Memoirs of GD Fell

Cheadle

After a brief holiday, we left Lindsay and Nick with their Gran Townson whilst Margaret and I went to Cheadle to sort out where we were going to live, where Lindsay and Nick were going to go to school, report to the radio station to find out when I had to turn up for duty etc. We booked in at the Royal Oak Hotel which was run by Graham and Mavis Jepson and spent about a week there sifting through the accommodation available and eventually arriving at number 2 Masefield Close in Cheadle. We put in an  offer for the property which was accepted and booked in with Lindsay and Nick at the Royal Oak awaiting the conveyance.

The Royal Oak at this stage was like a second home to us as we got on very well with Graham and Mavis. I started playing darts and cribbage and was selected for the teams that were entered in a league, continuing to play after we had moved to Masefield Close.

A short while after I had started back at work I was asked if I would take up the duties of watch representative in the union. This I was quite happy to do although I had been advised by a colleague before I left Cyprus not to take on any union work in Cheadle as the Office in Charge (Mr McLennan) hated unions. About the same time I was asked by the watch duty officer if I would substitute in one of the sections for one of the supervisors which I agreed to do. On my desk I had two telephones, one coloured black which was used for ordinary telephone use and one coloured red which was a secure phone to be used when secrecy was needed. Both phones went through the telephone exchange. One day the branch secretary of the union, who was going off duty as I was coming on duty asked me if I would pass on a message that afternoon to the union Secretary, Fred Phillips, at the union headquarters. This I did later on in the afternoon and thought no more about it.

The watch system was such that you went off the afternoon shift and came back the following morning to do the morning shift. Each morning the duty watch officer would report to the Officer in Charge (Mr McLennan) at about 9 am. and give him the low down on what was currently happening on the station. When the duty officer came back from his meeting in the morning he came up to me and said, “George, do you know who made a call to the Civil Service Union head office yesterday afternoon, was it Alec Runciman?”
“No,” I replied, “It wasn’t Alec, it was me.”
“Oh,” he said, “Mr McLennan is doing his nut, what am I going to say to him?”
“Would you like me to tell him?” I said, and he replied, “Would you?” With no more ado, I picked up the black phone and got through to the Officer in Charge.
He barked, “Mr McLennan.” And I replied, “This is George Fell, I believe you want to know who spoke to the CSU headquarters yesterday afternoon.”
“Yes”, he said, “Which fool used the red phone to the CSU headquarters?”
“It may have been a fool,” I replied, “And you are speaking to him right now.
“Who gave you permission?” he said and I replied, “No one gave me permission, I was in charge of the phone and I must apologise. I didn’t realise that I had used the red phone.”
“Well don’t let it happen again.” he said, and that was that, incident closed.