Brewin Books Logo
Enter Drum and Colours - Memories of National Service in the 1950's - Alan Brewin

enter drum and colours cover

This book tells the story of one young man's National Service in the 1950's and how he came to terms with two years compulsory soldiering and the experiences he endured or enjoyed.

After basic infantry training with The Green Howards in Yorkshire, he moved to Beaconsfield to take a senior NCO's course and became a Sergeant Instructor in The Royal Army Educational Corps.

The action then moves abroad to Libya and Malta with leave spent in Tunisia, describing the men and women, military and civilian, met along the way who ranged from members of The Foreign Legion in Tunis to United Nations staff in Tripoli.

The story concludes with a description of TA service in The Royal Artillery and an unexpected offer from the SAS before he returned to civilian life.

The author, who is married with two daughters, a son and five grandchildren, is currently Chairman of the family printing and publishing businesses he established during the last twenty years.

"A highly entertaining account -
I enjoyed every page."
Lt. Colonel Aubrey Chalmers, Warwickshire County President, The Royal British Legion

"A thoughtful, informed and sometimes
humorous social document."
Professor Carl Chinn MBE Professor of
Community History, University of Birmingham


240mm x 170mm Paperback - pp. x + 110
Fully Illustrated (57 images)
ISBN 1 85858 241 5
£9.95

how to order
home