Worthy Down Years
Connaught Road Approaching the Guardpost
Worthy Down was the RAPC home from 1960 until the amalgamation into the AGC in 1992 and it was here that we saw some of the most extensive developments and improvements in pay services systems and procedures in the Corps' history!
The site was handed over to the Royal Army Pay Corps on 1 December 1960 and a major re-build took place, with only a few of the old buildings surviving. It was possibly one of the first examples of "Save now to Spend later" as the constant maintenance problems for the cheaply built flat-roofed buildings have proven since then. The rebuild was completed when on 10 June 1961 John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War, officially opened the camp.
In the beginning the RAPC Training Centre consisted simply of a Recruits Wing and a Courses Wing. The first regular recruit Pass-Off Parade of the re-located RAPC Depot took place on 28 march 1961. As well as becoming the RAPC Headquarters and Training Centre, it became home to their Electronic Accounting Development Unit who housed their computer centre with its IBM 705 system in the purpose built three-storey Slater House. During 1962 the new School of Instruction was completed and on 11 September 1962 the RAPC Apprentice College had its first intake of forty boys, housed in the old Air Electrical School huts!
Also initially resident at Worthy Down was the Regimental Pay Office (RPO) from Stockbridge, which was renamed RPO Winchester but later moved to Chester in 1972!
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