Going backwards in time, very early in 1957 Sqn.Ldr. Monk took over from Flt.Lt. Ray Street as Senior Technical Officer. Ray's extraneous duty was to oversee the running of the Mess bar. He handed that duty over to someone who screwed it up. It wasn't long before I was volunteered for the job and refusal was not an option. Anyway it would be good experience and I would have more Brownie Points added to my record of service.10
I had two volunteer, officially mis-employed, Fighter Plotters as barmen. These National Service lads were respectful and capable individuals. They behaved impeccably even when dealing with sometimes extremely drunken Officers.11
My own duties in this respect amounted mainly to the ordering and maintenance of stocks. Supplies came both from the NAAFI warehouse and the local Warburg Brewery. Each week the brewery draymen arrived with the order, always at lunch time when the bar was open, collected the empties, had a couple of bottles of Pils, had a chinwag with those of us who could speak German, collected next week's order, and departed. Bills for all bar supplies were paid by the Mess Secretary, Flt.Lt. Colin Hanmore (his extraneous duty), or his German assistant, Karl Schrader.
I had to adjust prices of all drinks served so that the overall profit for Mess funds was no more than 15%. As an example, a 'Horses Neck' cost just 3d.12 A 75 cl bottle of Warburger Pils actually cost more.
Stock checks had to be done monthly. This amounted to counting full bottles - that was easy. Assessing tottages remaining in partly emptied bottles was more difficult, particularly with odd shaped bottles. A valuation had then to be calculated and the figure entered in the Mess accounts. It was usual to do this work in a morning before the bar opened. That was easy as long as the task fitted into my watchkeeping timetable. Once however, it did not. I was on nights and came off watch in the morning, usually to go to bed after a light breakfast. Instead I had to stay up and, with almost overwhelming tiredness, completed the task just in time. I then went to bed, to be woken by Frau Höhn only two hours later so that I could go on evening watch. I only had to do that once.
Bar staff handled no cash. Each Officer had a bar book in which his purchases were entered. He then had to sign or initial that entry. An individual's bar account would then appear on his monthly Mess bill. There were strict maxima as to how much could be spent in the bar. Squadron Leaders and above were unrestricted in this respect. Not only did the bar sell drinks, because the Mess was too small to have a separate shop, it also sold items like toothpaste and razor blades, chocolate, sweets, and other sundries.
Predicting advance consumption when ordering fresh stocks could be very hit and miss. One month, the favourite tipple would be rum and coke, the next it might be whisky and ginger or gin and tonic. Fashions changed quickly and the problem was to not have too much stock, or to run short of anything. Wine consumption was difficult to predict, but when there were Dining In Nights or Guest Nights the port had to be decanted and presented at the right temperature in readiness for the Loyal Toast. Sometimes there would be a run on liqueurs. I remember one period when the fad was to buy 'Rainbows'. These were a selection of tots of liqueur poured into a glass, densest first, followed by a succession of others of differing colour and reducing density, added very carefully to float on top of the previous layers. These
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10 Officer's service records were written on Forms 1369 and were the equivalent of an Officer's curriculum vitae, to be examined by any superior on arrival at a new posting. Assessments were made annually.
11 Technically it was an offence for any RAF individual to get drunk. Only if some other misdemeanour (e.g. being unfit for duty) was perpetrated as a result of drunkenness was this rule actually enforced. Officers, though, were supposed to use their discretion. Some didn't, and if alcohol was consumed in too great quantities on a regular basis career prospects could be very adversely affected.
12 3d = 1.25p in today's money.
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