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[frecklyspeckly]

My DH is leaving RAF after 22 years. We are in a dilema. We have our own home/shoebox fortunatley and it looks like we can get work around here ok as he is training to be a teacher. Our kids aged 3 and 5 are very happy in this rural location and although i hated it when we first were posted 6 years ago i have made really good friends.
The prob is we are in a backwater with no decent prospects for the kids post 16 education wise and very few decent jobs for young people, plus no nice shops, restaurants, culture, parks etc, But our kids are happy as pigs in poop though.
They love their school and the familiarity of their surroundings. As i said it is a very very remote posting and when i first moved here i thought it was like the film Deliverance. And some days i still do!!
I truly never would have ended up here by choice but i feel that to disrupt them now would be cruel because unlike a forced posting it would be our choice to disrupt their lives. Or will they thank us later..please take the chance to makeup our minds for us because we just do not know what to do. I have a pt job with ok prospects but i could transfer it if required to elsewhere in UK. My son said to me he doesnt EVER want to leave this house but we probably will want to move for more space in the next year whatever we decide as really this house is a 2bed starter home and there are 4 of us now. I remember how lonely i was when we had to start at a new camp and i don't want to revisit that feeling either.

well, seems like you are settled, so, would be a shame to disrupt your lifes with a big move....
If you are all happy, why change things

Probably not helping much, eh!

Thanks..it does help to have someone lend an ear.. i think i just worry they will have less prospects long term out in the sticks, although they are country kids through and through... and i shall be just a mad old bat typing on pooter!! so i shan't mind... i suppose as a mum all you can do is try and keep them happy and settled, if they want the bright lights they shall have to move away... my concerns seem daft compared to some people i know who are worried they wont have a home when they come out.

3qndnomore i was just browsing other thread re. your DH leaving and i really hope things are looking up.I didnt want to post on that thread in case you didnt see it.God i am so glad ourlives will no longer be dictated to by the military even tho we will have no disposible income, until i am 70, and will only be able to spend it on Wherthers Originals...

i think i would move if i was in your situation. your children are still so young and i dont think settling into a new school at that age would be to bad compared to having to move further down the line.

i was just wondering do you still stay on camp? if so is there not a chance that the close friends you have are also forces families and may move away from you one day?

also do you have 2 sons or a son and a daughter, either way you might find that one day 2 bedrooms are not enough for the 4 of you.

Which end of the country are you? I know in the West Country (my end when not living in Brussels), there are alternatives post 16, especially Truro College. There are also other state boarding schools and colleges for post 16. I went to Symonds in Winchester for my A levels, as my Dad was in the RN, and it's where I'll be looking for DS if we are still posted out here come sixth form.

If the kids are happy, don't move them. We moved here 18 months ago and my son has taken a year to settle. You also need to be aware that teaching posts aren't plentiful in all areas of the UK, depending upon which Key stage and specialisation your husband is doing. I knew when I moved out here I'd be kissing my teaching career goodbye, as I doubt that I'd get a job teaching my subject back in Cornwall. Once you're in a teaching job there, people tend to stay in the same job until retirement if they don't want promotion.

Your problem is that you have to balance too many factors to get a reasonable decision. I would suggest that you stay where you are to let your husband finish his teacher training and NQT year, then make a decision based on job availability. He doesn't need the stress of moving during teacher training, especially as it is a totally different ball game to the Services. If he has a job at a school he is happy in, then stay, and do the culture bits during holidays, and appreciate the differences between town and country. Someone will have to compromise, but at least you have options.

I'm 21 x 2... I was there from 1982-1984 and boarded in Wyke Lodge. I had a great time - didn't want to leave!

I understand that you have left the glories of Portsmouth for the wild splendours of the north? My baby brother has done the reverse from FL to Cornwall, last summer. Is yours a black tube man? Mine is, as is my brother...well he pretends, but he's a pusser really!

I thought they were Logistics and Supply now? I told my brother that made him a Low Slung Orifice, and he got most offended! Do you like Pompey? I grew up in Fareham, but have been in the West Country since I married in '86, apart from this appointment in Brussels. It's nice out here, no patch, but private hirings, as much or as little involvement with the 'wives' as you want. I'm kicking back still after 5 years teaching, eating chocolate, reading books and not working. Bliss! Can't quite believe my luck. Still have a house in Cornwall with good tenants, so best of both worlds really.

Do you know where you are going in the summer?

lol freckly...yeah...disposable income, or the lack off, is a frightening prospect...especially as my plans are to study for an Occupational Therapy degree as of September...it just would have helped if we hadn't had to worry about finances etc...for a while. BUt hohum...we will get there...

Nope, SHAPE is an hour away. DH was at the place with four initials and 26 nations, and is now in the middle of Brussels working for our soon to be political masters when the EU takes over the UK.

Enjoy Shrivenham - the Army wives there can be VERY snotty - my DH had an appointment there as directing staff on the ASCSC, before coming home to Guzz for the black tubes. He did his MA up there, and I'd often call at 0100 to see where he was, and he's still be in the office. Be warned! The balls are good though.

I bet your DH knows my baby brother...

baby brother is a 2 and a half and panting! A bit older than your DH as he is going to be 40 this year. He is at Torpoint, GJK the intials, red hair, glasses and a bit of a tum.

....and don't tell him I said that or he'll beat me up verbally on the phone or in person when I go home in the summer!

Freckly, is your DH doing primary or secondary, and which subject?