Having always been a ‘South
Oxfordshire girl’, realigning myself
with what goes on here ‘Out West’
(as I’ve always known it) has been
a proper eye-opener.
Working at RAF BN has given me
an unbelievable insight into what
really goes on inside the wire.
Like hundreds of other ‘Shire-ites’
I have spent years driving past the
foreboding barbed wire boundary
fence of Britain’s largest RAF station
and peering through it, unsure of
what lay beyond, or what ‘they’ did.
Now, as part of BFBS, this Alice
has well and truly stumbled into
Wonderland. I’ve learned mind-
blowing amounts about people and
places that weren’t even near my
radar before, and more importantly,
met the very people that serve in
this incredible way.
But what I love most is that one
minute I can be interviewing a
Wing Commander – marking a
squadron’s centenary, or hearing
about the latest arrivals to the fleet
– and the next I’m off at a complete
tangent, discussing the new range
of takeaway pizzas from ASDA, or
whether that huge pothole at the
entrance to Stanmore Crescent is
EVER going to be filled.
Whilst extraordinary things happen
around the clock here at Brize, they
are done by folk that day in, day
out, walk the line between super
human and mere mortal. Because
when the shift is over, the handover
done and the debrief completed,
it is more often than not about
heading home to the family, helping
with the homework or doing the
weekly shop.
At BFBS BN we want to be as much
a part of what makes this corner
of Oxfordshire tick as the C-130s,
A400Ms or even its tomatoes…and
if you don’t know what that means,
I suggest you look it up!
JO
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