The Army
The Company’s association with the Armed Forces dates from February 1943 when the Court of Assistants presented the honorary freedom of the Company to Major-General Eric Rowcroft, Director of Mechanical Engineering in the newly formed Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME).
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In 1952, at the annual meeting of the City of London Territorial, Auxiliary Volunteer Reserve Association at the Mansion House, Field Marshal Earl Alexander of Tunis suggested that the City Livery Companies should revive the old tradition whereby from Elizabethan times they were linked with the early trained bands, the forerunners of the present Auxiliary Forces of the Crown.
At the suggestion of one of its Liverymen, the Honorary Colonel, H Randal Steward TD, the Company responded by adopting HQ REME 23 (Southern) Corps Troops REME (Volunteers), and REME units under command, whose headquarters were at Finsbury Barracks to the north of the City.
For more information about the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers click here.
The Navy
The Company has also expanded its Service links to the Royal Navy School of Marine Engineering (RNSME) and the Royal Navy Air Engineering and Survival School (RNAESS) both located within HMS Sultan, in Gosport, Hants. The two schools, each commanded by a Captain RN, provide all training for Surface, Submarine and Air Engineering engineers and technicians including instruction in gas turbine, electrical and nuclear propulsion systems, hull systems, airfames, air engines and many other related skills. The schools also train personnel from the Navies of many foreign and commonwealth countries. On a tri-service front, RNSME trains Royal Logistic Corps marine engineers and is about to commence certain parts of REME officer training.
HMS Sultan is now the Royal Navy's largest training establishment. It is larger than any other by a third, both in terms of people and budgets. The mission is "To deliver the required number of cometent and highly motivated technicians and engineers to the Armed Forces". Today, the establishment covers an area of 180 acres with a perimeter of over 3 miles.
A history of HMS Sultan can be accessed through this link.
The Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force St Athan, near Barry, Glamorgan, South Wales opened in 1938 and became the home of No 4 School of Technical Training in September 1939 and the School is in residence to this day. Since then the School has undertaken the training of Flight Mechanics, Flight Engineers, RAF Administrative and Aircraft Apprentices, Riggers, Drivers and a host of engineering and mechanical trades. Technical training continues to be the role of the Station and it is now the major maintenance base for most of the RAF front-line aircraft, including the Tornado, Harrier, Jaguar, Hawk and VC-10, all of which are the responsibility of the Royal Air Force’s Engineering Division. A short history of RAF St Athan can be found here.
Awards to the Services
When the association with HQ REME 23 (Southern) Corps Troops REME began in 1952, it was agreed to present the Turners' Company Shield for Craftsmanship, to be competed for annually by units under command, with the object of encouraging the skill and workmanship so essential in the craftsmen’s Corps. Despite the many changes in the Army command structure, this annual competition is still held, (now called Exercise SOUTHERN CRAFTSMAN), and the Master attends the prize-giving to present the winning team with the Turners' Shield.
Additional support for the Services was introduced in 1988 when the Company arranged the annual awards and prizes to the best engineering apprentice at each of the three Armed Services craft schools, namely the Royal Navy Air & Marine Engineering School (HMS Sultan), The Army's Royal School of Military Engineering RE (Chatham) and School of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering REME at Bordon and the RAF No 4 School of Technical Training, St. Athan. These awards are presented after the biennial turning competitions held in Apothecaries Hall.
The Company's link with REME has been reinforced by the introduction of a new competition for regular REME battalions. Each year the battalion which has done the most towards "improving its ability to achieve its mission and actually achieving it, encouraging the use of REME engineering skills and improving esprit de corps" will be awarded the Turners Trophy. The Trophy is a large Wassail Bowl which was turned as part of the Company's Millennium Craft Competition. The judge is the Director of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.