RAOC Gazette - page 280
Image details
| Corps | RAOC |
|---|---|
| Material type | Journals |
| Book page | |
| Chapter head | |
| Chapter key | |
| Chapter number | |
| Full title | RAOC Gazette |
| Page number | |
| Publication date | 1980 |
| Real page | |
| Colour | Yes |
| Grey | No |
| Early date | 1980 |
| Late date | 1980 |
| Transcription |
" Two Little Boys " wafting from the rear of the Land Rover on the return trip endorsed the general good mood felt by all. Calais was honoured by the invasion of Arnhem Platoon which managed to tour the area causing a minimum of distress and destruction to the local community. The visit was thoroughly enjoyed by all who went, and the ' guided' tour of the night life on the Saturday evening by the Platoon Staff has obviously been the greatest recollection of the Apprentices. Anguilla Platoon took in the changing of the Guard between the Royal Green Jackets and the Welsh Guards on a day trip to the ' big smoke.' Many photographs were taken of the Palace and the Guards but most memorable was Lieutenant Freegard's explanation of how officers ' perambulate.' ' B ' COMPANY. On the sporting side, our first inter-Company competition this term was for the Cross Country Cup which has always eluded the Company. However this has now been put to rights as this year, we won the championships resoundingly by having seventeen runners in the first twenty places. This was a tremendous effort and it means that, at the time of going to press, we are the proud holders of all inter-Company trophies. Special mention must be made to A/Private Mactaggart, who won the race with over a minute to spare over the rest of the field. Further successes were obtained in the Orienteering when A/Private Thompson of Burma Platoon became the RAOC Junior Champion at the championships held at Bicester. This was a tremendous performance as A/Private Thompson has only been in the College for six weeks. On the squash scene we have seen our star, Corporal Clark Adam, disappear to Gibraltar with the Corps team, having returned the night before from Berlin. The soccer competition is well under way with Balaclava waiting to see who their opponents will be in the final. Visit of the month must go to the twelve Apprentices who were fortunate enough to go to Berlin for eight days. With the OC, Major Terry Glen, using his contacts, and with tremendous help from RAOC Berlin, the impossible happened and the visit took place. Balaclava Platoon have carried out their Community Pro- ject for this term at the White Lodge Centre and Benghazi have just returned from their Platoon Camp. To conclude, a belated welcome to the Company for CSM John Robertson, who quite rightly points out he has not been mentioned to date—error has now been righted. EMPLOYMENT TRAINING SCHOOL VEHICLE SPECIALIST. Having now returned to the grindstone after a five week break, where it is believed that Sergeant Tony O'Connor spent all his leave on dry land, not a sail in sight, Sergeant John Garrett talks about all the big fish lured, another fisherman's tale? W02 McNaught has returned complete with tan, no one else appears to have one! All the Vehicle Specialist Staff want to umpire parts of Crusader, by the time these notes are in print we will have been in the thick of it and returned for R and R. We would like to welcome W 2 Heap, wish Sergeant Tony O'Connor luck on his new posting, with promotion, to Reck- linghausen and welcome his replacement Sergeant Williams from ODA. spoilt by inclement weather. Naturally this didn't deter the team from erecting the thirty three foot climbing tower, nor did it deter the CSM (Yoda to the team) from ensuring the vehicles were washed down come rain or shine. Mandy Johnson did a remark- able job with the chamois leather but tended to get slightly upset when Tim Drohan began to use her fluffy toys to clean his rig. John Janes has now purchased his favourite record ' Thank Heaven for Little Girls.' John Heffernan was forever repairing vehicles and acted as the team's LO. visiting military establishments all around GB. Taff Jones certainly received some strong language each time we visited Wales (three times in all). it rained every time, all he could say was " It's not my fault!" Tony Britt had an enjoyable time impersonating vampires and Bill MacGregor managed to coax the old pantech on the tour with only ' minor' breakdowns. Many thanks to Regional Depot Thatcham for the replacement and for the extremely high standard of work they did to it. The old title of CRLO is now dead with acting promotion being given to Lieutenant Colonel Elliott to become SOI R and L. Many congratulations. We welcome Captain Elliot WRAC (is it an Elliot take over bid we ask?) who takes over the new post as S03 R and L. W/Private Angela Bennett and Mrs Sheila Johnson are pleased to have been joined by a member of the fair sex. We said farewell to Captain Paul Simpson, who goes to become an ATO, and welcome Lieutenant Keith Sunderland as the new OIC, actually in an established post! To end I would like to thank all the RAOC Units around the globe for their effort and assistance towards the Display Team and for their efforts in general towards recruiting when the team is around. Also many thanks to the ' summer team' for their good humour, hard work and professionalism. Northern Ireland ^ . ^ ^ ^. HEADQUARTERS RAOC / ^ " " " c K ^ ^ ^ l WE'VE suddenly plunged into ' Showbiz.' e I rJfSS I ^ discovered this when CRAOC Lieu- I ^KS^^I I t e r n e a s n s t Colonel Bramble appeared at the I U^^&q I P desk, (hereafter known as we) and \ \n NSWV t posed the question : Got your tickets for the \ \\WY t play? We—What play? " Caught Napping." X. v\£7 M Well it is true to say we occasionally • ^ ^ 4 J S have a lapse of concentration, but at the ^Xv .^r time we were wide awake, in fact we were ^ ^ working out the cost of fodder and thirty three horses to compare with the cost of running a four ton vehicle! Well it was just an idea! ! Sorry Sir, No that's the name of the play Oh! " The Harp Players " are performing it and I am producing it! (It might be pertinent to mention at this point that the Harp Players are our little Army group with histrionical tendencies, who are not connected in any way with that other lot who brew the magic black liquid.) We dropped our pencil which landed with a dull thud and there's nothing duller than a dull thud (not original, guess who we stole it from). That's different! (We started ordering tickets). Alex Sturdy is playing the Headmaster ' Doctor Rodd ' (being Captain Alex Corps Mobile Display Team and Recruiting and Liaison Staff NO doubt you will have noticed a conspicuous absence of the CMD and R and L Staff notes over past months. This has been partly due to the fact that we have been, as usual, highly mobile and or firmly committed to other things, including reorganisation to include our new establishment. One of our more recent attendances (excluding Sandhurst) was at the Centenary Royal Tournament where Sergeant Paul Grant and Corporal Chris (Rugby) Christopher were busy speak-; ing to thousands of young men and women trying to win them over to the Corps. They did a sterling job taking many names of interested parties for follow up action by the R and L staff. The RAOC stand, masterminded by COD Bicester, received glowing reports from all and had a special mention by the Times correspondent. Whilst the tournament was taking place the rest of the team were enjoying the freedom of the road and Lance Corporal Ziverts in particular enjoying the freedom of the skies, free fall- ing on one occasion with the Flying Bugles, the Light Infantry parachute team, and naturally gave the Corps more publicity. He impressed us all with a skid landing on the cross! Unfortunately the 1980 summer tour will not be remembered for its good weather and many of the shows we attended were — 223 — Caught napping in Northern Ireland. |
| Book number | R0404 |