At the end of January 1961 a group of boys met together for the first time – the 1961 intake of cadets and apprentices at DeHavilland Aircraft Company. Just fourteen of us – I think : Brian Ahern Jim Andrews John Bradley Harry Fenton Ken Garland Ray Habgood Bob Hooper Charlie Liddle Trevor Matthews Warwick Slade John Stott John Tester Clive Waterman Bob Weekes We were herded together for the remainder of the year in the apprentice “cage” – a wired off enclosure in the main hangar. We were under the watchful eye of Ted Leatherbarrow. Who sat at his deck in the corner of the cage, handed out jobs, demonstrated how a task should be done, and adjudicated on the job when we thought it was finished. Ted had a bit of a shaky hand but was still able to tell a good job from a bad one. He’d toss the bad ones in the “dirt bin” and get us to repeat the exercise. Our first job was to file a rough block of steel into a precise cube. I suppose it was designed to teach us how to file precisely, but it was probably more valuable as a test of our patience, and as a lesson the work would not always be exciting. We all had our own approaches to the training exercises. Some got stuck in like a bull at a gate, determined to knock them off in a few hours. Others took their time, determined to get it right the first time. I remember one particular exercise which involved cutting an arrow head shape out of two thin sheets of aluminium and fitting them together – like a jigsaw puzzle – of our group needed to repeat this 28 times before Ted pronounced it as OK. Apart from filing, we also learned about drilling, tapping, riveting, gas welding, brazing and silver soldering. Once we had more or less mastered welding, we made our own tool boxes – which were then painted silver grey in DeHavilland’s paint shop. The highlight of our day occurred when the mail-girl did her rounds. Her name was Maree and she was young, blond, buxom, and quite pretty. I’m not sure whether she enjoyed or dreaded her walk each day past the apprentice cage, but we certainly looked forward to the distraction. It was a good year – our first year out of school. Not content with just seeing each other during the week, we also spent one weekend together at Bobbin Head. We caught the train to Berowra and walked down to the river – dragging our food and equipment on trolleys which we had made. Unfortunately, it was quite a wet weekend. I don’t remember many details, but I do remember two incidents : • We sought refuge from the rain in a cave overlooking the river, rolling out our sleeping bags on the rocky sloping floor, and tried to get some sleep. • We cooked spaghetti for tea, but being young, inexperienced and well looked after by our Mums, we added the spaghetti to the cold water, then boiled it up. It was very sticky spaghetti. John, Warwick and I were cadets and attended the University of New South Wales on two afternoons and two nights each week. None of us had a car in that first year so we caught the bus to Bankstown station, the train to Central station and then either walked or caught the bus to the Uni at Kensington. Warwick performed brilliantly in the end of year exams. John and I didn’t do quite so well, but we all passed. That was our first year at work. I am sure that we all look back on 1961 as a great year. On the following year we were moved out of the apprentice school and allocated to a variety of departments around the factory. That was our year and John’s year of 1961. Some of us were able to get together for lunch at Watsons Bay in November 2006 – which was organised by John and Trevor Matthews. John sent us this photograph of the 1961 apprentice school and many others crowded into one of DeHavilland’s aluminium boats. It was great to see some of our 1961 group after such a long time, and we all agreed that we should try to get together again for our 50th anniversary. Sadly, not all of us will be available for a get-together. Warwick passed away in 1994 and we are now faced with John’s death on 28th November. However, we are grateful for Caroline’s kind invitation to their home to reminisce about the good times and to celebrate John’s life. John achieved much since those days in the cage in 1961. We hope that the lessons learned – patience, perseverance, discipline, working with others - all contributed to his success. We remember him as more than just a tall skinny kid with an English accent. We remember him as one of the boys of 1961and as a good friend. Ray Habgood, 11th December 2010.