From Cardington we were shipped via Cardington Railway Station (long since gone) to a 'Square Bashing Camp' at West Kirby on the Wirral near Birkenhead. This rail journey took all day.
I was to be here for eight weeks, during which time I was taught self discipline, respect for self and others, rifle training, gas mask use, guard-duties, marching, saluting, map-reading and a host of other things, (including how to make the billet stove glow red!) that one would need to know, in case of war.
To be totally honest...  I went as a boy and left as a man.