very pleasant experience.

In contrast to the special opportunities that were presented to us in Aden, we still had to carry on with the normal Troop night activities that every troop in the world has to do. This included the formal flag break at the beginning of the evening, the run of the mill badge work etc. and the occasional ‘wide’ game to break the routine up. Just prior to departing the U.K. for Aden, I had qualified for the top award(Queen’s Scout award) that was available for boys in my age range. This was marked a few months after my arrival at Khormaksar with a formal presentation of the relevant certificate at Government House to myself, Nigel Powers and a local lad named Ibrahim Hashi by Sir Kennedy Trevaskis who was the High Commissioner of Aden.

This photograph depicts this event taking place in March 1964.

Notice that the High Commissioner is using the scout’s method of shaking hands

(i.e the left hand shake)

The photograph below is of John Church. He was the Group Scoutmaster and was responsible for everything that happened within the 1st Khormaksar scout Group. He was a very quiet and modest man but under him, the Group achieved many great things.

I believe that John was based on 115 Squadron, which flew Argosy transport aircraft. These aircraft were commonly referred to as the whistling tit due to the shape of its nose and the high pitched whistle that came from its engines. John’s presence in 115 squadron was immensely useful though as he could obtain tentage, camping equipment, 3-ton lorries for transport and several air experience flights for us. The 1^st Khormaksar Group was an Air scout group and was sponsored by the R.A.F, so we were able to take full advantage of any flights that our sponsor(the RAF) supplied.

This culminated in August of 1964 when we spent two weeks camping in Kenya. We flew out to Nairobi in a Beverly aircraft of 83 squadron(very slow and very noisy) and returned in the more luxurious Argosy. The airfield in Kenya was literally that – a grass strip in a very large field. After the rigours of the sand and the heat in Aden it seemed really strange to feel the aircraft bounce up and down in the ruts during take-off and landing. Even more strange was the sensation that we felt when we stood on green grass again for the first time in many a long while. We were mesmerised by the experience and spent a good few minutes just standing there looking at our feet and then feeling an even stranger sensation as we walked on the grass to the awaiting transport. The diary of events in the camp is too long to mention here but it’s possible that it could be the subject of another ‘epistle’ at a later date.

In October of 1964 we returned to the UK. I was very sad when I learned from my father that my school days were over and that I had to return to the U.K. to find a job. The teachers tried to persuade him otherwise, especially Mr.Roberts the science master. Incidentally, did anyone else see the TV documentary a few years ago about Mr.Roberts and his wife who were carrying out some sort of alternative therapy for sundry medical conditions. I wrote to the BBC for details of the school where he was teaching at when the documentary was made but sadly, received no reply.

My father ignored the protests from family and teachers. Even though Aden could be a little oppressive sometimes, it was more than compensated for by the good times and so, with a very heavy heart, I attended my final troop meeting(see photo below).

Like most people I was upset at leaving so many good friends behind. The troop by now had acquired a considerable number of local Indian boys so it was quite an international unit(Somalis, Brits and Indians).

I kept in touch with Charlie Sims for a while and we met up a few times when he returned to the U.K. We eventually lost touch in 1969 but I’ve re-made contact with Barry Mullen, spoken on the ‘phone to Norman(Killer) Killeen a couple of years ago and bumped into Bob Bolton several times in the late sixties and early seventies.

The school re-union that has been mooted for August 2003 will not only bring together some ex-pupils but, hopefully, some of the scouts. It will be an excellent opportunity to remember youthful days and re-live Aden memories which have lain dormant for many years.

Watch this space!

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