Ex-Army apprentice writes new chapter in college’s past

The work has paid off with a detailed look at life at the Harrogate Army Foundation College which trains more than 1,200 junior soldiers every year in the spa town.

The book, by former apprentice Fred Carslake, 70, chronicles life for the 160 cadets in his year at the college in the 1950s and what they have done since then.

Mr Carslake, a Corporal with seven years of army experience before retiring, said: “I have wanted to do the book for such a long time and thought I would finally get it done before we get any older.

“I spent 30 years trying to get in touch with everybody and found 85 from my year so far.

“They now live all over the world and we went on to have one Lieutenant Colonel, 12 Majors and two Captains, so we can’t have been all that bad.”

The book, called The Harrogate Army Apprentice: Our Story and self-published by Mr Carslake, has been welcomed as an important new historical record.

Captain Catherine Ferguson, spokeswoman for the college, said: “It is a fascinating book.

“Things have changed a lot and the college is now a very different place to how it was in the 1950s, but it is great for the boys to know its history.”