Poems about the Army Apprentices School, Harrogate
(Attributed to Terry Corbett, intake 54B, with some subsequent editing)

In The Beginning

God made the World in six days, the seventh did he rest,
He thought he’d made a good job and nothing had been missed,
But whilst he rested in the heavens, Satan down below
Was planning for a visit, to see what was on show.

Up he popped with all his band of evil demon hordes,
With picks and shovels, paint and screws and wooden notice boards,
“This looks a God-forsaken place, a bleak and barren spot,
It’s just the place for “Hell on Earth, I’ll call it Pennypot”.

They laid the square and built the roads and wooden huts called “spiders”,
Put up a fence with wire barbs to keep away outsiders,
Pulled up the trees for miles around so freezing winds could blow,
Mosquitoes in the summer, and in winter ten below.

The central-heating system operated at lukewarm,
October on and April off, two (army) seasons was the norm,
Never really warm in winter, summer just the same,
“I’ll keep ‘em cold and hungry, ‘cos Lucifer’s my name”.

“All who volunteer to spend three grim long years in here
Will curse my name and suffer in this place so bleak and drear,
Boy soldiers will be harshly trained, each one called A/T,
At Hell on Earth, now known as U - N - I - A – C – K - E”.

With thanks to  Trevor "Bill" Powell for this contribution
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