THE GREAT APPRENTICES' DATABASE

"The Great Apprentices' Database" is the rather flippant title of a serious attempt to create a complete record of the 8,000 or so Apprentices who trained at RAF Flowerdown and RAF Cranwell.

"Why do it?" I don't think anyone can dispute the enormous contribution that ex-Apprentices have made to the RAF, not only to its engineering excellence but also to many other of its world-wide activities. Our Apprenticeships shaped us in many ways. Whether or not we enjoyed the process, whether or not we appreciated how we were being shaped, and whatever we made of our subsequent careers in the Service and in civilian life, we have all carried with us since then the enduring bonds of loyalty and friendships we formed as Apprentices in our youth, and we have all inherited the cachet of being "ex-brats" - and ex-Flowerdown or ex-Cranwell brats at that!

Many of our number achieved eminence within the Royal Air Force, and some in other spheres far removed from their beginnings. They leave a public record of what they achieved. But what of the rest of us? As far as some 8,000 ex-Flowerdown and ex-Cranwell apprentices are concerned a few books like The Flowerdown Link, The Poachers' Brats, A Concise History of the ex-Cranwell ex-Apprentice, and a few old Cranwell Magazines summarise and occasionally particularise our histories. Many paper records add to the sum of information, add detail and statistics, but they all have errors and omissions and no complete picture emerges. Nowhere is there a single, reliable and accessible historical record of us all. My purpose is to create such a record, and by using a modern database format I hope to make a record which may be updated and augmented for as long as it exists and for as long as relevant information comes to hand. I shall try to include in that record every authentic bit of information we now have, everything that Leslie Burch, Frank Whitehouse, Tom Olliver and others have been able to glean.

But I need much more, and I am asking for your help. We all have in our memories and in old papers an enormous amount of information. That is what I need from you and from every ex-Apprentice within the Association or known to Association members, and the widows, sons and daughters of those who have passed on. Below is a link to a Voluntary Statement questionnaire which I ask you to PLEASE complete for the database, and add to it on continuation sheets if necessary. Remember, particularly when considering the "Other Information" part, that you may be the sole possessor of some item of information, and unless you pass it on it may never be recorded for posterity. Your information may not be authoritative, and you may even think it to be trivial or hearsay, but don't keep it to yourself. And it would be much, much better to write it all down today rather than to put it off until tomorrow!

Des Greenwood (ex 2M3B)

To Print Personal Data Form:-	To Save Personal Data Form as a Web page:-
a) Switch printer ON, b) Click on Data Form (2 pages), c) Print out using .....File menu/Print, d) On Toolbar select Back to return here.	a) Click on Data Form (2 pages), b) Save using....File menu/Save... as dataform.htm c) On Toolbar select Back to return here.

This Database is Registered under the Data Protection Act 1984, Registration Number X363498X. The purpose of the database, recorded by the Registrar, is: To compile a Historical Record of the In-Service and Post-Service Careers and Achievements of all RAF Cranwell and RAF Flowerdown ex-Apprentices. The Registered Data User is: D F Greenwood, 12 Tudor Close, WOKINGHAM, Berkshire, RG40 2LU Tel: 0118-9782661 E-mail: destudor(at)tiscali.co.uk who is committed to uphold the eight Data Protection Principles of good Information Handling Practice, of which Principle 7 states:
An individual shall be entitled:
	a. at reasonable intervals and without undue delay or expense:-
		(i) to be informed by any Data User whether he holds personal data of which that individual is the subject: (ii) to have access to any such data held by the Data User, and
	b. where appropriate to have such data corrected or erased.

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This page was last updated on 6th April, 2007