Junior Leaders section - RAOC - RLC Digital Archive

Formation

From 1925 until 1985 the RAOC ran Junior Training programmes. They enlisted "Boys" as trainees into the RAOC from school leaving age - which in 1925 was 14. The "Boys" formed a close-knit group, and many remained in contact after they had transitioned into Regualr Army roles. In the 1950's and 1960's there was discussion on forming an ex-Boys Associstion, but nothing was done.

Then in 1997 Paul David Jones (1961/63 Body/Steevens Platoons) discovered that there was no real archive for the "Boys" at the RLC Museum in Deepcut. With his brother Alan, he set up an Association under the banner of the "Junior Leaders RAOC" and created a web-site to preserve memories. Along the way many others have contributed memories, photographs and documents, culminating in an excellent web-site which contains a wealth of historic and personal material. History of the web-site

"Closure" of web-site in 2015

However, on 26th March 2015 all "active" elements of the Junior Leaders Association Website were relocated to Facebook. At the same time their website was made free to view, but has not been updated since then. However, because of the generosity of a member of the RAOC Junior Leaders Association, the website in its current form will continue to be accessible. View Junior leaders website

Transfer to RLCarchive website in 2020

We have now transfered all this material to this web-site where it will remain free to view.

All of the Junior Leaders material searchable, so the easiest way to access it is via the search options on this web site. If you only wish to view Junior leaders material there is an Advanced Search option where you can limit results to just Junior Leaders material. Alternatively, once you have a set of results you will be able to filter them for Junior Leaders material, and this might be a better option if, say, you are looking for an indivdual who started his career as a "Boy" and then progressed into the RAOC.

In addition to making the material searchable, we have also added some items as complete documents for download. These include various histories, magazines (e.g. Thunderbolt) and so on. Finally, knowing that many ex-Boys have enjoyed browsing through material on the Junior Leaders web-site, we have provided a page where this can continue.

Photograph Albums

The way in which the photographs have been made searchable means that the categorisation by Album which is on the old Junior Leaders web site has been lost. However each Junior Leaders photograph has a date associated with it (or a range of dates if we are not sure the precise date), and this means that if you wish to view the available Junior Leaders photographs in a range of dates you can do so.

To do this, use the "Advanced Search" option at the bottom of the "Photograph Search" page, select "Junior Leaders" as the Corps, and limit the years to be searched to a range no greater than 20 years. Then, without entering a search word, click on Search, and your selected photograph album will be displayed (although this will include all Junior Leaders photographs in the date range).

Junior Leaders Facebook page

Membership Applications for the Junior Leaders Association are no longer required to view the Junior Leaders material here. However we recommend that members register for the Junior Leaders Facebook Group in order to stay in touch with the Association and their mates of bye-gone days. More can be read here

Please click here, to visit the Junior leaders Facebook Group and apply to join.. Security of our Facebook site is important and that is why we may need to ask for certain personal information in order to approve access to the Junior Leaders Facebook group.