Bill Callow RMB 3979 Bass Clarinet Bill Callow - Band Secretary   Bill Callow joined the Royal Marines Band Service on 7th January 1964 at the tender age of 14 years and 18 days! He survived quite well and was drafted to HMS Drake. Such was the excellence of his viola playing that he found himself on the way to Scotland within three short months, where his talents were exploited at HMS Condor for the next three and a half years. While serving at Condor he was ‘spotted’ by the Principal Director of Music, Lt Col Paul Neville, on a band inspection and, as a result, passed the next nine and a half years as principal violist to the RM School of Music. In 1981 there was a requirement in Her Majesty’s Fleet Air Arm for a principal violist and Bill was selected without question. He duly arrived at HMS Heron, loaded down with resin, etudes and the ‘George Simpson Guide to Safe String Editing’, only to be divested of these essentials and issued, in their stead, with a ‘Teach Yourself Typewriting’ manual. He remained as Band Secretary until the Band of the Flag Officer Naval Air Command disbanded. It was, in fact, Bill who turned the lights out and locked up. His new appointment as the Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command Band in Portsmouth saw him serve onboard HMY Britannia for three and a half months, which was to be his only ‘sea time’ during his career. Bill continued in Portsmouth until his retirement with the rank of Bd CSgt in December 1989. On leaving he decided he would take time off to adjust to civvie street, but after two weeks found himself bored; so he joined the Post Office as a stop-gap. He has been there ever since. Bill left music alone for almost 18 years until invited to be part of the RMA Concert Band. But without an instrument he offered himself in an administrative role and was asked to be band Secretary (again). After a year of attending rehearsals, he got itchy fingers and his wife Carol, as a surprise, bought him a bass clarinet, and he has not looked back since. Bill currently resides in Portsmouth with his wife and daughter Sally; his son Darren lives in Wales.