A Lifetime of Service: Celebrating Alan Sharkey’s 61 Years of Dedication

This year, we celebrated an extraordinary milestone for Alan Sharkey MBE TD, whose commitment to the Armed Forces and support for young people spans more than six decades. From enlisting with the TA (now the Army Reserve) at 17 in 1965 to his many years of guiding first-aid training within the Army Cadet movement, Alan’s story reflects an outstanding lifetime of service.

Read it for yourself, in Alan’s own words…

61 years ago today, just after my 17th birthday, I knocked on the door of the Bournemouth Detachment of 1 Squadron 41st Signal Regiment (Princess Louise’s Kensington Regiment) and said I wanted to join. I was at the time waiting to join the Royal Marine Reserve in Poole, where I lived, but their recruitment age was 17½. That morning’s paper said the TA had reduced their recruiting age to 17. So I jumped on the No 5 bus and arrived at the drill hall in Holdenhurst Road. They seemed keen to accept me and my official date of enlistment as 24038610 Signalman Sharkey was 26 March 1965. I guess that made me the youngest Territorial. I certainly was the youngest in 41 Sigs for quite some time, if not my whole time there, most of them sporting WW2 decorations.

41 Sigs was not an ordinary Royal Signals unit. They were known as the Phantom Signals and bore a black square badge with a white letter P on their battledress. 41 Sigs did not identify as Royal Signals. They wore the Kensington’s cap badge with a red and grey lanyard and stable belt. My role was radio operator/driver, but like most teenagers back then, I had no car and could not drive. Sergeant Burden, the MT Sgt, soon had me out in a Landrover, and my first trip out was to Canford Heath, now a sprawling housing estate.

A couple of weeks after joining, I went on my first weekend. I had no uniform but wore what I thought was a suitable red quilted anorak. I was spotted by the Sergeant Major from the Portsmouth HQ of 1 Squadron. He bellowed across the training area, ‘Sharkey, if I see you in that @#!$ing jacket again, I’ll hoist you up that pole and use you as a warning flag’. Funny how some memories stick…

We had a new piece of equipment arrive, called a D11 mounted in a one-ton Humber truck. It was complex and took a long time to set up, but I was assigned to it with a Regular Army PSI to teach me how to operate it. I could tune in to the news agencies and print their dispatches on a teleprinter and go home to tell my mother what was going to be in the news. I could also tune in to some dubious channels that sent me QSL cards to confirm our contact.

When we paraded as a regiment, the London HQ had some officer cadets with white tabs. Our Squadron OC asked me if I would be interested in following that route and said he’d arrange an interview with the CO. But then we had the news that the Regiment was being reorganised. Most of the Bournemouth men went to a Home Defence unit, but three of us from Bournemouth and one officer went to join the Portsmouth half of the squadron at Southampton in a new unit called 63 SAS Signal Squadron. I was assigned to the new unit as a Lance Corporal and Combat Telegraphist.

But first we had to attend what was called a ‘selection’ weekend in the Brecon Beacons. It was the first stage of a much longer course that I got to complete in later years. I had no difficulty with that and was then issued with a new sandy coloured beret and blue stable belt, but with a Royal Signals cap badge. Our role was to support two outfits called 21 SAS and 23 SAS. I completed an annual camp with the new unit and then an exercise in Germany where my role was to sit in a ditch, receive very slow Morse code from my ‘stick’, encode it and transmit back to the UK.

By this time, the Civil Service had moved me to London, where 63 had no presence, so I went on the waiting list for the next selection course with 21 SAS. I am not good at waiting, so I transferred to 217 (London) General Hospital RAMC as a Medical Assistant. A good move as it turned out because within two years I had progressed through the trade training to MA1, was promoted to full corporal from private and in less than another year found myself the youngest in the Sergeant’s Mess.

The ACFA (Army Cadet Force Association) that I joined was very different from the ACCT UK of today. With a staff of about half a dozen and led from a hut in the grounds of the RAMC College Millbank, the organisation:

The Finance Officer was Lt Col (retired) Bob Payne, former deputy commandant of Hertfordshire, who managed the finances in a part-time role three days a week, along with first aid in a voluntary role through the DofE Award Panel.

First Aid did not appear in the syllabus in its own right. It was one of the options available for 3 Star Citizenship and comprised the St John’s youth course, then called ‘Essentials of First Aid’. This could only be delivered by a recognised St John trainer. It was also an option for the Service section of the DofE Award.

In 1978, Bob Payne introduced the adult ‘Public First Aid’ course delivered at the Cadet Training Centre (CTC) at Frimley Park for one week each year. Successful participants were able to deliver the short mandatory first aid training needed by every DofE participant for Expedition training and the first aid component of 1 and 2 Star.

In 1983, my first task at ACFA was to rewrite the CTC first aid course to meet new HSE requirements. During a short overlap with Bob Payne, I also served as one of three squad instructors at CTC before becoming Chairman of the CCFA/ACFA St John Ambulance Special Centre. I served as their first aid adviser on a voluntary basis for 15 years.

This coincided with the ACF’s quinquennial syllabus review. My accepted proposals included completing the Duke of Edinburgh expedition first aid requirement at 1 Star, and introducing the St John youth first aid course as a mandatory subject at the more appropriate 2 Star level. To support this, I persuaded St John Ambulance to allow ACF instructors with a first aid certificate to teach their own cadets without needing lay trainer status (a concession not even granted to St John’s own cadet officers). This made formal first aid training at 2 Star widely accessible across the ACF… or so I thought.

Soon after publication, a CEO called to say his county couldn’t deliver the new syllabus. I explained that any adult volunteer with a first aid certificate could teach it, only to be told that none in his county held one. Despite this, introducing a recognised youth first aid qualification at 2 Star proved a lasting success.

By 1996, ACFA was delivering courses such as First Aid at Work, Advanced First Aid, Trainers (and more!) at Frimley Park over three weeks every year. By 2010, regulated qualifications had been firmly established at CTC.

In 1986, I nominated 3 cadets for the St John Meritorious First Aid Certificate. In due course, I received 2 certificates. When I enquired about the third certificate, I was advised that the cadet, Cpl Jason Foley, was to be awarded the Life Saving Medal of the Order of St John. It was presented by Mr Bob Balchin (later Sir Robert and then Lord Lingfield) at the cadet’s annual camp. This was the start of a very successful awards programme.

By 1996, ACFA had a formal agreement in place with St John covering a wide range of joint activities called ‘In Partnership Together’. This initiative was introduced at the first annual conference of County First Aid Training Officers (CFATO), and is still in place. The appointment of CFATO’s enabled the introduction of county and regional first aid competitions. The first national competition took place at RMA Sandhurst in 1998 (the same year I retired from the TA and joined the Army Cadet Force) and was run at RMAS every year until 2010. ACFA also hosted national competitions for the CCF, ATC and SCC, enabling an Inter-Services competition.

Through my role as Assistant Director General of the St John Ambulance Association, I was also able to introduce the Young Grand Priors Competition for the winners of all youth first aid competitions, including SJA, Order of Malta, ACF, CCF, ATC, SCC and other youth organisations. In 2010, all these competitions were brought together in a two-day Festival of First Aid at RMAS to celebrate Cadet 150.

Cadet 150 also saw the award of certificates from SJA to ACFA commemorating 50 years as a St John Centre and to me for 25 years as the Centre Chairman.

I retired from the ACF and my role as National First Aid Adviser in 2016. In 2017, the Order of St John awarded its Sovereign’s Medal of Merit to ACFA in recognition of its achievements over recent years, only the second medal to be awarded in the UK and still one of only a handful awarded worldwide.

Nearly 51 years after arriving at the Holdenhurst Road drill hall, I surrendered my uniform when I was discharged on my 68th birthday, a few days short of 51 years of uniformed service. I still work as a civilian for the Army Cadet Charitable Trust UK. I have now spent 61 years in a military or cadet role and 43 years with ACFA and ACCT UK.

Today, Alan Sharkey’s journey stands as an inspiring example of loyalty, learning and service. Throughout his career, he has supported countless volunteers and young people through the cadet movement, especially in the field of first aid. His story reminds us how one individual’s dedication can have a lasting impact, helping generations of cadets grow in confidence and skill.

This June, ACCT UK proudly recognised Alan’s lifetime of service with a special award for Excellence in First Aid, Honours & Awards at ACCT UK’s Excellence Awards. This celebrates Alan’s remarkable achievement built on passion, humour and an unwavering commitment to helping others.

We’re fortunate that Alan has most recently served as ACCT UK’s Honours & Awards Manager. In this role, he has supported and promoted the positive actions of cadets and adult volunteers by recognising and rewarding their contributions to wider society. Alan has also proudly supported award nominations to other charitable bodies. 

Alan is now embarking on his well-earned retirement, but remains a firm supporter of ACCT UK and an advocate for cadets and adult volunteers.

Find out more about awards here.