Reserved occupations continued for some years following the end of WWII. I srtarted work as an apprentice electrician at a local colliery in September 1949 and was immediately in a reserved cccupation. In May 1953 I was transferred to the Area Centtral Workshops to complete my apprenticeship there and gain further experience. Within a matter of a few weeks I received my call up papers as the authorities believed that I was no longer in a reserved occupation. I was instructed to give the call up papers to the manager of the Area Central Workshops who returned them to the authorities with a covering letter to confirm that I was engaged in the installation, overhaul and repai of underground mining machinery and equipment and I heard nothing more from the authorities. In fact during this period more than 50% of my time was working underground at collieries other that the one at which I was originally employed. Some years later I worked with a man who had been employed as a shipwright in a local shipyard and he had been employed during WWII in fixing special elctric cables around the hulls of destroyers. These were used to combat the magnetic mines and the cables were used for 'de- gaussing'. His occupation was classified as a reserved occupation. Alan Vickers.