FEATURES
more creative, as I was, there was not a great deal of opportunity to spread your wings and attend workshops or clubs.
To pass time as a teenager, I spent hours in front of the computer, and most days in my room all day playing my instruments and writing and recording my own music. To get out of the house I found myself wandering the streets with friends and just loitering, not causing trouble or being anti-social, but just as something to do.
And the good bits
Benson is located in in a beautiful location, has many interesting cycle routes and is fairly free from industrialisation. Living there definitely had its benefits and I always felt enormously secure with armed guards and barbed wire fences maintaining a high state of security. There was rarely any trouble in the area and I felt I could walk the streets in the midnight hours and be free from harm.
There were trips that ran throughout summer to theme parks and museums for the families of those on detachments, which will always be golden memories for me. If you enjoy your peace, quiet and scenery, the picturesque village of Ewelme has exactly that and is only a ten minute walk or so from the gates of Benson. Optimistically speaking, being isolated meant a lot more time and focus on my examinations!
The bad bits Teenagers often feel neglected. I spent the majority of my teenage years at RAF Benson, and faced a variety of difficulties growing up. We definitely felt isolated, and for those who cannot drive or are of a young age life can be quite difficult. Of course there is public transport but it often takes a number of connecting buses and time to get to the bigger towns and cities. The isolation was definitely an obstacle; as a teenager we needed transport to get to parties and social events or visiting friends and girlfriends who lived a bit further away.
The recreation and leisure on the RAF unit wasn’t great either. We could use the football and rugby pitches, and attend the weekly Youth Club. But if you weren’t sporty and preferred the
www.raf-ff.org.uk
Moving on Turning eighteen proved to be the best thing. Then I was driving and able to go to the pubs and clubs in the local areas which proved to be a brilliant opportunity socially. I was no longer confined to the barbed wire fences and countryside. I managed to get a job at a local supermarket allowing me to meet and mix with other people. It gave me the money to keep my car on the road. Some of my friends however found it difficult to get a job, so despite being old enough to drive and socialise in clubs, they had no money to do this and were still in the same isolated position they had always been in.
For me the car also became invaluable when my father was sent on detachments. My mother could not drive and it just made everything for both of us so much easier. Having a job and a car made life bearable and I felt lucky in that respect.
I do not wish to portray certain camps in a negative way, but to rather highlight the difficulties young people face and raise awareness about the lack of facilities available for teenagers at some units. I firmly believe it is time to call for some developments and
Envoy Autumn 2011 11
strategies to be implemented in order to have accessible facilities for not only for serving personnel, their wives and husbands, but for their children, too. I know I am not speaking only for myself when I ask for more to be done for the youth to be supported with more accessible facilities.
Chairman’s Note: Matt’s experience of life as a RAF teenager will strike a chord with many. Thanks to the good work of the RAF BF and their Airplay initiative and work by the network of Community Development Officers hopefully, bored teenagers will become a thing of the past.
If you are aged 11-17 and the son/daughter of an RAF parent, why not complete our online Youth Survey at
www.raf-ff.org.uk. Call or email the Federation, 01780 781650,
enquiries@raf-ff.org.uk for a password (also available from the CDO or HIVE).
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