There were two very different bars in "Halley 1". (As with World War 1, it
was not called that until after a second one came along. It was all just
Halley Bay.)
The IGY hut was still in use after I left in January 1966. However, the
second living hut was built in early 1961 and a bar was set up in the
lounge there. The old lounge, in what was now the lower hut, was the radar
workshop in my two years of 1964 and 65. (We often couldn't help calling
it the radar lounge, and it was still a pleasant place.)
This was not the old bar moved up - the 1957 photo by Derek Ward shows them
to be of different construction. Those present at the time would be able
to give more detail, but I note that the report on the construction of the
1961 hut suggests that the question of furniture and fittings was a sore
point. Apparently little or no furniture was sent with the hut components,
and they were simply told to move furniture up from the IGY hut. Apart
from the fact that much of it was quite rigidly built in and thus not
amenable to moving, the old hut was still in full use and would continue so
for some years. Much of the furniture for the new lounge was eventually
made from timber salvaged from packing cases.
Anyway, the gist of this is that to cover "Halley 1" you really need
pictures of two bars, which were in different huts at different times.
Incidentally, the lounge in the 1961 hut had a wooden scroll with a motto
above the fire. It was "Mon Dieu Rhone feu qui ne pince-nez", and the
second-years would challenge the first-years to interpret it. Suffice it
to say that a knowledge of French is not an advantage, whereas a bawdy turn
of mind is. Above this scroll were a shield and portrait of Halley; these
three ornaments had been moved up from the earlier lounge, and are visible
above the fire in Derek Ward's photo.
The old lounge in the IGY hut had imitation oak beams in the ceiling,
showing adze-marks (carved into the plywood boxing). I spent some time
working there, splicing wire rope for dog spans - it was not radar work,
but the vice and heavy workbench were useful. Looking back from the far
end of the room, I saw another motto painted on the back of one of these
beams: "Vive le rotund - Vive l'obese - Vive le Booboo". Booboo was the
nickname of Colin Dean, who was down there in 1960 and 61. He also went
down with the Kista in late 63 - early 64 (when I did) to conduct a project
on the correlation between ice floe thickness and damping of ocean swells.
He was also King Fid. Anyway, when I read the motto I immediately recalled
that he was, well, more heavily built than the rest of us. There must be
some story there!
1 May 2005
