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RAOC Gazette - page 194

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Material type Journals
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Full title RAOC Gazette
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Publication date 1980
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Colour Yes
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Early date 1980
Late date 1980
Transcription stranger to these parts) and WOl Greenhouse. In June Captain
Trevor White our local ATO left on a four-month attachment
to 321 EOD Unit and at the same time Captain John Crawford
joined the ASU from Minden. WOl Keith Ford has vacated the
Superintending Clerks' chair in this Headquarters and now
occupies that of Chief Clerk to CRAOC London District. His
place here has been taken by WOl Ian Williamson from Head-
quarters Wales who is digging in for a long stay.
OSU Thetford will be under new management as Mr Jim
Harding, for long a tower of strength and guide to many an
officer on passage, is to leave us under the Job Release Scheme.
It is sometimes difficult for those of us who sit in Headquarters
at different levels to appreciate the problems and vicissitudes
which beset the civilian officer out on a limb some forty miles
distant, but never while Jim Harding has been on the spot
has the limb done more than creak a little, and then not very
often. He retires with our very best wishes to his country retreat
near Kings Lynn where the garden is more lush and lavish than
the one which surrounds the bungalow at Thetford. He is to be
succeeded in the OSU by Mr Jim Watt from Stanford Training
Area, another who has the advantage of fully understanding
the Norfolk dialect
On the sporting scene the Garrison Squash League set up by
Lieutenant Colonel Wallace is thriving, with some thirty five
enthusiasts working up a variety of lathers. The Eastern District
Tennis Championship was won by the Headquarters team which
included three Ordnance players, Major Bennett and Major
Jamieson and Staff Sergeant Bailey.
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South W e s t District
WE were very sorry to leam of the tragic
death of the late Brigadier Bob Bromham.
Brigadier Bob was our CRAOC from Decem-
b e r 1977 to M a y 1978 w m c n
involved plan-
ning our move
f rom Taunton to Bulford. We
offer our deepest sympathies to his wife and
family.
^ u r i n t r e P'd explorer Mrs Rachel
Charleson left us on Tuesday, armed with a
couple of house-bricks in her handbag, to
travel on her holidays to France. We have
not heard of any injuries to the striking French fishermen we
can only presume that either Rachel made it or is still sitting
at Dover, venting her frustration on some harassed customs
officer.
A new word has crept into our dictionary recently—' mora-
torium.' We had never heard of it before but it certainly has
become the ' in-word ' and sounds terribly clever when used to
restrict Supplies, POL, and other items issued by ' The
Providers.'
A welcome to Captain (OEO) Tony Brown who has joined
the ASU from Northern Ireland and also W02 Jim Bond
who has just completed a most arduous tour as Clerk to the .
Defence Attache Islamabad.
He is now Chief Clerk Ord
Branch. We extend a hand of friendship to both of them and
hope they have a happy stint in South West District.
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Army Air Corps
HEADQUARTERS
DAAC
ORD
(AIR)
WE have just said farewell to one of our
longest serving members of the Ord (Air)
Staff, Mary Holland who joined the Ord
(Air) staff sixteen years ago. The photo-
graph shows Mary being presented with a
set of gardening tools by the SOI Lieu-
tenant Colonel Marsden we at Ord (Air)
wish Mary a happy retirement and
pleasant gardening in her retirement as I
am sure will all those Corps Members
who have served at Ord (Air).
Congratulations are due to our Chief Clerk Corporal Cann
WRAC, who was married to Private Lockhart AAC recently. We
look forward to her return as Corporal Lockhart after her
honeymoon in Cornwall.
1 AIRCRAFT SUPPORT UNIT.
We are pleased to meet
Colonel Rogers the Inspector RAOC, who visited us for our
Annual
computer
Everything
was
Major well
Hannington
Technical
and
performed
from truly
the Inspection.
from
G1098/1198
inspected.
its Headquarters
usual All
tricks
to The
the
seemed
DAAC
underside
to
two show
to assistant
and
go of
its
well
Major
our
versatility.
inspectors
and
vehicles
Brad-

the 1
Mary Holland retires after sixteen years with Ord Staff of the
.. Army Air Corps.
shaw the S02 Ord (Air) UKLF had to be retrieved at lunch-
time from the depths of the storehouse. Fortunately we rescued
them before they were brought to account by the computer.
W02 Derek Green and Corporal Mac McKimm are to be
congratulated on their awards in the Wallop Cross Country
League. The Unit entered three teams in each of the races.
Although no team prizes were won, each team did well and
finished several places higher than the year before.
Evening cricket matches have been the feature of the past
few weeks. Local firms have been taken on and soundly beaten.
Our footballing achievements are not so hot. Despite their
OC's services as referee, the Unit team have yet to win. There
have been outstanding performances by Staff Sergeant Duncan
Learmouth (goalkeeper), Corporal Scouse Ditchfield (forward),
Private Plug Elstob (injuries and histrionics) and Lance Corporal
John Woodward (Unit hitman).
' The living in members of the Unit, impressed by the high
standard of maintenance of their accommodation, are off to
Paris to compare notes with the locals. The story of the Wallop
soldier injured by a falling tile while taking a shower should be
in any decent French phrase book.
Congratulations on his promotion to Lance Corporal John
Woodward. Welcome to Private Taff Cradock who reads his
arms instead of a newspaper. We all know from his tattoos
that he belongs to Wales and the O positive blood group. It's
going to be interesting when he gets a girlfriend. However, he's
doing very well and is driving our computer with more skill
each day. Welcome to Sergeant Henry Stewart and Corporal
Bourne. Our best wishes to those who have been flung furthest
in our empire, Sergeant Steve Coelho in Belize and Staff Sergeant
Neil Starkey and his gang-at Aldergrove.
2 AIRCRAFT SUPPORT UNIT.
Greetings from Wetmold.
Will someone with a bit more pull than us please ask someone
to direct some sunshine our way? We're sick fed up of windy,
rainy days.
Corporals Bob Parish and Ian Cass are swanning on an
EPC course. We're not sure if they're achieving anything but
at least we now get properly written memos and letters. Sergeant
Bob Ward is also away—at Bisley and we hope he's going to
shoot well enough to bring back a memento—'cause he's not
going next year. Lance Corporal Norris seems to be permanently
taking part in athletics. The rest of the Unit seems to be on
leave.
WOl Beaton has spent two weeks in Canada. He pro-
fesses to have gone there to inspect the FAACO account but,
(as his wife says) judging by his bank balance, he did a lot more.
Anyway as all ' inspectors' know, it's difficult to spin an in-
spection out for ten days.
Perhaps he was looking for
JR's killer.
BFTs have been the order of the month and we've managed
to get almost everyone through. The only thing is that Staff
Book number R0404