Black and white image of three people standing in front of a striped tent. On the tent is a sign that reads Information Bureau and Recruiting Centre. The person on the left is a nurse in uniform, wearing a white pinafore over a dress and a white headscarft. The person is the centre is a young boy in a Cadet uniform of shorts and shirt. The person on the right is a man in a black suit and hat. He is carrying a communication device on his back.

Alan Sharkey

Joined 1961

Branksome Heath Ambulance Cadet Division, Dorset

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Black and white photograph of 21 young boys standing in a line facing the photographer. They all wear Cub Scout uniforms. Behind them is the side of a white building.
Alan Sharkey (sixth from right) and the Broadstone Cubs, Dorset, 1958 Image courtesy of Alan Sharkey
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Transcript

Well my interest started as a Wolf Cub, and one of the badges that I took was the First Aid badge, First Aider badge, I’ve actually got a copy of the certificate here. And when I did the exam, the examiner turned the certificate over, and he wrote on the back ‘I enjoyed examining this little chap for his First Aider badge and found him very good’. Well that was the first time I’d ever received a certificate for anything, it was the first time anybody had told me I was any good at anything, so I got the mistaken view that I probably was good at First Aid. And when I joined the Scouts, the first badge I wanted to take was the First Aid badge, um, and in order to do the First Aid badge I thought it would be a good idea to join the Red Cross or St John, and as I’ve already said it happened to be St John Ambulance that I joined, just to make sure that I could pass the Scout First Aid badge.

Excerpt courtesy of Alan Sharkey