Army Apprentice School Anodised Silver Badges

[hagwalther]

Hi Guys,

I'm under the impression that these were issued to Pipers and the Champion Company.

Am I correct?

Regards

Chris

[wright241]

I was at Harrogate from 63-66 and a couple of friends of mine from
Belfast were in the Pipe band. At that time a) there was no special
"championship" anodised version awarded any of the 4 squadrons,
Rawson(A), Phillips(B), Scott(C) or Penny(D) and b) neither of the 2 band
members wore them either. The only special badges I recall were the half and
full athletic cloth colours that could be worn on tracksuits. Unfortunately,
I lost mine years ago. I am not 100% sure but I don't even think he wore
a pipe (i.e. musician) badge on his BD. Of course, things may have changed
later on.

david

[engr9266]

I have recently brought a KC in WM & QC in silver anodised versions of this badge and have followed the comments in K&K that they were for the Pipers.
I had brought one from fellow forum member Peter Taylor and he said it was also awarded to the champion cadet. If this was the Squadron/Company or overall Regiment(school) champion I do not know. Maybe Peter can answer this one

[Mike H]

Originally Posted by wright241

I was at Harrogate from 63-66 and a couple of friends of mine from
Belfast were in the Pipe band. At that time a) there was no special
"championship" anodised version awarded any of the 4 squadrons,
Rawson(A), Phillips(B), Scott(C) or Penny(D) and b) neither of the 2 band
members wore them either. The only special badges I recall were the half and
full athletic cloth colours that could be worn on tracksuits. Unfortunately,
I lost mine years ago. I am not 100% sure but I don't even think he wore
a pipe (i.e. musician) badge on his BD. Of course, things may have changed
later on.

david

I was at the AAC Harrogate in the early 80`s.The champion squadron got to wear a red lanyard on the left shoulder rather than the standard blue on the right,and a red flash rather than 2 of blue,green,black or yellow.

[Mike H]

With regard to the Apprentice badge i believe that it had been discontinued by then the same as the IJLB badge.All the juniors soldiers that i came across wore the capbadge to their corps or regiment.
I believed that the school badge was worn by the pipers.It wasnt until recently that people said that it was worn by the champion squadron as well.Where this information came from i dont know.

[jeep]

Chris. I was at the Army Apprentices School (AAS) at Arborfield ’62 to ’64. The silver badge is listed in KK and other works as a pipers badge, but at Arborfield the pipe band wore the regular brass or gold AA badge; silver was never worn by any bandsman. What happened at the other three schools, Harrogate, Chepstow and Carlisle I cannot vouch for.

At Arborfield the silver badge was worn by the Champion Company, a competition held each term (three months) but this died the death during my time there. Picking up points from David and Jerry. At Arborfield we had Companies as training there was REME based. I assume Harrogate had Squadrons because it was R. Signals. (Carlisle was REME and Chepstow RE). There were 6 Coys, Junior - ‘J’ Coy (1st term) A, B, C,& D Coys (2nd to 7th term) and Senior ‘S’ Coy (8th & 9th term). The title was Apprentice Tradesman abbreviated as A/T and not Cadet, and there was no overall ‘Champion Cadet’ although there was a ‘Best Recruit’ in the first term and various other prizes awarded for achievements each term. These winners did not wear the silver badge or any other special embellishment. (A lanyard was worn if you attained Company and then School Colours for sport).

The cap badge with KC was struck in both brass and chrome, the latter in far fewer numbers. On the accession of EiiR, although a brass QC was struck the chrome badge was not (as far as I can determine). However, you will find brass QC badges that have been chrome plated (I have two). My theory is that, as there was a lesser requirement for the silver badge, a decision was made to wait until the AA version was available. As a consequence, local needs may have necessitated the plating of the brass issue, under local arrangement. Recently on evil bay there was an AA badge that had been chrome plated. I can only assume that when the brass QC ceased to be made and there was still a shortage of the silver AA badge, someone has had the same thing done but to the gold AA badge. Only a theory, but a plausible one.

I attach a couple of pics. The 4 silver badges are KC chrome, QC Chrome plated and underneath 2 silver AA badges, the one on the left I wore, the other has since been sold. The other pic is all 4 metal badges in brass, chrome and chrome plated. The large badge in the middle I have no knowledge of as it was definately not an Arborfield worn item. Band at one of the other schools perhaps?

[jeep]

Originally Posted by Mike H

With regard to the Apprentice badge i believe that it had been discontinued by then the same as the IJLB badge.All the juniors soldiers that i came across wore the capbadge to their corps or regiment.
I believed that the school badge was worn by the pipers.It wasnt until recently that people said that it was worn by the champion squadron as well.Where this information came from i dont know.

Mike. Control of Apprentice and JL training passed from the Inspector of Boys' Training (Army) to their respective Corps etc. on 3rd August 1965. At Arborfield there was a re-badging parade to adopt the REME capbadge on 8th October 1966.

[Mike H]

Originally Posted by jeep

Mike. Control of Apprentice and JL training passed from the Inspector of Boys' Training (Army) to their respective Corps etc. on 3rd August 1965. At Arborfield there was a re-badging parade to adopt the REME capbadge on 8th October 1966.

This would mean that the AAS badge ceased to be used around that time then.If you read "immediate action " by Steven ooopppsss Andy McNab.He recites his time at IJLB Shorncliffe in the late 70`s and says that they wore the IJLB badge until they graduated upon which they wore their own regimental badge.Can anybody throw any light on this.

[hagwalther]

Hi Guys,

This is all good stuff but I need to break this down into just a few sentences.

Can we say this:

Of the four Army Appretice Schools at Arborfield, Harrogate, Chepstow and Carlisle, at least at the Arborfield school the silver badge was issued to the Champion Company which held every three months term upto 1964. The silver badge could also have been worn by Pipers at some of the schools but documentary and visual evidence is lacking.

Comments please.

John, I picked up the chromed badge for my book hence my questions here - have PM'ed you too.

Regards

Chris

[fougasse1940]

The large badge in the middle I have no knowledge of as it was definately not an Arborfield worn item. Band at one of the other schools perhaps?[/QUOTE]

The large badge is identified as a pouch badge in Crown Imperial No. 96, autumn 1999 p. 10-11.

Rgds,
fougasse1940.

[Mike H]

I can positively say that the school badge was not worn at Harrogate after 1980.More research is needed,to find when it stopped being used.